THE SCENE: The “Treachery of the Long Knives” (also known as the Massacre on Salisbury Plain) was a seminal moment in Dark Ages Britain, whereby the Saxons slaughtered British leadership through vile treachery.
THE TEXT: Hengist then thought out a new method of betrayal. He ordered each of his soldiers to conceal a large dagger inside his boot. At some moment when, in apparent security, the Britons were discussing the subject in hand, Hengist himself would give his men this signal: “Nimet oure saxes.” Each of them should then be ready to attack boldly the Briton standing beside him: in short, each should draw his dagger and without a moment of hesitation cut his companion’s throat. The appointed day soon came. They all gathered together in the neighborhood which had been chosen and the peace conference duly began. When Hengist saw that a suitable moment had come for his act of treachery, he bellowed out: “Nimet oure saxes!” He himself immediately seized hold of Vortigern and held him tight by his royal robe. The moment they heard this signal the Saxons drew their daggers, attacking the leaders standing near them and cut the throats of about four hundred and sixty counts and earls, who were thinking of something quite different. The Britons had all come there unarmed, thinking of nothing but the peace conference. The result was that the Saxons, who for their part had come there thinking of nothing but treachery, were able to kill them the more easily, unarmed as they were.
– Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, 12th Century AD
