A To Z Blogging Challenge 2020: V Is For ... Vortigern!

V is for ... Vortigern.

Vortigern watches the dragons fight, with Merlin. Public Domain

I’ve mentioned him in previous posts, about Merlin and Uther. He was the usurper who took over the throne that rightfully belonged to Ambrosius Aurelianus and his brother Uther and nearly killed the young Merlin to get a falling tower set up, but found out the real problem was two fighting dragons. He invited the Saxons into Britain. Big mistake! 

He is mentioned in so many early chronicles that he may even have existed, as a fifth century warlord. We don’t know. The real Vortigern, if any, certainly wouldn’t have seen two dragons fighting! 

Geoffrey of Monmouth gives him a large chunk of his History Of The Kings Of Britain, with a detailed description of how he took over, starting with having a chat with Constans, the son of the late King, now a monk. He suggests that as his little brothers are too young, he, Constans, should quit the monastic life and become King himself, with Vortigern’s support. When Constans is murdered by Vortigern’s household Pictish warriors, he happily takes over. The boys, Ambrosius and Uther, flee with their guardians to Brittany, to return later and become a part of the Arthurian legend.

This is where the Saxons come in. Three shiploads arrive, led by brothers Hengist and Horsa, who explain that every now and then the Saxons get rid of the surplus population by lot, and they are the latest exiles. They offer their services as mercenaries, in return for land. Lots of land. And then they send back to Saxony for anther 18 shiploads of settlers, including Hengist’s beautiful daughter Rowena, with whom Vortigern immediately falls passionately in lust. Incidentally, the young lady introduces the words “Wassail!” and “drink hail!” into Britain while bringing out the welcoming cup to Vortigern. 

In return for her hand in marriage the Saxons demand Kent. Which he grants them, without bothering to tell the man currently running Kent. Oh, dear! 

You can guess what happens after all those Saxons arrive, can’t you? And Vortigern gets the blame for it. 

In fact, I have read that there were Saxons in Britain long before the fifth century. They first arrived with the Roman army, in which they were auxiliaries. No doubt, though, there were plenty more who invaded after the Romans went, which is how we get the early Arthurian legend. We just can’t blame one person for it.

Vortigern does make appearances in fiction, including the work of twelfth century authors Wace and Layamon, and modern fiction and drama. The TV Merlin(Sam Neill, not Colin Morgan) showed him in his Geoffrey of Monmouth guise, played by Rutger Hauer, whom you may know better as Roy Batty, the replicant who makes that beautiful, poignant speech near the end of Bladerunner, and whom I adored as Navarre, the cursed hero of Ladyhawke. In Merlin he is the baddie. 

There is also a play, Vortigern And Rowena, which was written in 1796, by one William Henry Ireland, who managed to pass it off as a lost Shakespeare play, right up until it was performed, on April 2. It didn’t get a second performance. 

In fact, John Phillip Kemble, who was the manager of the Drury Lane Theatre where it was performed, had been so dubious about it that he suggested performing it on April Fools’ Day. 

There were some other plays about Vortigern, though, including one anonymous play, The Birth Of Merlin and one by Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton, Hengist, King Of Kent. 

He is in Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, which is based on Geoffrey of Monmouth.

And Vortigern got some places in Wales named for him - Vortigern’s Gorge, Vortigern’s Grave, Vortigern’s Fort. That doesn’t mean he existed, of course. There are plenty of Arthur’s Seats or Leaps or his horse’s footsteps, and we have no idea whether he existed either.

But not bad for someone who is supposed to have done so many dreadful things! 

See you Monday, when I will devote a post to the author of one of the definitive Arthurian novels, T.H White.