An otherwise unknown Saxon leader whom the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us came with his two sons Beda and Mela to the shores of Britain in the year of our lord 501 and landed at a place that was later named Portsmouth in his honour.

It is recorded that Porta and his sons killed a "young Briton of very high rank" but nothing further is said of him. It must be presumed that the kindred of Porta accepted the authority of the noble pair Cerdic and Cynric when they accepted the government of the West Saxons in the year 519.

Por"ta (?), n.; pl. Portae (#). [L., a gate. See Port a hole.] Anat. (a)

The part of the liver or other organ where its vessels and nerves enter; the hilus.

(b)

The foramen of Monro.

B. G. Wilder.

 

© Webster 1913.

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