Vortimer

In Nennius’s Historia Brittonum, Vortigern’s eldest son, brother of Catigern, Faustas, and Pascentius.

When the lesser kings of Britain became disgusted with Vortigern’s open-door policy towards the Saxons, they placed Vortimer on the throne in his father’s place. Vortimer proved a much nobler king than his father. He led Briton armies against Hengist and the Saxons, and fought four battles against them.

When he writes of Vortimer, Nennius employs the Welsh spelling Guorthemir. This has variants of its own, but the fifth-century original from which it derives as a British form Vortamorix, which, like Vortigern, would probably have been a title or designation. The syllable vor meant “over”; tamo- was a superlative suffix; rix meant “king”. As Vortigern is the “over-king”, so Vortimer is the “over-most” or “highest” king. Its etymological closeness to “Riothamus” or Rigotamos, the designation of a king who was certainly real, may be thought to favor Vortimer’s own reality.