Chapter 1 Old English Literature

The Roman Invasion

At the time of the earliest written records, the British islands were inhabited by Celtic people known as the Britons. (See Map 1.) Although the Roman Empire made initial contacts with the Celtic people in Britain around 55 B.C., the Roman invasion of Britain began around A.D. 43. The Celtic people resisted but were unable to fend off the invading Roman troops. One of the principal figures fighting the Romans was the Celtic queen Boudicca. Unlike their Roman counterparts, Celtic societies allotted women rights often equal to those of men. When her husband, an ally of the Romans, died, the Romans took over the land of her tribe, the Iceni, flogging Boudicca and raping her daughters. Boudicca led her people in revolt and for some time managed to hold back the mighty Roman legions.

Roman lighthouse at Dover.

Long familiar with Britain as a source of tin, the Romans conquered Britain around A.D. 44 and set up fortresses, light houses on the coast, and a defensive wall across the entire Northern border of England named Hadrian’s Wall for the Roman emperor Hadrian. As they did in many parts of the world, the Romans built villas with beautiful mosaics, a series of roads which were used for centuries, and great Roman baths, such as those at Aquae Sulis, now known as Bath, England. View a video mini-lecture that explains the Roman invasion.

Roman bath overflow at Bath, England.

How did the Roman invasion affect the development of the English language? While there is no direct linguistic connection, the Roman occupation of Britain and their subsequent abandonment of the country set the stage for the most important invasion, the Anglo-Saxon invasion which provided the foundation of the English language.

The Anglo-Saxon Invasions

At the fall of the Roman Empire (ca. 420), the Roman troops were called back to the continent, and Britain was left undefended. This period of time produced the figure that was transformed in legend into King Arthur. The man who formed the basis of the Arthurian legend was probably a descendent of Celtic and Roman people who led his followers in resisting the Anglo-Saxons. This resistance occurred long before the days of knights in armor mounted on horseback, the picture of King Arthur found in most stories.

Anglo-Saxon ornament in the British Museum.

The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes who began raiding the coastal areas of Britain around 450. (See Map 2.) For over 100 years, the Anglo-Saxons continued to raid and gradually to settle in Britain, pushing the Celtic people into the remote parts of Britain—into what are today the countries of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. (See Map 3 and Map 4.) With them, they took their Celtic language which formed the basis of the Gaelic languages of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. (See Map 5.) Few Celtic words remain in today’s English; those few are primarily place names such as avon for river (as in the English town Stratford-upon-Avon) and words associated with the countries to which the Celts dispersed such as glen (valley), loch (lake), and cairn (pile of stones) from Scotland.

The Anglo-Saxon Germanic Language Is the Foundation of the English Language

The culture of the Anglo-Saxons is much in evidence in Old English literature, especially in the concept of the Germanic heroic ideal. The primary attribute of the heroic ideal was excellence—excellence in all that was important to the tribe: hunting, sea-faring, fighting. The leader of each tribal unit, often family units especially in earlier years, gained his position because of his physical strength and capabilities in the activities necessary for survival. Each man of the tribe, called a thanean Anglo-Saxon warrior loyal to a specific leader or retainer, an Anglo-Saxon warrior loyal to a specific leader, swore his allegiance, and in return his leader rewarded him with the spoils of their battles and raids. A group of Anglo-Saxon warriors bound by the reciprocal king-retainer relationship was known as a comitatusa group of Anglo-Saxon warriors bound by the reciprocal king-retainer relationship. An example is the group of Geats led by Beowulf.

These Anglo-Saxon tribes led violent lives governed as they believed by wyrdthe Anglo-Saxon word for fate, the power that controls one’s destiny, the Anglo-Saxon word for fate, the power that controls one’s destiny, and bound by loyalty to their comitatus, including the obligation of exacting revenge for their comrades. A formal system of wergilda price placed on a man’s life and paid in lieu of blood revenge, a price placed on a man’s life and paid in lieu of blood revenge, provided an honorable way to end a feud or to satisfy the demands of revenge.

By the year 700, various tribes settled in different parts of Britain, each with its own dialect. (See Map 6.) The language generally known as Old English came primarily from the dialect of the West Saxons, located in an area known as Wessex.

