The Anglo-Saxon Era

The beginnings of the English

Language, the English People,
and English Literature
 I. Proto-Indo-European
I. Popular Theory - Kurgan Hypothesis * From your
articles
I. Originated in Russian Steppes (Turkey/Iraq)
II. Spread throughout Europe, India, Iran, and Turkey
I. Were they farmers/herders - groups of tribes and clans moving for
trade and other reasons?
II. Were they fighters and invaders who moved on weaker groups?
III. Domesticated the Horse - had Chariots
I. Archeological finds support this theory
II. Generally accepted that wherever they moved they
forced their language, culture and customs
I. Used to easily explain change from matriarchal to
patriarchal societies throughout area of spread
III. NO written record of PIE
I. Language was/is reconstructed through comparisons
 Samples of Language
Similarities
Latin: unus, duo, tres
Hindi: ek, do, tin
Russian: odin, dva, tri
Greek: heis, duo, treis
English: one, two, three
 II. Origins of Written Language
I. 1st - Cave drawings- art used to convey
messages and/or illustrate religious/
cultural beliefs
II. Conventional Systems of descriptive
marks looking similar to object or personal
mark used to identify property
III. Full Writing System
I. Logography - symbol represents words
II. Phonography - symbol represents syllable
 III. Three Great Writing Systems
I. Chinese - logography (2000 BC)
II. Sumerians - logography
I. (3100 BC-75 BC) 1st to use symbols for trade
II. Evidence found on sunken trading ships in
Mediterranean
III. Egyptian (3000 BC)
I. Develop from Hieroglyphs
I. Moves from logography into Phonography
 III. Howd we get to ABC?
I. Semitic languages - 1800-1500 BC
I. No vowels
II. Hebrew, Arabic, Phoenician - 1200 BC
I. Great traders of the Mediterranean
III. Greeks - 1000 BC
I. Kept Phoenician alphabet and revised it to fit
their spoken language
IV. Romans - Etruscans
I. Took Greek alphabet and revised it
I. 23 letters (only V,W,J missing)
II. Spread written language as they conquered
I. W - medieval period
II. V - interchangeable with W/U - used to differentiate
between different words at first
III. J - same as V - arrived around 600 AD - thought to be
due to writing speed
I. Eventually all moved to match a certain phoneme
(sound)
III. Romans spread to England
I. Celts, with their Runes, were already theremany
Angles, Saxons and Jutes in Europe also were using
Runes
II. After the Romans left the English kept Roman
alphabet and added
I. Eth (th) III. Wynn (no w yet)
II. Thorn (th) IV. Asch (Latin symbol/runic name)
VI. Popular theory is that 100 years from now
50% of all languages will be dead (no
longer spoken as a primary, from birth,
language
I. Technology is forcing English throughout the
world
II. China will soon be the largest English
speaking country (not America)
III. 100% of college graduate in India speak
English
IV. All air traffic control is conducted in English
 IV. Specifically England
I. Arrivals
I.
Celts arrive circa 600 BC
II.
Romans arrive 55 BC - take over 43 AD
(gone by early 400s)
III. Anglo-Saxons-Jutes arrive 449 AD - fully 615
IV. Viking raids throughout time; 780 in earnest
II. Old English Language Period 500-1100 AD
I. Middle English 1100-1500
II. Early Modern English 1500-1800
III. Modern English 1800- present
III. Anglo-Saxon is the oldest RECORDED form of
English; it resembles German in its construction
and pronunciation
Invasion of Britain AD 449
I. 700-900 AD - King Alfreds
influence spreads written
language (believed citizens
should be literate)
II. 500-1066 AD - Anglo-Saxon is
major influence on spoken
language -
I. Latin and Norse also influential
III. 4 major dialects in OE
I. Kentish - from County Kent- Jutes
II. West Saxon - around London -
Saxons
III. Mercian (Thames to Umber River -
Angles
IV. North Umbrian (Umber to Glasgow)
 V. Anglo-Saxon Society
I. Small Clans
I. Joined together by family, religion, or leader;
marked by strong alliances
I. Cynning (king/clan leader)
II. Eorls (landowners - wealthy freemen)
III. Freeman (owed small parcels & slaves)
IV. Churls (slaves)
II. Free Nation - King made no decision
without the MOOT - a group of elders,
respected Eorls and Freemen
III. Women - had no place in society
I. Referred to as peace weavers
IV. Flyting - boasting - ego building/producing
V. Wyrd - fate - part of religion
VI. Comitatus - moral code of Allegiance to King
I. King protected people, gave shelter (mead halls) and
spoils of war
II. People paid with service
VII. Mead Hall - place for shelter/food & clan
gatherings - i.e.. banquet hall
VIII. Wergild - blood price, man gold
I. Your value if killed in combat or individual battle
II. Paid by your killer to your family/clan
III. NOT paid for women
IX. Religion
I. Polytheistic
II. Patriarchal
III. Very similar to Norse/Germanic
(Thor/Thunar) EXCEPT
IV. ASs do not believe in an afterlife - must do
great deeds on earth to be remembered
X. Artistic People
I. Goldsmiths, jewelry makers, armories
I. Evidenced through archeological finds, especially
Sutton Hoo (1939)
Sutton Hoo

