1 Old English (450-1066

Scenario Literature 1 OLD ENGLISH (450-1066)

Three languages

The history of the English language started with the arrival of Germanic tribes (the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes), who crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and Northern Germany and invaded Britain during the 5th century A.D., soon after the Romans’ withdrawal. At that time, the inhabitants of Britain (the Britons) spoke a number of Celtic dialects while the invaders’ language was Anglo-Saxon (or ‘Englisc’), a branch of the Indo-European language family – based on an alphabet consisting of signs called ‘runes’ – that developed into

Old English. It soon became dominant over the language spoken by the Britons and also over Latin, which had been brought to Britain by the Romans and was in use among the elite, mainly in the south. Latin, however, did not disappear. With the arrival of Christianity at the end of the 6th century, a new written culture came into being: the monks wrote manuscripts in Latin that were later translated into Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100 and greatly influenced modern English: about half of the most commonly used words in today’s language have Old English roots.

▲ The runic alphabet. ▶ An example of Old English manuscript.

Bards, epics and elegies

Before writing was introduced, the history of the Anglo-Saxons and their songs were passed down from generation to generation thanks to bards, story-tellers who narrated popular oral poems. They were also master improvisers, who composed poems freely and sang or chanted them. Rhythm was given by alliteration (→ p. 532), while repetition of certain words and phrases helped the poet to memorise the lines. Poems were often recited during meals when warriors were invited to commemorate their deeds. Some compositions survived for centuries before they were finally written down. The highest form of poetry was the epic, or heroic poem (→ p. 532), a long narrative poem that told of the deeds and incredible adventures of heroes. It was generally based on historical facts, but was also inspired by songs and legends of the past that provided both entertainment and education for the audience. The hero represented the values of a certain culture, race or religious group, and on his victory or failure depended the destiny of the whole nation. The first known epic in English literature is Beowulf (→ p. 32), composed by an unknown poet probably in the 8th century.