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English History and Literature

Old English:

History and Literature in this Period

History of Old English

Old English is a term which refers to a first period of the development of the English language.
Old English started from 450 AD till 1066 AD. According to Algeo (79), Celtic people had been in
Britain Isles for many centuries before Julius Caesar’s invasion in 55 B.C. Picts from Scotland and
Scots from Ireland attacked and made the Roman legion left the isles. After that, there was a big
migration from northern Europe to Britain Isles. Anglo, Saxons, and Jutes were the tribes from German
came to Britain Isles around half of the fourth century. The Anglo-Saxons tribe did not call themselves
as ‘Anglo-Saxons.’ The term Anglo-Saxons was used to refers people who came and spoke German in
Britain isles in the eighth century.

To keep the isles in Empire order, the Roman legions included non-Italian people to the army.
Anglo and Saxons were joined the Roman legions to fight Picts and Scots. Algeo (80) described in his
book that Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Britons ask Rome to fight Picts
and Scots. Bede was the British monk who lived during the early Middle Age. Britons also asked the
Saxons, thus made the ships of the Saxons arrived in Britain Isles to keep the Britain Isles. After the
Saxons came to the isles in 449, the Old English period was begun. Not only Saxons, but the Frisians,
Jutes and Anglo also came to Britain isles. They increased their number in Britain while joined the
Roman legion.

After these tribes invaded, they settled and built their kingdom in Britain. According to Hough
and Corbett, the Jutes settled Kent, the Saxons occupied and gave their name to Essex, Sussex, and
ancient kingdoms of Wessex, and the Angles took settled in Suffolk and Norfolk. (3) In that time, there
were seven kingdoms: Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, and East Anglia which they
were emerged and known as Anglo-Saxon ‘heptarchy.’

Christianity had come to Britain in two ways: from Rome with Saint Augustine and from the
Celtic Church with Irish missionaries. Christianity had been known in Britain isles and Ireland earlier,
before 400 (Algeo 81). The Anglo-Saxons kingdom accepted the Christianity as the religion in their

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kingdom. King Ethelbert of Kent was converted to Christianity by Saint Augustine, a monk that sent
by Pope Gregory I. Despite King Ethelbert, King Oswald also invited a missionary from Iona, Aidan,
to convert the Northumbrians to Christianity (Harrison 2019).

The Anglo-Saxons kingdoms was conquered twice by Viking tribes. The Vikings landed and
conquered East Anglia in 865. This first conquest was led by Ivar the Boneless and his brother, Halfdan,
son of Ragnar Lohbrok (Algeo 82). In 870, the Vikings invaded Wessex which ruled by Ethelbert. The
second conquest by the Vikings was in tenth century, and the conquest was led by Olaf Tryggvason.

The Anglo-Saxons tribes invasion made them bring their native language, German, to Britain
isles. There were four dialects in this age: Kentish, West Saxon, Mercian, and Northumbrian. (Algeo,
85) Kentish was spoken in Kent by the Jutes. West Saxon was spoken in region south of the Thames,
Mercian was spoken in Thames to Humber. Northumbrian was spoken in Northumbrian.

Literature in Old English Age

The invasion of Anglo-Saxons tribes made them also brought their impact to literature in Britain
isles. The first poem in Old English age was Caedmon’s Hymn. This poem was wrote around seventh
century. Caedmon’s Hymn also called as first song of praise in English culture, and also the first
Christian poem in English while there were many poems written in Latin (Carter and Mcrae 5). The
Caedmon’s Hymn was composed in monastery of Whitby, in Northumbrian kingdom. In Old English
age, there were many poems that related to Christianity besides Caedmon’s Hymn.

Besides religious poems, in Old English the heroic poetry was also developed. Godden and
Lapidge explained Old English heroic poetry told about the professional mistrel at the castle, which
singing the legends of Germanic past, and also added Christian stories to the reportoire, familiar tales
made delightful to the audience by his skill in developing and embellishing them (50). The example of
heroic poem is Beowulf, a longest heroic poetry which composed in seventh century.

