Series 1 > History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland

70
JOHN MAJOR’S HISTORY
[book n.
condition that the king should grant him the whole of Kent
for his people; and this the king secretly yielded. But this
thoughtless marriage of his with a heathen damsel, whose
character was all unknown to him, and the loss to his kingdom
of large possessions, which accotnpanied the union, were his
destruction. It was this conduct that stirred up some men of
rank in the kingdom, who soon stripped Vortiger of the
sovereign power, and placed the crown on the head of his son
Vonimer. Vortimer, born of a Christian woman. This Vortimer, so soon
as he became king, made peace secretly with the Christian
Scots and Piets. With their help he drove the Saxons and
Hengist out of the kingdom, and not long thereafter, Ronovem,
Hengist’s daughter, Vortimer’s stepmother, makes away with
Vortimer by poison. A well-known custom this is of step¬
mothers—by treachery to make away with their husbands’
children. Let sons then, and especially wealthy sons, beware
of a stepmother as they would of Cerberus. The Britons soon
Vortiger. thereafter restore this same Vortiger, who before had been
despoiled of his kingdom, but made with him this condition :
that he should on no account receive Engist into the country.
This notwithstanding, Ronovem declared to Engist, her father,
how she had made away with Vortimer by poison, and how
Vortiger was once more king, and therefore beseeches her
father to descend upon Britain with an armed force. Engist
invaded Britain then with fifteen thousand fighting men, and
when Vortiger with the Britons would have made stand against
him, he refused the combat, saying that he had come because
of that Kent which before had been granted to him, and not
to fight with the Britons; that he was ready rather to bring
■Engist’s them succour against the enemy. He besought the Britons
treachery. therefore to appoint a day when he might meet them, saying
that he should take with him no more than of mounted men
four hundred, while the king should have in his train the like
number of trusty Britons. The meeting took place accordingly
near Sarum, that is, Salisbury, on a certain hill. Engist had
ordered his men to carry each of them a dagger concealed in
his boots, and when he gave the word—‘ The time is come to
speak of peace and friendship’—they were to make a sudden
rush upon the Britons thus caught unarmed and unawares. To