Although mostly illiterate, the Anglo-Saxons had a rich tradition of oral literature. Gathered in the mead hall with its long tables around a central hearth, the Anglo-Saxons listened to tales of battle glory sung or chanted to the strums of a harp. The scopthe tribal poet/singer, the tribal poet/singer, entertained and commemorated significant events by composing and performing tales such as Beowulf. Although many scholars have varying ideas about how these performances might have sounded, little is known of secular music during this time period, and there is of course no evidence to suggest whether the songs were more like chants with strums of the harp perhaps in the caesura or whether they were lively, rambunctious, melodic performances. We might remember that in Beowulf, it’s the sound of laughter, the music of the harp, and the singing of the scop that drives Grendel to attack Heorot.

Reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon harp from remnants in Sutton Hoo.

The Anglo-Saxon invasion established the English language and the earliest English literature. The next important step, the recording of that literature, came with the return of Christianity to Britain.

The Christian “Invasion”

Although certainly not a military invasion like the others in the list, the arrival of Christianity in Britain was as influential on the language and the culture, and therefore on the literature. Christianity was not unknown in Britain when St. Augustine arrived in 597 but had appeared during the time of the Romans. However, Christianity was suppressed along with the Celtic tribes during the Anglo-Saxon invasions. In 597, St. Augustine arrived on a mission to Christianize the pagan Anglo-Saxons, and the literature of the time bears witness to his influence. During the same time period, Celtic Christianity continued to spread from the northern and western reaches. The Anglo-Saxons were mostly illiterate; therefore, their oral stories were not written until the Christian monks recorded them. Many twentieth-century scholars believed that Beowulf, for example, was originally a pagan story and that references to Christianity are interpolations made by the recording monks in their reluctance to perpetuate strictly pagan literature or as a way of converting still-pagan Anglo-Saxons. Most scholars now believe that Beowulf was more likely composed by a Christian author who drew on and perhaps paid homage to his pagan roots.

Burial site of St. Augustine’s successor Laurence in the abbey ruins.

Ruins of St. Augustine’s Abbey.

Many words with Latin roots found their way into the English language with the assimilation of Christianity into the culture, many of them words for religious concepts for which the Anglo-Saxons had no terms, such as angel, priest, martyr, bishop.

The establishment of monasteries in Britain also led to the production of beautifully illuminated manuscripts, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. The British Library’s Virtual Books Online Gallery allows you to virtually turn the pages of the Lindisfarne gospels.

The Viking Invasions

Between 750 and 1050, another group of war-like, pagan tribes raided Britain and gradually established settlements, primarily in the north and east of England. The Vikings were from the area now known as Scandinavia. While they shared cultural similarities with the Anglo-Saxons, they brought their own language, another impact on the developing English language. Words such as sky, skin, wagon originated with the language of the Vikings.

Ruins of Lindisfarne Priory.

These fishing huts on the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne are built in the shape of overturned Viking boats, still suggesting the Viking heritage of this area as a result of the Viking raiding parties and the eventual coming of Viking settlers. The English language also retains evidence of the Viking influence. In northeastern England, place names recall their Viking settlers: York from Jorvik and Whitby from the Viking by meaning a farm.

Alfred the Great negotiated a peaceful settlement with the Vikings by partitioning Britain in what was known as the Danelaw, establishing a period of relatively peaceful coexistence in which the language and the culture mingled.

The Norman Invasion

The year 1066 is possibly the most important date in the history of Britain and in the development of the English language. When William the Conqueror defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, he brought to England a new language and a new culture. Old French became the language of the court, of the government, the church, and all the aristocratic entities. Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons, existed only among the conquered lower orders of society. However, within three to four hundred years, the English language emerged, greatly enriched by French vocabulary and distinctly different from the Anglo-Saxons’ Old English, Chaucer’s language, now referred to as Middle English.

Pevensy Castle ruins—Pevensy Castle was built by William the Conqueror on ruins of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements.

The British Library provides an interactive timeline that traces the development of the English language, beginning with Beowulf.

Resources

The Venerable Bede

The Venerable Bede, a monk from Northumbria, is the most important historian of the Anglo-Saxon period primarily because of his work the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Although little is known about his life, Bede likely was born about 672 or 673 to a noble family and sent to the monastery of Wearmouth to be educated.