Located in Woodbridge, Suffolk,

England
Discovered in 1939
Burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king
Burial site contained 41 items of solid
gold and 37 gold coins
 7th century helmet
Reconstructed from
hundreds of corroded
iron fragments
Artifact most often
associated with this
period in English
history
Additional Anglo-Saxon
Artifacts
Anglo-Saxon Brooch
Anglo-Saxon
pendant probably made
in the 7th century AD
found in garden soil
at Sacriston, County
Durham.
made of solid gold
with a goldwire or
filigree decoration.
 VI. Invasions
I. 615 AD - AS invasion complete - 500,000 to 1
million Germans
II. 780 Danish (Viking) skirmishes begin in earnest
I. 794 Lindesfarne & Jarrow monasteries are destroyed
I. Schools with vast libraries of AS literature - all is
destroyed
II. Danes killed religious, took slaves, pillaged all
could find
II. 850 full fledged invasion begins
I. Eventually will control most of northern England
and some of Scotland, many of the islands off of
English coast
II. Danish Kings will control England on and off until
c.1040
III. 878 Alfred the Great wins battle with Ethendan
and makes an agreement with the Danes
referred to as Danelaw
I. Eastern 1/2 of England will become Christian
II. Rest will be controlled by Danes and other groups
III. 1st time England is united under 1 king
IV. 944-975 King Edger unites both halves of
England
V. 991 Danes regain control
I. 1016 Cunnut (Dane) is named King
II. Ethelred the Unready loses England in fight (said to
wait in surf for invasion and give up crown); flees to
Normandy
VI. 1042 - Edward the Confessor returns
from fathers exile to regain crown of
England -HAS NO CHILDREN
I. Fosters William of Normandy
II. Promises crown to William in exchange for
help regaining his throne from the Danes.
VII. 1060- Edward Dies
I. Harold Goodwinson elected king by Moot
I. Nobles (eorls) do not want a foreign king
II. Harold had previously sworn allegiance to William
II. 1066 -
I. Danes invade in north (led by Haarold)
II. William readies to invade in south
VIII. Battle of Hastings
I. William finally lands in England (September)
II. Harold defeats Danes, rushes south
III. William builds mote and bailey fortress on
Telham hill; Hastings is village at foot of hill
IV. Battle rages - both Harold and William rally
troops after word of their deaths spread.
V. Harold is shot threw the eye by an arrow-
identified only by scars on body
VI. William marches to London, crowned King of
England - Christmas eve 1066
 VII. Old English Poetry & Writing
I. Approximately 30,000 lines remain today
I. Why?
I. Destroyed by Vikings
II. Destroyed by mishandling/poor care of modern man
III. Books were not respected - cutting boards, coasters.why?
II. Mostly scribed by Monks
I. Specialists - Scriptoriums
II. Put own spin on tales they recorded
III. 4 Main Manuscript collections
I. Beowulf (3200 lines)
II. Exeter - contains riddles & most lines
III. Vercelli
IV. Junius
V. Anglo-Saxon Chronicles not counted - spans past initial AS
age to 1154 commissioned by Alfred the Great.
II. Characteristics of Poetry
I. 4 stress line (think stressed/unstressed syllables)
Beld waes bethe :: bregoroff cyning
(the) hall was splendid :: very valiant (the) king
II. A pause (caesura) divides each line into 2
half lines with 2 stresses on each side
III. Alliteration was the means of binding a line
together NOT RHYME
Oft Scefling :: Scea Pena Peatum
Often Shield, son of Sheaf, of enemies crowded
Monegum maegPum :: Meodosetia of teah
many of people of mead seats (were) deprived
IV. Kennings - 2 nouns in a compound or
phrase, which imply a third noun not
directly related
I. Whale Road = Ocean
II. Sea Stallion = Ship
III. Peace Weaver = noble wife
V. Elevated and lifted tone - aristocratic
VI. Rapid, narrative style (kept attention)
VII. Oral - Scop/Poet
I. Accompanied by harp or drum
II. Highly schooled (best schools in Ireland; age 7)
III. Learn basic stories and characters, develop these
into different tales and poems
IV. Very dangerous profession
The Anglo-Saxon bards

