The English are a composite race:

• Celts -> first settlers (6th – 7th BC)

• Franks -> invaders from Germany and Italy
(5BC)
• Romans -> under Claudius (43 - 410 AD)
• Angles
• Saxon
• Jutes
 A branch of Indo Europeans that had settled in Western Europe
incuding Italy, France , and Spain, as early as the sixth or seventh
century B.C.
 The Celts of Ireland, the Gaels, were perhaps the first occupants of a
large part of England, but later driven west into Ireland and north
into Scotland by the Franks, a group of origin tribes from Germany
and Italy.
 Some of the Celts stayed in Western Eurpe and were absorbed by the
Franks and some other migrated and occupied the British island and
called themselves the “Celts of England” or “Britons”.
 The pre-Christian Celts were a barbarous people with a primitive
pagan religion dominated by priests, the Druids.
 In spite of their barbarity, they were romantic, mystery loving and
humorous.
 In 55 BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain. Latin was spoken.
 In 43 AD, under the reign of Claudius, The Roman Empire
conquered and colonized the entire British Island except Scotland.
 Under the Roman’s rule, Britain was converted to Christianity.
 The Roman built roads, villas, bath and made London as an
important trading center.
 In 409 AD, Roman withdrew their troops. The central government
broke down, and Britain was left vulnerable to attack. The era is often
referred as the ‘Dark Ages’
A Roman cobbled road Remains of the theatre
at St. Albans
Invasion from Northern Germany:
The Angles, The Saxons, The Jutes
 In 449 AD-People from
northern Europe begin a
series of invasions
 We call them the Anglo-
Saxons (Angles and Saxons)
 Bring Germanic languages
 Beginnings of Old English the
first language recognized as
“English” (originally
“Angleish”)
 The most powerfull among
the three invaders.
 Missionaries arrived in Kent under St. Agustinus managed to
christianize the Celts.
 King Aethelberht I of Kent embraced christianity.
 The first cathedral was built.
 Missionaries were permitted to preach freely.
 The introduction of the Roman alphabet.
 The replacement of rune by Roman alphabet.
 Oral strories were replaced by written works i.e. Beowulf,
Paraphrase, Exodus.
 The introduction of Roman alphabet enabled the establisment of
centers of learning: Canterbury in the South and York and Yarrow in
the North.
 The scholars were Arch Bishop of Canterbury, Allevin of York and
Theodore of Yarrow
Rune Roman Alphabet
 The invasion by the Normans/Scandinavian from Norway,
Sweden and Denmark, known as “The Danes” in the 8th century.
 They were pirates and plunders who destroy churches,
monasteries, libraries and schools.
 Invaded almost all England, except the South which was under
Alfred “the Great”, the king of the Wessex.
 A battle caled as the battle of the Etahnadune in 878 took
place where Alfred defeated the Danish leader. Gutrin, and
converted him to Christianity.
 The Lock Dane Law was agreed where the Danes left the South
and West to Alfred and retained the North and East of
England.
 Alfred the Great (849-899) was the most famous of the Anglo-
Saxon kings. Despite overwhelming odds he successfully defended
his kingdom, Wessex, against the Vikings. He also introduced wide-
ranging reforms including defence measures, reform of the law and
of coinage.
 Defeated Gutrin, the Danish leader.
 Built up strong army and avy to oppose the Viking raiders
 Invited scholars from Europe and Wales to Winchester to assist him
to revive the learning centers.
 The instruction on the making of ‘The Anglo Saxon Chronicle.’ To help
protect his kingdom from Viking attacks, Alfred built forts and walled
towns known as ‘burhs’. He also built warships to guard the coast
from raiders and organised his army into two parts. While half the
men were at home on their farms, the rest were ready to fight
Vikings.
 Alfred died in 899 and was buried at his capital city of Winchester.
• On war, religion, personal sadness and happiness
• Most are anonymous
• Written mostly by monks, such as ‘Caedmon’s Hymn’ [Hymn:
religious song].
• The themes are security, both for individual and society, and in
religious faith
 Two features used:
1. caseura: gap in the middle of each line
2. alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds
 Caedmon -> Caedmon’s Hymm, Paraphrase
 Deor - > Deor’s Lament
 Cynewulf -> The Christ, Juliana, The Life of the Saint, the Dream
of the Rood
1. Caedmon
 2. Deor
• Deor’s lament is a moving elegy of forty two lines which
gives voice to the suffering of a minstrel or a scop who
has been replaced by a rival after years of service to
his Lord. he characters employed here are all from
historical or mythical figures.
• “Deor’s Lament” reaches great heights of personal
feelings which along with the expressive melancholy of
the elegy give rise to a strong lyrical appeal. Deor’s
lament is not just purely personal but also universal. Like
a true elegy of the Anglo-Saxon Era it stresses on loss,
exile and lamentation along with the belief in the
fragility of earthly pleasures.
3. Cynewulf
 Several of long poems are preserved in the Exeter Book such as
The Wanderer, The Seafarer.
 The poems are anonymous.
 Classified as elegiac poems – the speaker is always alone, and
his memory bcomes very important. The memories are of old
legends, old battles and old heroes.
 Memories are a major part of the writings.
 Beowulf -> Anglo-saxon stories, heroic, 6th century, story of a
hero from Sweden
 The Battle of Maldon -> more factual, heroic
• The Wanderer is a 115 line poem that describes a warrior’s journey,
physical and spiritual, through his exile at sea. Due to it's wording
