Note 22 — Chapter I · SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS.

Hengest defeated the Picts and Scots at Stamford in Lincolnshire, not far from the Nene, the Witham and the Welland, upon whose banks it is nearly certain that there were German settlements. Widukind’s story of an embassy from the Britons to the Saxons, to entreat aid, is thus rendered not altogether improbable: but then it must be understood of Saxons already established in England, and on the very line of march of the Northern invaders, whom they thus took most effectually in flank. Compare Geoffry’s story of Vortigern giving Hengest lands in Lincolnshire, etc.