Note 2 — Chapter II · THE FORMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND. 449–975.

It is really hardly worth while to dispute about the names of Hengest and Horsa. The evidence for their historical character seems to me at least as strong as the suspicion of their mythical character. But whether the chiefs who led the first Jutish settlers in Kent bore these names or any others does not affect the reality of the Jutish settlement. I must confess however that there are names in the Chronicles which strike me as far more suspicious than those of Hengest and Horsa. I mean names like Port and Wihtgar, who figure in the entries for 501 and 544. See Earle’s Parallel Chronicles, p. ix.