Strummed harp as they sang

Sang of heroic deeds
Kept historical accounts going
Kept people entertained
Were often warriors
Why were the scops important?
King/noble could spread rumors
of others weakness
Warriors gained immortality
through songs Anglo-Saxon harp

Spread word of deeds (flyting)

throughout area
VIII. Poets
I. Cademon (c. 670)
I. 1st known poet
II. 1st to sign work
III. Died at Whitby Abbey (led by St. Hilda from 658-
680)
IV. Uneducated but inspired (see Bedes history)
II. Cynewulf (c.730-825) [very common name]
I. Four poems attested to him
II. Scattered lines with runic signature
III. Bede (c.673 - 735)
I. (Baeda) at age 7 placed at Jarrow (OBLATE)
II. Authored 40 books, composed verses, wrote
biographies of saints and sermons
III. Ecclesiastical History of the English Church
and People
I. written in Latin
II. Translated into OE by Alfred
III. Included early invasions, conquests
missionaries, monasteries, miracles
historical figures and events
IV. Introduced BC/AD
V. Called 1st scientific intellect among Germanic
People
IV. The Wanderer & Seafarer
I. Elegiac Mood - tone of sadness, a lamentation over
the grimness and transience of earthly life
II. Found in Book of Exeter
I. 108 lines (940 AD) & 124 lines (950 AD)
III. In Wanderer, aging warrior lacks purpose in life
without lord, mead hall; dreams of the past as he
searches for new lord
IV. In Seafarer, warrior is exiled, sequel to Wanderer;
voice is old sailor reflecting on life; images are of land
- thought not to be a sailor, but image used for
Christian influence
I. Antagonist is indifferent culture
II. Conflict is man vs. man and man vs. nature
V. Both are 1st person; full of metaphor, symbolism
alliteration, personification & kennings
VI. Seafarer spends poem lamenting lost culture of the
ASs ; by 950 England is fully Christian
V. Jokes & Riddles
I. Told for entertainment and intellectual
stimulation
II. 95 riddles have survived - all in the Book of
Exeter
VI. Beowulf
I. Originally an oral tale around 600 A.D.
II. Rooted in actual events? (be.wlf/; in Old English
[beowlf] or[bewlf], literally "bee wolf" i.e. "bee
hunter", a kenning for "bear) Origins in Norse, Celtic, &
Classical folklore
III. Original manuscripts destroyed copy from 1000 A.D.
survives. 3182 lines long. Damaged by fire in 1731.
 Proto Indo European

Indo-Iranian Italic Celtic Slavic Germanic Baltic Hellenic Anatolian Tocharian Albanian Armenian

Sanskrit Latin & Oscan Cornish Russian see page 2 Lithuanian Koine Hittite

Hindi Umbrian Welsh Polish Latvian Myconean

Urdu French Scots Czech Prussian Doric

Persian Spanish Irish Bulgarian Lesbian

Afghan Italian Breton Ukranian

Kurdish Portuguese Manx Slovak

Avesten Romanian Slovenian

Walloon Serbocroatian

Provencal
 Germanic Branch of PIE

Germanic

West Germanic East Germanic North Germanic

AngloFrisian West German Gothic West Norse East Norse

English Frisian Low German High German Norwegian Danish

LowFranconian Old Saxon Yiddish High German Icelandic Sweedish

Dutch Low German* Faroese Gutnish

Flemish *PA Dutch

Afrikanns