Night of the Long Knives (Arthurian)

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This article is about the History of Britain. For the Nazi purge, see Night of the Long Knives. For other uses, see Night of the Long Knives (disambiguation).

The Night of the Long Knives is the name Geoffrey of Monmouth gave to the (possibly apocryphal) slaughter of British chieftains by Jute, Anglo and Saxon mercenaries at a monastery (or perhaps Stonehenge) on Salisbury Plain in ca. 460.

The traditional figure Vortigern, who had become the high British king in the wake of the abandonment of Britain by the Roman Empire, had invited Angles and Saxons from Germania to settle in Kent as a means of warding off incursions by Picts and Scots. The settlers, however, grew in number, and when a dispute arose over payment, began themselves to raid British villages and establish independent kingdoms.

The Night of the Long Knives, according to Geoffery of Monmouth, took place at a banquet in modern-day Wiltshire ostensibly arranged to seal a peace treaty, which may have been the cession of Essex and Sussex in exchange for intermarriage between Rowena of Kent, the daughter of Saxon chieftain Hengest, and Vortigern. As told, the story claims that the "Saxons"—which probably includes Angles and Jutes—arrived at the banquet armed, surprising the British, who were slaughtered. Variously described as the only escapee are Vortigern himself, and Saint Abban the Hermit.

The historical existence of any of these events or persons is conjectural. Textual evidence is weak and begins in the 7th century.