and philosophical themes, the Wanderer is very controversial.
Historians are still debating to this day over it's meaning and what
the anonymous author was trying to convey.
• The idea of being exiled from your previous tribe and lord was
common in Anglo Saxon culture whether it was voluntary or
involuntary.
• Warriors found their identity in the crew they rolled with and for one
to be exiled, or separated, from his lord and fellow men in arms is a
very sorrowful event. Thus the setting and the tone of the poem is
very gloomy.
• There are heavy themes of religion and faith in this poem illustrated
in the warriors self reflection and through his contemplation of life.
• The theme is essentially the question of our existence here on earth.
• The tone of the Wanderer could be described as sorrowful but at the
same time it is quite serene with his natural Imagery of a hostile
winter with the sight and sound of birds, replacing human
companionship
 "The Seafarer" is a 124-line poem written in Old English that
scholars often view as a companion piece to The Wanderer.
 "The Seafarer" is one of the most famous Anglo-Saxon elegies
and is found only in The Exeter Book.
 The poem is lyrical and elegiac
 It has an alliterative rhyme scheme.
 A lyric poem expresses intense personal emotions.
 Poet’s subject is the sea—a common occurrence due to the
placement of Britain
 The Seafarer describes how he has cast off all earthly
pleasures and now mistrusts them. He prefers spiritual joy to
material wealth, and looks down upon land-dwellers as
ignorant and naive.
 This battle took place during
the year 991 A.D on the
shores of a river known as
'Blackwater' in Essex, which
is the modern day United
Kingdom.
 It was a heroic stand by the
Anglo-Saxons against the
Viking Invasion, which ended
in an utter defeat of the
Anglo-Saxons.
• The story had been in circulation as an oral narrative for
approximately 300 years before it was written down.
• Beowulf marks the beginning of English literature
• Beowulf was written in Old English, an early form of English
• It is the longest epic poem in Old English, the language spoken in
Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. More than 3,000
lines long, Beowulf relates the exploits of its eponymous hero, and his
successive battles with a monster named Grendel, with Grendel’s
revengeful mother, and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard
of treasure. Beowulf was a war leader of the Geats, a group of
people in what is now southern Sweden who tried to free the and
Hrothgar was king of the Danes
 Most of the books were histories, non imaginative, more on the
informationof the period.
 Bede, known as Venerable Bede (a monk, a theologian, a
historian and a chronologist) was the major figure who lived
between 673 and 735.
 King Alfred whose reign was a time of great literary
production, known as the founder of English prose.
 Aelfric -> a monk, a translator, a writer -> Catholic Holmilies
and Lives of the Saints
 Wrote many books, mostly
about the Bible, but his best
known is Historia Ecclestiatica
Gentis Anglorum
(“Ecclestiatical History of the
English People”) which was
completed in 731/732. the
book recorded events in
Britain form the raids by Julius
Caesar (55-54 BC).
 The works are classified into
three categories: gammatical
and scientific, scriptural
comentary, abd historical and
biographical.
 He was a keen champion of
education and translated important
texts from Latin into English. Known
as a just and fair ruler, Alfred is
the only English King to have
earned the title ‘the Great’.
 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began
to be compiled in around 890 A.D.,
at the command of King Alfred the
Great (871- 899) and consists of a
series of annals written in the Old
English language.
• Alfred ordered that copies be made and
distributed to monasteries across England,
which were to be regularly updated.
• Alfred made good laws and believed
education was important. He had books
translated from Latin into English, so people
could read them.
Middle English Period
Medieval english
1066-1485
 On History
Refers to the transition period during which
Old English was changing to Modern English.
Lasted from the middle of the 11th cetury to
the middle of the 16th century.
The most important event is the Norman
Conquest, the last successful invasion of
Britain
In 1066, the Normans (French speaking people
from Normandy), led by William the
Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy attacked
and defeated the King Harold from Britains (a
blend of the Britons and Anglo-Saxons) at the
Battle of Hastings.
 The Language
Third language was introduced :Latin was used at
church and schools, French was used in courts and
castles, and English was used by commoners.
Pararel use of both English and French until the
14th century
French influence (a language derived from latin)
Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic
Church, which dominated Europe
The Church was the only source of education
Thus, Latin was a common language for Medieval
writings
 Language in Literature
Latin was the language of the Roman
Catholic Church, so, Latin was a
common language for Medieval writings.
Much of literature is anonymous-old
stories retold
Use of ALLEGORY: a device in which
characters or events symbolize ideas
and concepts (The Lord of the Rings is
an allegory for the World Wars)
 The Assimilation
• Heavy consonants of Anglo-Saxon was
changed to softer French.
• English begins to become standardized.
• Lines of communication are opened
throughout the country
• Alliteration and Caesura are replaced
with rhyme and meter, Iambic
Pentameter, and Rhymed Couplet
 Blank time of Literary works
production