Death of St. Bede.

From his monastery at Jarrow, Bede visited the monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and wrote two books about the life and miracles of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne Priory from 685–687. Both St. Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede are buried at Durham Cathedral.

Durham Cathedral.

Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People records two important events that occurred at another abbey in northern England, the Abbey of Whitby.

Ruins of Whitby Abbey.

The Abbey of Whitby overlooks the North Sea in North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 657, the abbey’s first abbess Hilda was the niece of Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumbria.

The Venerable Bede records the story of King Edwin’s conversion to Christianity. Considering converting as part of a marriage arrangement, King Edwin asked some of his counselors for advice. The Venerable Bede records the advice that one of his counselors gave him:

Like the Abbey at Lindisfarne, the Abbey at Whitby was sacked by Viking raiders and rebuilt. Also like other abbeys in England, it was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536.

But long before Henry VIII, Whitby Abbey was home to Caedmon.

Recorded by the Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, “Caedmon’s Hymn” is the oldest extant work in the Old English language. It was probably composed during the latter half of the 7th century.

Part of this work’s importance is what it reveals about Anglo-Saxon society nearly one hundred years after the arrival of St. Augustine in 597. The poem pictures an Anglo-Saxon society in which the tribe gathers in the mead hall to eat and to entertain each other with songs about heroes and their adventures. But, in this story, for the first time, one of those traditional songs has a religious theme, illustrating the influence of Christianity on the pagan culture.

In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede records the story of Caedmon, a simple, uneducated cow herder at the Abbey of Whitby who was given the gift of song in a dream/vision. Like others in Anglo-Saxon society, the monks followed the custom of passing around a harp after the evening meal in the great hall for everyone to take a turn singing/chanting a story. Caedmon used to sneak out before it was his turn because he couldn’t sing. Then he received his divine gift. The important point, however, is that he was given the gift of singing stories about religious subjects, specifically the creation of the world.

Caedmon’s cross near Whitby Abbey.

Anglo-Saxon songs and stories were always about battles, heroic but violent deeds, monsters—stories like Beowulf. The story of Caedmon pictures the use of the Anglo-Saxon custom of singing in the mead hall to introduce Christian stories to the pagan Anglo-Saxons.

Illuminated Manuscripts

After the Anglo-Saxon invasions and before the Norman Conquest, literacy in Britain was almost entirely the province of the monasteries. As we see in Bede’s The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, monks were responsible for the recording of what history and literature exists from the Anglo-Saxon period.

One of the highlights of this period was the production of illuminated manuscriptshandwritten manuscripts adorned with richly colorful, intricately crafted illustration, often using expensive materials such as gold leaf, handwritten manuscripts adorned with richly colorful, intricately crafted illustration, often using expensive materials such as gold leaf. One of the most famous illuminated manuscripts is the Lindisfarne Gospels. The British Library’s online virtual books feature allows you the experience of leafing through this rare and valuable manuscript.

Resources

Text: “The Dream of the Rood”

(translated by James M. Garnett, Boston: Ginn & Co., Publishers, The Athenaeum Press, 1911. rpt. in Project Gutenberg)

The Ruthwell Cross

Part of the poem “The Dream of the Rood” is inscribed on the Ruthwell Cross, an 18-foot tall, free standing cross, one of oldest extant Christian monuments in Britain.

The stone is carved with scenes from the Bible, decorative vine work, and 18 lines of “The Dream of the Rood” in Anglo-Saxon runes and Latin lettering. Scholars believe the cross could have been carved after 650, probably after the Synod of Whitby in 664; others think it may have been carved as late as 710.

The Ruthwell Cross, a preaching cross, originally stood outdoors at a crossroad. Because the Anglo-Saxons were mostly illiterate, one of the ways the missionary Christian monks communicated knowledge about the Bible and Christianity was through pictures. Pagan people who saw the cross might be influenced to convert to Christianity or the first Christian converts could be taught biblical knowledge.

