Periods of English• Old English (ca. 450-1100): Beowulf

1066: Norman Conquest of England• Middle English (ca. 1100-1500): Chaucer

1476: First book printed in England1485: Battle of Bosworth Field (beginning of Tudor monarchy)

• Early Modern English (ca. 1500-1700): Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton

• Modern English (ca. 1700-present)

The Anglo-Saxon Migrations

Anglo-Saxon England

Viking Ship

Æþelræd Unræd

Noble Counsel “No Counsel”Ethelred the Unready

Bayeux Tapestry: hic residet harold rex anglorum stigant arhcieps/ (here sits Harold, King of the English; Archbishop Stigan)

Bayeux Tapestry: harold rex interfectus est (King Haroldgets killed)

Bayeux Tapestry: Isti mirant stella (they wonder at the star)

Pre-Christian Germanic Vocabulary

• OE geol Yule → Christmas• OE eostor Easter (Lat. Pascha, Fr. Paques)• Tuesday (Tiw = Mars) Fr. Mardi• Wednesday (Woden = Mercury) Fr.

Mercredi• Thursday (Thor = Jove) Fr. Jeudi• Friday (Frigg = Venus) Fr. Vendredi

Ruthwell Cross

Sutton Hoo Ship Burial

Sutton Hoo Shield Mount

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Sutton Hoo Belt Buckle

Anglo-Saxon Brooch

Anglo-Saxon Coin with King Edwin

Anglo-Saxon Coin with King Æthelræd

The Anglo-Saxon Futhark (Runic Alphabet)

Scandinavian Sinker with Runes

10th-century glossary: fish and insects (Latin/English)

Anglo-Saxon glossed manuscript (Latin script, Old Englishgloss (fuisse, werun, were; euangelia, godspellas, gospels)

Lindisfarne GospelsCarpet Page

Lindisfarne Gospels:Gospel of St. Matthew(Liber Generationis)

The Alfred Jewel ælfred mec heht gewyrhtan (Alfred had me made)

The Exeter Book(late 10th c.)

Junius Manuscript (ca. 1000)

The Harley Psalter (early 11th century)

Old English Literature

• Sermons, homilies, saints’ lives• Laws• Medical and magical texts• Scientific and mathematical texts• Misc. (travel literature, animals, etc.)• Poetry (5% of literature)

Genres of Old English Poetry• Heroic/Germanic past – heroism, loyalty – Beowulf, a few

others, battle-poems

• Christian poetry – Christ as hero – saints’ lives – heofonrices weard, wealdend

• Old Testament narrative poetry – Genesis, Exodus, Daniel

• lore and wisdom – maxims, proverbs, gnomes, riddles

• elegies – sad, mournful, meditative

• misc.: hymns, psalms, prayers, Apostles’ Creed, Soul and Body, Judgment Day, animal descriptions, Death of Edgar, etc.

Germanic Languages

Old English Inflections

Hwæt, we Gardena in geardagum,þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,Hu ða æþelingas ellen gefremedon.Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearðfeasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah,oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendraofer hronrade hyran scolde,gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone byand the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.This terror of the hall-troops had come far.A foundling to start with, he would flourish later onas his powers waxed and his worth was proved.In the end each clan on the outlying coastsbeyond the whale-road had to yield to himand begin to pay tribute. That was one good king.

Contents of Cotton Vitellius A.XV

• The Passion of St. Christopher (saint’s life)• The Wonders of the East (marvelous narrative)• The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle (lore and

wisdom)• Beowulf• Judith (poem about the Old Testament

heroine)

The Language of Beowulf: Repetition and Variation

Levels:• sub-verbal (alliteration, assonance,

dissonance, rhyme)• Words, compounds, phrases,

paragraphs, themes• Structure of the poem• ‘verse-paragraphs’ (repetition of

sounds, words, or phrases at beginning or end - ‘envelope-pattern’)

• Proverb or gnomic expression (‘gnome’)

Terms of Warrior Society• Hlaford (lord)• Þegn (thane, retainer, warrior, noble)• Beaggyfa (ring-giver; 1102)• Helm (helmet, protector, lord; 371, 456, and

6 other times)Gifts

• Example passages: ll. 1010-1048, 607- 628, 1168-1190, 1215-1231