Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Proceeding to look at horses featured in documents from the period, Fern discusses the mythological figures Hengist and Horsa who appear in Bede's 8th-century "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum", as well as the role that the former played in the epic poem "Beowulf". Turning his attention to the human consumption of horse flesh in this period, he argues that it was only eaten rarely, usually as "a sacred activity".