The conquest has stunned English

literature into silence.

The limitation of Anglo-Saxon language

The Norman had no literature to offer.

French literature was still in its infancy and
dominant started in Europe during 12th and
13th century.
POETRY
The high-class art
 Early Works of the Middle Ages
LAYAMON’S BRUT
• Written in 1205
• Poems of 30.000 lines
• Legendary history of Britain
• Tells about ‘Brut’ or ‘Brutus’,
the grandson of Aeneas, of
the heroes of Troy.
• Introduces Cadwallader, the
last of Celtic Kings and the
story of King Arthur
The Owl and The
Nightingale
• produced in the first
quarter of the 13th
century
• A verse debate about
life: to live morally or
to live for pleasures.
• Uses clerical
tradition
Robin Hood
 Geoffrey Chaucer
• Geoffrey Chaucer, born in London in
around 1343AD, is a poet of the
Middle Ages, widely known as the
Father of English Literature

• He was a public servant (Kent).

• His jobs included the following:

soldier, controller of customs, justice
of the peace as well as a forest
official.
.
• In 1340-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer
helped make English the dominant
language of age.

• He is credited with combining the

vocabularies of Anglo-Saxon,
Scandinavian, French, and Latin into
an instrument of precise and poetic
expression.
 The Canterbury Tales:
Chaucer’s greatest work

 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury

Tales, a collection of stories in a frame story,
between 1387 and 1400.

 It is the story of a group of thirty people who

travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England).

 The pilgrims, who come from all layers of

society, tell stories to each other to kill time
while they travel to Canterbury.
 PROSE
The lower-class art
Drama
 The main writing of the period was poetry, but drama and prose were
beginning at this time.
 Medieval dramas were set and around the church at festival times.
 The source of the stories which were dramatized was the Bible.
 The actors were the priests.
 Trade Guilds produced these plays after they left the church.
 There are two types of plays:
1. Mystery plays
The plot and characters were drawn from the books of the Bible.
It was the major form of Medieval drama. The best examples are
the cycle plays of England. The York Cycle (14th century)
contained forty-eight short plays and took approximately 14 hours
to perform.
2. Miracle Plays
It refers to plays which tell about the life of the saints

 Ex: Hell’s Mouth

The plays are an important stp towards the hreat theatrical period at
the end of the sixteenth century
A pageant wagon held
the mansion, the
plateau, and a dressing
area on one structure.
This wagon stage would
then be moved from
one gathering of
audience to the next,
much like a float in a
parade.
 Stages of development of English
 The documented stages of development of the English
language are conventionally reckoned as follows:
– Old English (ca.700 -- ca.1150)
– Middle English (ca.1150 -- ca.1500)
– Early Modern English (ca.1500 -- ca.1700)
– Modern English (ca.1650 -- the present).
 There are no sharp boundaries between the periods
because language change is gradual and changes affect
only small parts of the language structure at any given
time, so that there's a great deal of continuity.