The Vercelli Book

Only four manuscripts contain all extant Old English literature: the Junius manuscript (which includes “Caedmon’s Hymn”), the Exeter Book, the Nowell Codex (which includes the Beowulf manuscript), and the Vercelli Book (so called because it was found in Vercelli, Italy). The Vercelli Book contains two poems by Cynewulf, whom some scholars believe may also have composed “The Dream of the Rood.”

Resources

Text

• Beowulf. Clarence Griffin Child. In Parentheses. Old English Series. York University, Canada. Modern English prose translation.
• Beowulf. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia. Modern English translation.
• Beowulf. Gummere translation. Project Gutenberg. Modern English translation.
• Beowulf. Old English text. Project Gutenberg.
• Beowulf. Paul Halsall. Fordham University. ORB Medieval Sourcebook. Gummere’s Modern English translation.
• Beowulf. Paul Halsall. Fordham University. ORB Medieval Sourcebook. Klaeber’s Old English edition.
• Beowulf in Hypertext. Dr. Anne Savage. McMaster University. Old English and modern English texts.

Audio in Old English

• “Anglo-Saxon Aloud.” Professor Michael D. C. Drout. Wheaton College.
• “Beowulf.” Learning: Changing Language. British Library.
• “Readings from Beowulf.” Old English at the University of Virginia. Peter S. Baker. University of Virginia.

Composition

Although the events in the poem take place in the 5th century, the poem was likely composed somewhere from the 8th century to the early 11th century. No one, however, knows exactly when the poem was composed or who composed it. It is also possible that the poem had existed through generations as an oral work.

Subject

Although Beowulf is considered the first great English poem, the events are set in what is now Scandinavia. Beowulf and his people, the Geats, are from an area that is now part of Sweden; Hrothgar is king of the Danes. The culture portrayed, however, is the Anglo-Saxon culture using the language brought to Britain beginning with the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon invasions. View a video about the Sutton Hoo ship burial, an archaeological source of much information about the culture portrayed in Beowulf.

Structure

Some scholars see Beowulf as having a two-part structure:

• Beowulf in his prime, fighting Grendel and his mother for the Danes
• Beowulf in old age, fighting the dragon for his own people, the Geats

Other scholars see the structure as corresponding to the three battles:

• Beowulf against Grendel
• Beowulf against Grendel’s mother
• Beowulf against the dragon

Theme

One theme of Beowulf involves the preservation of the Anglo-Saxon societal structure. Every society worries that their values and standards will be abandoned and that their social order will die out as a result. An elegiac tone and a mood of longing for the past permeates the epic Beowulf. At the end of the poem, Wiglaf mourns both the death of Beowulf and the potential passing of his tribe, vulnerable to attack because their reputation for cowardice will spread among other tribes after the retainers fail in their vows of loyalty.

Beowulf challenged by the coast guard by Evelyn Paul, from Guerber’s Myths & Legends of the Middle Ages (1911).

Anglo-Saxon society was based on the Germanic heroic idealthe standard of excellence required of a leader, excellence in all that was important to the tribe: hunting, sea-faring, fighting, the standard of excellence required of a leader, excellence in all that was important to the tribe: hunting, sea-faring, fighting. The leader of each tribal unit, often family units especially in earlier years, gained his position because of his physical strength and capabilities in the activities necessary for survival. The men of the tribe, the thanes or retainers, swore loyalty to the leader and in return he rewarded them with the spoils of their battles and raids.

An important part of the Germanic heroic ideal was the king-retainer relationshipa reciprocal relationship which dictated that the thanes should be loyal to their leader and in return the leader would protect them and share the treasures obtained in battle with them, a reciprocal relationship which dictated that the thanes should be loyal to their leader and in return the leader would protect them and share the treasures obtained in battle with them. The group bound by this relationship, the comitatus, formed the basis of Anglo-Saxon society.

