Lecture 6 –Germanic settlement of Britain

1. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest. Formation of Germanic States in Britain.

2. Formation of English language.

3. Old English dialects.

4. Spread of Christianity.

5. Scandinavian Conquest.

6. Old English alphabets. Written monuments of Old English period.

7. Problem of periodization of the English history.

1. There is few reliable evidence of that period. The story of the invasion is told by Bede (673-735), a monastic scholar who wrote the first history of England. According to Bede the invaders came to Britain in A.D. 449. The Britons fought against the conquerors for about a century and a half – till about the year 600. It is to this epoch that the legendary figure of the British King Arthur belongs.

The first wave of invaders, the Jutes or the Frisians, occupied the extreme south-east: Kent and the Isle of Wight. The second wave of immigrants was the Saxons, who occupied the territory south of the Thames. Last came the Angles who occupied most of the territory north of the Thames in the central part of the island.

The Germanic tribes which conquered Britain formed seven separate Kingdoms, which during four centuries struggled with one another for supremacy: Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria, which consisted of two regions, Bernicia and Deira. In this prolonged struggle it was sometimes Northumbria, and sometimes Mercia, that would take the upper hand. In 828 the struggle came to an end with the victory of king of Wessex. Since then Kings of Wessex became Kings of England, and the capital of Wessex, Winchester became capital of England.

2. Since the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain the ties of their language with the continent were broken, and in its further development it went its own ways. It is at this time, the 5th century, when the history of the English language begins. After the settlement West Germanic tongues came to be spoken all over Britain with the exception of a few distant regions where Celts were in the majority: Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

The word “England” became from the name of tribe Angles (land of Angles). The English language of today is the language that has resulted from the history of the dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes who came to England.

3. The period from the 5^th till the 11^th c. (which is called Old English in the history of the language) was a transitional period from the tribal and slave-owning system to feudalism. Tribal and clan division was gradually superseded by townships and shires. These conditions were reflected in the development of the West Germanic tongues brought to Britain. Four of the kingdoms at various times had superiority in the country: Kent, Northumbria and Mercia – during the Early OE, pre-written period, and Wessex – all through the period of Written OE. That time there were four principal dialects of English: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, West Saxon (Wessex).

4. Down to the end of the 6th century Britain was almost entirely isolated from Europe, and particularly, from Rome. In 597 Pope Gregory I sent a mission to England in order to spread Christianity among the Germanic conquerors and to include England into the sphere of his political influence. In the 7^th century Christianity spread all over England. The Latin language was at the time an international language of the church and of science in Western Europe. As a result of new ties with Rome the Latin language was introduced in England as the language of church. It gave a strong impulse to the growth of culture and learning. Monasteries were founded all over the country with monastic schools attached. Religious services and teaching were conducted in Latin. Also the English language adopted a considerable number of Latin words which were directly or indirectly connected with religious and church notions.

5. In the 8^th century raiders from Scandinavia (the “Danes”) made their first attacks on England. The Scandiavian Conquest of England was a great military and political event, which also influenced the English language. The Struggle of the English against the Scandinavians lasted over 300 years, in the course of which period more than half of England was occupied by the invaders and reconquered again. The ultimate effect of the Scandinavian invasions on the English language became manifest in the 12^th and 13^th c., when the Scandinavian element was incorporated in the central English dialects. Wessex stood at the head of the resistance. Under King Alfred of Wessex, one of the greatest figures in English history, by the peace treaty of 878 England was divided into two halves: the north-eastern half under Danish control called Danelaw and the south-western half united under the leadership of Wessex. The Scandinavians, in their turn, recognized the nominal supremacy of the king of England. In 1016 the Danish king Knut - (or Canute) became ruler of England. England became part of a vast Scandinavian empire in Northern Europe. Scandinavian power in England lasted until 1042, when it was overthrown, and the power of the Old English nobility was restored under King Edward the Confessor.

More than 1,400 English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin (with the element thorp meaning ‘village’, e.g. Woodthorp). The Scandinavians mixed with local population both ethnically and linguistically. Due to the contacts and mixture with Scandinavians, the Northern dialects had acquired some Scandinavian features. In later ages the Scandinavian element passed into other regions. The incorporation of the Scandinavian element in the London dialect and Standard English was brought about by the changing linguistic situation in England: the mixture of the dialects and the growing linguistic unification.

6. In OE two alphabets were used: The Runic and the Latin. A few Runic documents have come down to us. We shall mention the two most widely known ones.

One is the Ruthwell Cross, a religious poem engraved on a tall stone cross near the village of Ruthwell in South-East Scotland.

The other is the Runic Casket, made of whalebone, and found in France near the town Clermont-Ferrand, now in the British Museum in London. The Runic text is a short poem about whalebone. Both these texts are probably of the 9th century.

After the Anglo-Saxons came into contact with Roman culture the Runic alphabet was superseded by the Latin.

As it was said before in Old English period there were four dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, Wessex. Among the principal dialects the most important was Wessex dialect, as the majority of Old English written records belong to it. Also Wessex as a state became a leader of a nation.

Alfred of Wessex, or Alfred the Great was the most famous of all English kings. He was famous not only for his military actions but also peacetime activity. He established schools, restored monasteries and convents. He mastered Latin and translated many books into Anglo-Saxon.

