Vortimer first appears in the 9th-century work known as the
Historia Brittonum. According to the
Historia, Vortigern allows Saxons under
Hengest and
Horsa to settle on the
Isle of Thanet, and offers them provisions in exchange for their service as mercenaries. Vortigern soon proves to be an "ignorant king", and the wily Hengest manipulates him into ceding over more land and allowing more settlers to come from
Germania. Shortly thereafter, however, Vortimer dies. He asks his followers to bury him at the place where the Saxons first landed in Britain as a totem against further invasion. However, his followers fail to heed his warning and the Saxons return. Another
manuscript of the
Historia Brittonum (
Chronica Minora, Berlin, 1892) follows this with: "if they had kept his command, there is no doubt that they would have obtained whatever they wished through the prayers of
St Germanus.” According to the
Welsh Triads his bones were buried "in the Chief Ports of this Island". Three of Vortimer's battle sites are named: the first was on the
Darent "
super flumen Derguentid" the second "at the ford called Episford in their language, Rhyd yr Afael in ours
super vadum quod dicitur in lingua eorum Episford, in nostra autem lingua Rithergabail"; the third was "by the inscribed stone on the shore of the Gallic Sea
in campo juxta Lapidem tituli, qui est super ripam Gallici maris". While some aspects of these battles correspond with three battles in Kent mentioned in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle between the years 455 and 466 (especially the
Battle of Aylesford), there are a number of crucial inconsistencies. The
Chronicle does not name Vortimer, and in fact credit Vortigern as the British leader in one of the battles. The legendary material in the Historia Brittonum was slightly expanded upon in
Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia regum Britanniae, widely believed to be a fictional account of the rulers of Britain. There the Britons abandon Vortigern and elevate Vortimer to be
king of Britain. After he has driven out the Saxons, Vortimer is poisoned by his stepmother
Rowena (a Saxon) and Vortigern regains the crown. Geoffrey says that Vortimer was buried at
Trinovantum (
London), and mentions the link with St. Germanus, who encourages Vortimer to rebuild the churches. This account survives in Geoffrey's
continuators
Wace and
Layamon: they both give London as his burial place; Layamon specifically mentions Belyn's Gate (
Billingsgate. He also includes the detail that Vortimer offered twelve pennies reward for the head of any heathen brought to him. Both authors mention the connection with St Germanus. Writing in the eighteenth century, the Rev. Philip Morant tells us that
Aldroen, king of
Armorica, sent ten thousand troops to Britain under the command of
Aurelius Ambrosius. He was seen as a
usurper by Vortimer's followers, and a
civil war broke out between the two factions, which lasted seven or eight years. Peace was eventually brokered between the warring factions by splitting Britain between them: Aurelius ruling the western part of the island, with Vortimer and Vortigern in the east: "divided from one another by...
Watling Street". Morant says that Vortimer died in 475, but does not mention poison. ==Notes==