Periodisation of the history of English.

Early Old English	405 - 700
Old English	700 – 1066
Early Middle English	1066 – 1350
Middle English	1350 – 1475
Early New English	1476 – 1660
Neoclassical English	1660 – 1800
Late New English	1800 – 1945
Present day English	1945 - …

Lecture 5

Old English period. Historical Background.

Plan:

1. Pre-Germanic Britain.

2. Germanic settlement in Britain.

3. Old English dialects. Linguistic satiation.

1. The first tribes were Iberians, they came from the shore of Mediterranean sea (present day Spain). The tribes, which came from Eastern and Southern Europe to invade Great Britain were Celts. So, the Celtic language was spread all over the country. This language has 5 dialects: Irish (Ireland), Scottish – Gaelic (present day Scotland), Kymric (Welsh) – Wales, Breton – North of France (present day Bretagne).

In the 1^st c. B.C. Julius Caesar, the Roman Emperor took the first attempt to occupy the Southern Britain. But all attempts were failure. In 1607 another Emperor Claudius with his soldiers succeeded to defend Britain. London became the capital during Roman rule. Romans brought Christianity to Great Britain. Celtic religion was the paganism and Romans brought Latin alphabet and Celtic language was enriched with Latin words.

In the 4^th c. Romans had to leave the country some time before the invasion of the West Germanic tribes, there could never be any direct contacts between the new arrivals and the Romans on British soil.

2. The Britons fought among themselves and were harried by the Picts and Scots from Scotland. These tribes: Scots and Picts occupied the country after the 5^th c. The first Germanic kings were Hengist and Horsa, they had been invited by a British king, Vortigern, as assistants in the fight against other tribes. In some years Germanic tribes emerged in Britain with all their families. They called themselves Angelcyn (English people). The country was called Angelcynnes land (land of the English).

Germanic organized several kingdoms: Essex; Sussex; Mercia; East Anglia and Northumbria. The most powerful kingdom was Wessex, and it influenced other kingdoms in the respect of their languages. The settlement of Germanic tribes was regarded as the beginning of the history of English.

The leadership of Wessex was speeded up by new factor – the pressure of a common enemy. In the 8^th c. Scandinavians (the Danes), Vikings made their first attacks on England. The struggle of the English people against Scandinavians lasted for over 300 years. In the 9^th c. the Scandinavians subdued(!) Northumbria and the eastern part of Mercia and advanced on Wessex. They founded many towns and villages. Their linguistic assimilation was easy because they belong Germanic group of language. But British resisted and Wessex was at the head of this resistance (!). This time was ruled by Alfred the Great, and he managed to sign a peace treaty in 879. According to this treaty England was devided into 2 parts: North – Eastern part under Danish control calles Danelaw and the South – Western part belonged to Wessex. But in the 10^th c. the Danes renewed their raids. Their attacks were followed by demands for regular payments of large sums of money – Danegeld (Danish money). This money was collected from all towns and villages and about one eighth (1\8) came from London.

In 1017 the leader of one of the tribes Canute was acknowledged as a king of England. And England became the part of great Northern Empire. In 1035 after Canute’s death, his Empire was broken up and England regained independence. By that time it was a country divided into 6 earldoms (!).

In 597 there was a mission of Roman priests, which was sent by the Pope Gregory the Great to make this country baptized. The first center of Christianity was Canterbury, and from this place the Christianity expended to East Anglia and Essex. The introduction of Christianity contributed much the development of culture and education. The centers of education were monasteries with monastic schools (семинарии) attached to them. a high standard of learning was reached in the best English monastery in Northumbria. In the monastery the Venerable Bede (преподобный), the first English historians, lived and worked.

3. The Germanic tribes who settled in Britania in the 5^th and 6^th c. spoke closely related tribal dialects belonging to the West Germanic group. And their joint evolution provided the emergence of the common dialect. The following 4 dialects are distinguished:

Kentish, a dialect spoken in the areaof Kent and Surrey and in the Isle of Wight. It was developed from Jutes and Frisians tongues.

West Saxon, dialect spoken in the South of England, in Wessex and Essex. It was derived from Saxon dialects.

Mercian, was spoken in Mercia and was derived from the dialect of Angles.

Northumbrian, a dialect, spoken along the river Forth, and it was derived from the dialect of Angles.

The boundaries between the dialects were movable, they passed into one another. By the 8^th c. the center of English culture had shifted to Northumbria. Most of the writing t that time was done in Latin. In the 9^th c. the political and cultural centre moved to Wessex. Towards the 11^th c. the written form of the West Saxon dialects developed into a bookish type of language, which served as the language of writing for all English-speaking people.

Lecture 6