The Wessex dialect is represented by the works of King Alfred the Great, both original compositions of translations of Latin texts, also by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the year book of the events in English history,

starting at 787, written later in West- Saxon; works of the abbot Aelfric (10 с.) and sermons of Wultstan (early 11 c.).

The Northumbrian dialect is represented by runic ‘Franks’ casket’ and ‘Ruthwell Cross’; Bede’s ‘Dying Song’; Caedmon’s ‘Hymn’; translations of the gospels.

The Mercian dialect is represented by translation of ‘Vespasian Psalter’ (8th century) and the Kentish dialect – by translation of Psalms and charters.

The epic poems of the OE period: Beowulf, Genesis, Exodus, Judith, and poems by the monk Gynewulf: Eleng Andreas, Juliana and other were written in Anglian dialect but have been kept in West-Saxon dialect.

7. The English Language has a long and eventful history. Its development began in the 5th century of our era, when groups of West Germanic tribes settled in the British Isles. During the sixteen hundred years of its history the English language has been undergoing constant change and it is changing still.

It is customary to divide the history of the English Language in to three main periods:

- Old English ( from the 5th century to the end of the 11th, the dates of its end as suggested by various authorities range from 1066, which is the year of the Norman Conquest, to 1150).

- Middle English (from the 12th to the 15th century, the period is believed to have ended in 1475, the year of the introduction of printing).

- New English (which means the English of the last six centuries). Within it, historians usually distinguish the Early New English period from the 15th century to the 17th up to the age of Shakespeare, from which as called Late New English from the 17th till our times.

It is easy to see that the approximate dates fixing the boundaries between the periods are very close to important events in the social and political life of the country.

The English scholar Henry Sweet (1845-1912) the author of a number of works on the English Language an on its history, proposed the following division of the history of English according to the state of unstressed endings:

- Old English - the period of full endings

- Middle English - the period of leveled endings.

- Modern English - the period of last endings.

This division is based on a feature both phonetic (weakening and loss of unstressed vowel sounds) and morphological (weakening and loss of grammatical morphemes).

But one of the historian of English Language Rastorguyeva T. A. gives an other criteria of periodization of the History of English. She divides traditional periodization (three periods) also into subdivisions according to their historical events affecting the language and purposes of teaching and research.

- OE period beginswith

(1) the Germanic of Britain (5^th c. 450-700 pre-written OE)

(2) the beginning of writing (7^th c.700-1066 written OE)

- ME period being with

(3) the Norman Conquest – Early ME (1066-1350)

(4) ends on the introduction of printing -C lassical ME (1350 -1475).

- NE period begins

(5) from (1476-1660) Early New English - the Age of Chaucer and the Age of Shakespeare,

(6) to the age of normalization and correctness (1660-1800).

(7) The English language of the XIX and XX c. represents the seventh period in the history of English - Late New English and Modern English. By the XIX century English had achieved the relative stability typical of an age of literary and had acquired all the properties of a national language.

Prof. Arakin’s and Ilyish’s divisions into four periods (or three) are based on the social and political development of the era on British Isles.

- Early English Period (1-7th century, from ancient English tribes to English People).

- Old English Period (7-11th, period of formation of English People).

- Middle English Period (11-15th, period of from English People – to the formation of English nationality).

- New English Period (16-20 centuries,

a) Early New English - Period of Formation English National language,

b) Late New English - English National Language.

Glossary:

Approximate – [ə'prɔksɪmət] – приблизительный, примерный

Convent – ['kɔnvənt] – женский монастырь

Incorporation – [ɪnˌkɔːp(ə)'reɪʃ(ə)n] – объединение, слияние

Peace treaty – мирный договор

Principal – ['prɪn(t)səp(ə)l] – главный, основной

Prolonged – [prə'lɔŋd] – длительный, затянувшийся

Superiority – [s(j)uːˌpɪərɪ'ɔrətɪ] – старшинство, превосходство

Supremacy – [s(j)uː'preməsɪ] – верховенство, превосходство

To acquire – [ə'kwaɪə] – приобретать, овладевать

To distinguish – [dɪ'stɪŋgwɪʃ] – различать, распознавать

To restore – [rɪ'stɔː] – восстанавливать, реставрировать, возрождать

Transitional – [træn'zɪʃ(ə)nəl ] – переходный

Questions for discussion:

1. Who was Bede? What did he write?

2. When did invaders come to Britain? Who were they? What territories did they occupy?

3. Name 7 Germanic kingdoms. What kingdom had the superiority?

4. When did history of the English language begin?

5. What was the period from 5^th till 11^th centuries?

6. What four kingdoms had the superiority in the country?

7. How many dialects did they have? Name these dialects.

8. When did Christianity spread all over England?

9. How did the spread of Latin language influence on England and English language?

10. What happened in the 8^th century?

11. Who was Alfred? What did he do?

12. What are the traces of Scandinavians in English language?

13. What alphabets were used in Old English period?

14. Name two famous Runic documents.

15. Name the main works of Wessex, Northumbrian, Mercian and Kentish dialects.

16. What principles Henry Sweet’s periodization of history of the English language was based on?

17. What principles Rastorguyeva’s periodization of history of the English language was based on?

18. What principles Arakin’s and Ilyish’s periodization of history of the English language was based on?

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