AN INTRODUCTION TO OLD ENGLISH Atousa Mirzapour Kouhdasht

A SHORT HISTORY LINE OF OLD ENGLISH

1) Early Anglo-Saxon history (410–660)

2) Development of an Anglo-Saxon society (560–610)
3) Conversion to Christianity (590–660)
4) Middle Anglo-Saxon history (660–899)
5) West Saxon hegemony and the Anglo-Scandinavian Wars (793–878)
6) King Alfred and the rebuilding (878–899)
7) Late Anglo-Saxon history (899–1066)
Early Anglo-Saxon history (410–660)
1. Migration (410–560)
2. Development of an Anglo-Saxon society (560–610)
3. Conversion to Christianity (590–660)
Middle Anglo-Saxon history (660–899)
1. Mercian supremacy (626–821)
2. Learning and monasticism (660–793)
3. West Saxon hegemony and the Anglo-Scandinavian Wars (793–878)
4. King Alfred and the rebuilding (878–899)
Late Anglo-Saxon history (899–1066)
1. Reform and formation of England (899–978)
2. Ethelred and the return of the Scandinavians (978–1016)
3. Conquest of England: Danes, Norwegians and Normans (1016–1066)
Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450
and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman Conquest.
The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of
the aspects that survive today, including regional government of shires and hundreds.
During this period, Christianity was established and there was a flowering of
literature and language.
Charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for
the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England and
southeastern Scotland from at least the mid-5th century until the mid-12th century. In
scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. It is also the earliest recorded
form of the English language.

the only surviving copy of Æthelberht's laws

 From the first to the fifth century, England was a province of the Roman Empire
and was named Britannia after its Celtic-speaking inhabitants, the Britons. The
Britons adapted themselves to Roman civilization, of which the ruins survived to
impress the poet of The Wanderer, who refers to them as "the old works of
giants."
 The withdrawal of the Roman legions during the fifth century, in a vain attempt
to protect Rome itself from the threat of Germanic conquest, left the island
vulnerable to seafaring Germanic invaders. These belonged primarily to three
related tribes, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. Although each was
independent, through their common Germanic heritage these tribes were closely allied
with one another. The normal order of society was made up of a number of small bands,
which while they did not always live at peace with one and another, still shared a sense
community, especially in the face of a common enemy.
ANGLO- SAXONS AND ORGANIZATION

In its earliest period Germanic society had been organized by families: the
head of the family was the chief of his close kinsmen, and the family formed an
independent political entity.
With the passing of time The unit of society tended to grow larger as a
number of families united under a single superior chieftain king.
Thus long after the Anglo-Saxons had become settled in Britain, the island was still
broken up into a bewildering number of kingdoms, and a coherent union of all
Englishmen was not achieved until after the Norman conquest.
The Anglo-Saxon occupation was no sudden conquest but extended over decades of
fighting against the native Britons.
The latter were, finally, largely confined to the mountainous region of Wales, where the
modern form of their language is spoken alongside English to this day. The Britons
had become Christians in the fourth century after the conversion of Emperor Constantine
along with most of the rest of the Roman Empire, but for about 150 years after the
beginning of the invasion, Christianity was maintained only in the remoter regions where
the as yet pagan Anglo-Saxons failed to penetrate. In the year 597, however, a
Benedictine monk was sent by Pope Gregory as a missionary to King Ethelbert of
Kent. Within 75 years the island was once more predominantly Christian.

Pope Gregory
THE IMPACT OF CHRISTIANITY ON LITERACY

Before Christianity there had been no books. The impact of Christianity on

literacy is evident from the fact that the first extended written specimen of
the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language is a code of laws broadcasted by
Ethelbert, the first English Christian king.
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
Old English literary works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography,
sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles and others. In all there
are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period.
This literature is remarkable for being in the vernacular (Old English) in the
early medieval period: almost all other written literature was in Latin at this
time, but because of Alfred's programme of vernacular literacy, the oral
traditions of Anglo-Saxon England ended up being converted into writing and
preserved.
Much of this preservation can be attributed to the monks of the tenth century,
who made – at the very least – the copies of most of the literary manuscripts
that still exist. Manuscripts were not common items. They were expensive and
hard to make. Every manuscript is slightly different from another, even if they
are copies of each other, because every scribe had different handwriting and
made different errors.
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend
consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often
translated works of Old English literature.

• The first page of the Beowulf manuscript with its opening:

Hƿæt ƿē Gārde
na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga
þrym ge frunon...

"Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the
folk-kings..."
THE NORMAN CONQUEST

The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation
of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Bretons, Flemish, and men
from other French provinces, all led by the Duke of Normandy later styled William the
Conqueror.

William the Conqueror

ARE NORMANS AND VIKINGS THE SAME?

The Normans were Vikings who settled in northwestern France in the 10th and 11th
centuries and their descendants. These people gave their name to the duchy of
Normandy, a territory ruled by a duke that grew out of a 911 treaty between King
Charles III of West Francia and Rollo, the leader of the Vikings.

Normans
 WHY DID THE NORMANS CONQUER ENGLAND?
The Normans came from northern France, in a region called Normandy. The Normans
invaded England in 1066 because they wanted to have Norman king in England
after the Anglo-Saxon king died. The first Norman king was William the Conqueror,
who won the Battle of Hastings in 1066 against the Anglo-Saxons

Hastings battle