4. Periods of the history of English

The settlers having been cut off from other Germanic tribes, the dialects gradually developed into a separate Germanic language – the English language. The Germanic settlement of Britain is therefore the starting point of the English nation. The beginning of the history of the English language was marked by the first manuscripts of about the year 600.

The history of the English language is divided into three periods:

I period OLD ENGLISH	6 – 11 c. c. (450 – 1100 or 7 c. – 1100)	The time when the earliest manuscripts appeared
II period MIDDLE ENGLISH	1100 – 1500	The Norman Conquest in 1066 – The War of Roses (1455 – 1485)
III period NEW ENGLISH	1500 – up to our time	Its first stage is Early New English: 1500 – 1660.

Henry Sweet (1845 – 1912) called the 1st period - the period of full endings; the 2nd period – the period of levelled endings, and the 3-d period - the period of lost endings.

There were no marked borders between the periods. Changes were not spontaneous but gradual.

5. The heptarchy

Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain formed seven kingdoms, the heptarchy: Kent, Essex, Wessex, Sussex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria. These states were constantly struggling for leadership and in the course of the Old English period one or another of the seven gained the upper hand: Kent in the 2nd half of 6 c., Northumbria in the 1st half of 7 c., Mercia in the 2nd half of 7 c. and 8 c., Wessex in 9 – 10 c. c.

The major Anglo-Saxon dialects were: Northumbrian spoken by the Angles to the North of the Humber, Mercian spoken by the Angles between the Thames and the Humber, West Saxon spoken by the Saxons to the South of the Thames and Kentish spoken by the Jutes in Kent.

In 6 – 7 c.c. Christianity was adopted by Anglo-Saxons, which led to introduction of Christian culture and learning, monasteries and the Latin language. There spread to existence a network of monastery schools of which Canterbury school and York school were most famous. England became the home of learning and especially England north of the Humber: Hild, Abbess of Witsby, was the best educated of all Anglo-Saxon women. In her monastery the poet Cxdmon received the gift of song. The Venerable Bede in the Jarrow monastery had access to all the sources of knowledge in the West.

King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849 – 900), a translator and learned man himself, invited scholars to Winchester from Mercia and Wales and even from abroad to help him revive learning.

6. The Scandinavians in Britain.

But the earliest Old English written records are pre-Christian and date in 7 c. The period from 450 – 600 may be referred to as the pre-writing period.

The earliest monuments of Old English are the inscriptions on hard material in “runes”. The Runic alphabet consisted of 29 – 33 letters suited to be carved on wood, stone or whale bone with a knife or some other sharp article, the word “rune” meaning “secret, mystery”. The Runic alphabet is named “Futhark” by its first five letters. There were about 40 Runic inscriptions in England of what number are the Ruthwell Cross — a 15 ft long stone cross; and the Franks Casket made of whale bone describing scenes of whale hunting. Runic inscriptions were magic phrases, oaths aimed to protect the owner of the objects they were carved on from evil spirits.

Old English manuscripts were written in Latin alphabet. Letters “w” and “þ” (th) were added; “v” and “u”, “i” and “j” were not distinguished. Letters “k, q, x” were not used until late.

First manuscripts were glosses to the Gospel and other religious books, various documents, Anglo-Saxon charters. Most famous writings are:

a) in West Saxon:

• The translations by king Alfred of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Cares and of Orosius's History of the World. In the opening chapter of Orosius king Alfred inserted two original accounts of the voyages of Ohthere, a Norwegian, and Wulfstan, a Dane.

• Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (before 891), Homilies of Wulfstan, Psalms.

b) in Northumbrian:

• Runic inscriptions on the Ruthwell Cross and the Franks Casket.

• Cxdmon's Hymn and other poetry attributed to Cxdmon (Genesis, Exodus, Daniel),

• Bede's Death-Song, Glosses.

c) in Mercian:

• Charters, Psalters and Hymns.

d) in Kentish:

• Glosses, Charters, Psalters and Hymns.

POEMS:

Beowulf (of an unknown author);

Juliana, Andreas, Elene attributed to Cynewulf;

Seafarer, Wonderer, supposedly written in Northumbrian with West-Saxon and Anglian forms.

These records demonstrate clearly that over a thousand years ago writers of English developed a useful, all-purpose prose and poetry medium.

7. The light of learning was extinguished in Northumbria by the Scandinavian Vikings who sacked Lindisfarne in 793. All England North and East of Watling Street leading from London to Chester fell into their hands and became the Danelaw, the territory under the rule of Danish kings. The early settlers were Danes. Later they were joined by Norwegians from Ireland, the Isle of Men and the Hebrides, who founded homes in Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire. The Viking Age (750 – 1050) witnessed an extraordinary expansion of Scandinavians along the sea-coasts of Western Europe. The Vikings, both, Norwegians and Danes, were akin in race and language to Anglo-Saxons who had preceded them in crossing to Britain. Scandinavians were in close communication with local population, later they intermixed and now only placenames remind us of their time.

E.g. There are four villages in Lincolnshire and three villages in North Reding bearing the name Normanby, that is Nor-man-by derived from “Northmanna byr” – “village of the Northmen or Norwegians”.

The influence of Scandinavians on the English language is to be discussed in detail later.