Beer et al. explained “Virtually all Old English poetry is written in a single metre, a four-stress
line with a syntactical break, or caesura, between the second and third stresses, and with alliteration
linking the two halves of the line; this pattern is occasionally varied by six-stress lines.” (2019) It gives
the distinctive rhythm to the verse. The characteristic that we can find in Old English poetry is kenning,
a style that gives figurative name for a thing. Most of the poetry in Old English are anonymous. All the
texts in oral traditions had been written after they were performed years later. The Old English poetry
also used alliteration and repeated sounds in it. Carter and McRae also explained Old English poetry
also contained a wide range of conventional poetic diction, and also several alternatives key words,
such as battle, warrior, horse, ship, the sea, the prince, and many more. (9)

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 Many poems in Old English had been written in four manuscipts in tenth or eleventh century.
Beadle et al. mentioned these four manuscripts: the Beowulf manuscript, the Exeter Book, the Junius
manuscript as known as Caedmon manuscript, and the Vercelli Book. (2019) the Beowulf tells the story
about the hero who fought the mortal enemy, the Grendel, and had setting in German. The Exeter Book
contains lyrics, riddles, didactic poems, and religion narratives. The Junius manuscript contains
religious poetry, Old Testament paraphrase and lyric on Old and New Testament theme. (Godden and
Lapidge 52) The Vercelli Book tells about the lives of saints and religious poems.

“Old English prose texts were copied for more than a century after the Norman Conquest; the
homilies of Aelfric were especially popular, and King Alfred’s translation of Boethius and Augustine
survive only in 12th-century manuscript.” (Beer et al. 2019) The English language had to faced with
Anglo-Norman (the dialect of French which used in monasteries) and Latin. Prose in this age only
composed for those who only could read in Englishwomen especially. In thirteenth century, the Old
English alliterative prose was developed in the West Midlands, and when the several text known as
Katherine group were found. Beadle et al. mentioned St. Katherine, St. Margaret, and St. Juliana were
found in one manusript together.

From these explanations, we can conclude that the invasion from several German tribes
influenced to the Old English literature, whether its language, the story, and many more. The
Christianity, which accepted by Anglo-Saxons kingdom also impacted to Old English literature. We
can see by several literary works such as poems, lyric, verse which contains praise.

Reference List

Algeo, John. The Origins and Development of the English Language Sixth Edition. Boston:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010 <
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2
ahUKEwiBptuQtdfkAhUbi3AKHfIODIg4ChAWMAB6BAgBEAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fekladata.c
om%2FLP-DowGWP2jGZ75kxCZ9PrGnUEg%2FThe-Origins-and-Development-of-the-English-
Language-6th-ed.-J.-Algeo-Cengage-2010-BBS.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2z27o2520YT8XDyjDFhkTy>

Beer, John Bernard et al. English Literature. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2019. Encyclopaedia
Britannica Inc. September 17, 2019 < https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature>

Carter, Ronald, and John McRae. The Routledge History of Literature in English Second
Edition. London: Routledge, 2005

Godden, Malcolm, and Michael Lapidge. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature
Second Edition. United Kingdom: MPG Books Group, 2013 <
https://booksapp.xyz/?hash=iBjYxQTY4cTOzUjM0IGM1kzY4Y2M2MWN6lHeuAHchN3av9mY>

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 Harrison, Julian. Who were the Anglo-Saxons?. British Library. 2019. British Library.
September 17, 2019 < https://www.bl.uk/anglo-saxons/articles/who-were-the-anglo-saxons>

Hough, Carole, and John Corbett. Beginning Old English. New York: PALGRAVE
MACMILLAN, 2007 < https://d-m.booksdescr.com/get_item/5c63f7e850b4253978962265>