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Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work Cædmon's Hymn is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English, as it appears in an 8th-century copy of Bede's text, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Poetry written in the mid 12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English. Adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th-century work, and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature.
Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland.
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group that inhabited much of what is now England in the Early Middle Ages, and spoke Old English. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. Although the details are not clear, their cultural identity developed out of the interaction of incoming groups of Germanic peoples, with the pre-existing Romano-British culture. Over time, most of the people of what is now southern and eastern England came to identify as Anglo-Saxon, and speak the Old English. Danish and Norman invasions later changed the situation significantly, but their language and political structures are the direct predecessors of the medieval Kingdom of England, and the medieval English language. Although the modern English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to Old English, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech.
The Norman yoke is a term denoting the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England, attributed to the impositions of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, his retainers and their descendants. The term was used in English nationalist and democratic discourse from the mid-17th century.
Cuthred or Cuþræd was the King of Wessex from 740 until 756. He succeeded Æthelheard, his relative and possibly his brother.
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Sharon Turner was an English historian.
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The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. Between the 1470s and the middle of the following century there was a transition to early Modern English. In literary terms, the characteristics of the literary works written did not change radically until the effects of the Renaissance and Reformed Christianity became more apparent in the reign of King Henry VIII. There are three main categories of Middle English literature, religious, courtly love, and Arthurian, though much of Geoffrey Chaucer's work stands outside these. Among the many religious works are those in the Katherine Group and the writings of Julian of Norwich and Richard Rolle.
Layamon's Brut, also known as The Chronicle of Britain, is a Middle English poem compiled and recast by the English priest Layamon. Layamon's Brut is 16,096 lines long and narrates the history of Britain. It is the first historiography written in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Named for Britain's mythical founder, Brutus of Troy, the poem is largely based on the Anglo-Norman French Roman de Brut by Wace, which is in turn a version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. Layamon's poem, however, is longer than both and includes an enlarged section on the life and exploits of King Arthur. It is written in the alliterative verse style commonly used in Middle English poetry by rhyming chroniclers, the two halves of the alliterative lines being often linked by rhyme as well as by alliteration.
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The "Battle of Brunanburh" is an Old English poem. It is preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England which was kept from the late ninth to the mid-twelfth century. The poem records the Battle of Brunanburh, a battle fought in 937 between an English army and a combined army of Scots, Vikings, and Britons. The battle resulted in an English victory, celebrated by the poem in style and language like that of traditional Old English battle poetry. The poem is notable because of those traditional elements and has been praised for its authentic tone, but it is also remarkable for its fiercely nationalistic tone, which documents the development of a unified England ruled by the House of Wessex.
Anglo-Saxon riddles are a significant genre of Anglo-Saxon literature. The riddle was a major, prestigious literary form in early medieval England, and riddles were written both in Latin and Old English verse. The pre-eminent composer of Latin riddles in early medieval England was Aldhelm, while the Old English verse riddles found in the tenth-century Exeter Book include some of the most famous Old English poems.
Matter of England, romances of English heroes and romances derived from English legend are terms that 20th century scholars have given to a loose corpus of Medieval literature that in general deals with the locations, characters and themes concerning England, English history, or English cultural mores. It shows some continuity between the poetry and myths of the pre-Norman or "Anglo-Saxon" era of English history as well as themes motifs and plots deriving from English folklore. The term Matter of England was coined in reference to the earlier Three Matters as termed by the French author Jean Bodel; the Matter of Britain, of France and of Rome.
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The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain was fought between the forces of the Kingdom of Rheged under the command of Urien and Owain mab Urien and the forces of the Kingdom of Bernicia under Fflamddwyn . Most of what is known about the battle comes from the early Welsh poem Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain by the poet and bard Taliesin. Supposedly on one Saturday, Fflamddwyn had surrounded the seat of power within Rheged and demanded that King Urien submit and provide hostages. Urien's son Owain used the memory of his ancestor Ceneu son of Coel and denied giving hostages. Urien then stirred his men and fighting began. In the ensuing combat Fflamddwyn was slain, temporarily freeing Rheged of the Anglian menace.
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The History of the Norman Conquest of England: Its Causes and Its Results is a six-volume study of the Conquest by Edward A. Freeman, published between 1867 and 1879. Recognised by critics as a major work of scholarship on its first publication, it has since proved unpopular with readers, many of whom were put off by its enormous length and copious detail. Academics have often criticized it for its heavily Whig treatment of the subject, and its glorification of Anglo-Saxon political and social institutions at the expense of their feudal successors, but its influence has nevertheless been profound, many Anglo-Norman historians of modern times having come around to some of Freeman's main conclusions.
References
- ↑ "Rare Books & Special Collections // Hesburgh Libraries // University of Notre Dame". www.library.nd.edu. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ↑ Chris Jones, 'Anglo-Saxonism in Nineteenth-Century Poetry', Literature Compass, 7 (2010), 358–69, DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2010.00704.x, accessed from https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/2041/1/Jones2010Anglo_SaxonismC19thPoetry.pdf (p. 3).
- ↑ Linda Georgianna, 'Coming to Terms with the Norman Conquest', REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature , 14 (1998), 33-53 (p. 39), https://books.google.com/books?id=_aJlRjkYOGoC Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine ; cf. .
- ↑ Linda Georgianna, 'Coming to Terms with the Norman Conquest', REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature , 14 (1998), 33-53 (pp. 39-40), https://books.google.com/books?id=_aJlRjkYOGoC Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine .
- ↑ Reginald Horsman, 'Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism in Great Britain before 1850', Journal of the History of Ideas, 37 (1976), 387-410 (quoting p. 394), https://www.jstor.org/stable/2708805 Archived 2016-08-10 at the Wayback Machine .
- ↑ Donna Beth Ellard, 'Ella's bloody eagle: Sharon Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Saxon history', Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies, 5 (2014), 215–34 (216-17), doi:10.1057/pmed.2014.10.