Who was Hengist's daughter?

A Presentment of Englishy ends with a poem that looks forward to the story of Vortigern, Hengist and his daughter.

The Matter of Britain

(Western Britain, 450 AD).

Mog the Magnificent

in his daub and wattle hut

lord of the scattered rocks

and the wind scarped ridge

watching the sheep he’s counted

penned on the wet hillside.

The members of his retinue

huddled round the fire,

dozing. The harper

droning stories of Vortigern

Hengist and Rowena.

They say it’s easier to look into the sun

Than look at her. They say,

she is the dawn and when she rises day begins.

Vortigern, traitor,

expert in evil,

skilled in deceit

sold his country

for a pagan witch.

Hengist, a cunning man,

a secret, silent, scheming

man, who pimped

his daughter for a crown

he could have seized.

But I was there when Rowena walked into the hall.

She lifted up the goblet, ‘Wes þu hal, Vortigern cyning’

and I swear, Hengist had pitched her at the son

at Vortimer. She swerved. She chose

and with that choice swerved history and Britain fell.

Anyone who reads A Presentment carefully will know that that last italicised section should not be taken seriously as historical fact.

But who was Hengist’s beautiful daughter?

In the next post, her earliest appearance in ‘The Matter of Britain’.