Historical Background: Prehistoric Britain, Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon Britain

Before the Germanic settlers arrived in Britain and became the first speakers of "English," other peoples had claimed the island as their home. The first inhabitants for whom we have linguistic knowledge were the Celts, who arrived around the time of the Bronze Age (2000–500 B.C.). They were almost certainly the first speakers of an Indo-European language to arrive.

In 55 B.C.E. Julius Caesar attempted an invasion of Britain, but he was not to succeed until the following year (54 B.C.E.). How successful he was, however, is perhaps suggested by the fact that the tribute Caesar demanded before returning to Gaul was never paid.

In 43 C.E., the Emperor Claudius, with 40,000 men, was far more successful, although the Romans never penetrated far into Wales or Scotland. Hadrian's wall marks extent of the Roman Governor Agricola's rule northward. The lands south of the Wall were ruled by Romans for over 300 years. The Romans built roads, baths (such as those at Bath), temples, and introduced Christianity. By the end of the Roman occupation, the subjugated Celts had apparently lost the ability to defend themselves against the Picts and Scots from the north. When the legions withdrew in 410 C.E. to defend the diminishing Empire, the Celts began to look elsewhere for defensive aid.

The origin of English is customarily linked to the date 449 AD. This is the year in which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the issuing of an invitation by Vortigern (king of the British, or Celts) to the "Angle kin" (Angles, led by Hengest and Horsa) to help them in their defense against the Picts. In return for their military assistance, the Chronicle says the Angles were granted lands in the southeast. Further aid was sought, and in response "came men of three peoples of Germanie": "of Ald Seaxum of Anglum of Iotum" (Saxons, Angles, and Jutes). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle documents the subsequent influx of "settlers," and over the course of the next century-and-a-half the newcomers establish seven kingdoms, known as the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex. The earlier Celtic inhabitants were dubbed Wēalas, the plural form of wealh — meaning "foreigner, stranger, slave" — from which comes Welsh.

Figure 4

Anglo-Saxon invasion

The terms English, England, and East Anglia are derived--fairly transparently--from words referring to the Angles: Englisc (vernacular writers referred to themselves by this term), Angelcynn, and Englaland.

Egbert, the West Saxon chief, having reclaimed his throne from Mercian dominance, ruled all of England and Wales from 830 until his death in 839. His son, Æthelwulf maintained his father's kingdom and around 849 he added Berkshire to the holdings of the West Saxon kingdom. In 855, while on pilgrimage to Rome, he married Judith (then thirteen years old), daughter of Charles the Bald, the king of the West Franks. Meanwhile, his oldest son, Æthelbald, and the nobles of Wessex, stripped Æthelwulf of his kingship, and West Saxon kingdom was sundered, with Æthelbald getting Wessex and Æthelwulf taking Kent and other parts of SE England. When Æthelwulf died in 858, his second son, Æthelberht, took over those provinces. The elder son, Æthelbald, married his father's young widow (Judith). When he died in 860, Æthelberht reunited the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. But he died five years later, without heir, and his younger brother Æthelred became king. Unfortunately for Æthelred, the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, "Ivar the Boneless" (born with gristle instead of bone) and Halfdan, led the Danish in an attack on England, landing in East Anglia. Burgred, the king of Mercia, had married Æthelred's sister, and now asked Æthelred for help. Æthelred and his brother Alfred joined the Mercians, but eventually, they had to pay the Danes for a peace.

In 871 Æthelred died, and even though he left heirs, Alfred was acknowledged as king. He became known to history as Alfred the Great (871–899). In 886, he established a West Saxon occupation of London, giving the Saxons renewed hope in their fight against the Danes. Those areas of England not subject to Danish rule united under Alfred.

Alfred was instrumental in the establishment of literary language, and he produced translations of the Bible, Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, Orosius, Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People), Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy. He has come to be known as the Father of English prose, a tradition carried on and developed by Ælfric and Wulfstan.

Generally, when we study Old English today, our source of texts is predominantly West Saxon, since Alfred's influence helped to establish that dialect as a sort of literary standard. But there were other dialects, the other three being Northumbrian, Mercian and Kentish.

Figure 5

Main Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1510