Vortigern

Vortigern, the British prince who is reported by Bede, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth to have invited the Saxons into Britain to help him against the Picts, and to have married Rowena, daughter of Hengist (q.v.). His allies soon became, according to the legend, enemies even more dangerous than the Picts, and soon destroyed the British princes. Samuel Ireland (q.v.) fathered his 'historical' play of Vortigern on Shakespeare.