Theme and 3-Part Structure

The theme of concern for cultural values, in this case the comitatus, plays out in the details of the three battles:

• first battle: Beowulf has the “home field” advantage because he fights with Grendel in the mead hall, and he defeats the monster with his bare hands. During the fight, his retainers and Hrothgar’s retainers all stand close by in case Beowulf needs help. They won’t interfere unless Beowulf needs them because they don’t want to detract from their leader’s glory in battle.
• second battle: Beowulf has to go into the monster’s home territory to fight Grendel’s mother, and he has to use a sword—which suggests his strength isn’t quite as great. Not only does Beowulf use Hrunting, the sword Unferth presented him, but when Hrunting fails, Beowulf finds an enormous sword, a sword made by giants (perhaps an ancient Roman sword) which he uses to kill Grendel’s mother. When they see the blood bubbling up through the mere, Hrothgar’s retainers are not faithful—they give up and go home, assuming Beowulf is dead. Only Beowulf’s personal retainers stay at the mere until he returns. There seems to be a direct connection between the loyalty of the retainers and Beowulf’s strength.
• third battle: Fifty years later Beowulf fights the dragon in its lair. All the retainers except Wiglaf abandon their leader and run to hide in the woods. Beowulf not only has to use a weapon to kill the dragon, but he also has to have help from Wiglaf. Again Beowulf’s strength fades as his retainers fail in loyalty.

Notice the speeches that Wiglaf makes to the cowardly retainers. He shames them for running, and he even tells them that now their society will fall. Other tribes will hear about how cowardly they are and, believing them to be easy targets, will come to attack them. The three battles, then, form the structure of the poem and suggest the theme of failing values.

Oral Formulaic Tradition

Many scholars believe that the story of Beowulf existed in oral tradition, perhaps for hundreds of years, before it was recorded in writing, the story told around the fires of the mead hall by the scopthe singer, the shaper or creator of tales, the singer, the shaper or creator of tales. The scop may have used certain memory aids to help him remember the long story, one of which was the formulaa set pattern of words, a set pattern of words. For example: “Þæt wæs god cyning” in line 11 (line numbers may differ according to the translation consulted) of the Prologue uses the formula “Þæt wæs X Y.” The X and Y are filled in with different words each time the formula is used.

• in line 11, “Þæt wæs god cyning” [that was good king]
• in line 170, “Þæt wæs wræc micel” [that was much misery]
• in line 309 “Þæt wæs foremærost” [that was most famous {hall}]
• in line 348 “Þæt wæs Wendla leod” [that was the Wendles’ (Vandals’) chieftain]
• in line 705 “Þæt wæs yldum cuÞ“ [that was widely known]
• in line 765 “Þæt wæs geocor sið“ [that was terrible journey]
• in line 834 “Þæt wæs tacen sweotol” [that was clear symbol]
• in line 864 “Þæt wæs god cyning” [that was good king]
• in line 1039 “Þæt wæs hilde-setl” [that was war seat (saddle)]
• in line 1075 “Þæt wæs geomuru ides” [that was woeful woman]
• in line 1458 “Þæt wæs an foran” [that was of early times]
• in line 1559 “Þæt wæs wæpna cyst” [that was choicest weapon]
• in line 1594 “Þæt wæs yðgeblond” [that was wave mixture]
• in line 1608 “Þæt wæs wundra sum” [that was wondrous thing]
• in line 1692 “Þæt wæs fremde Þeod” [that was estranged people]
• in line 1812 “Þæt wæs modig secg” [that was bold hero]
• in line 1885 “Þæt wæs an cyning” [that was unequaled king]
• in line 2390 “Þæt wæs god cyning” [that was good king]
• in line 2441 “Þæt wæs feohleas gefeoht” [that was fee-less fight (no wergild could be claimed)]
• in line 2817 “Þæt wæs Þam gomelan” [that was last word]

Another formula is “X maÞelode [X spoke].

• in line 348 “Wulfgar maÞelode” [Wulfgar spoke]
• in line 371 “Hroðgar maÞelode” [ Hrothgar spoke]
• in line 405 “Beowulf maÞelode” [Beowulf spoke]

The idea of the formula is that the scop could remember the list of set phrases to remind him of various events in the plot which he needed to tell. Think of telling a children’s story such as “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” No one uses exactly the same words each time the story is told. However, we all remember the formula: “This X is just right!” And we remember the variation of the formula: this porridge, this chair, this bed, and thus we remember the main events of the plot that need to be told. The formula worked the same way for the Anglo-Saxon scop.

Names to Know From Beowulf

The names from Beowulf are unusual and hard to remember; use the following list to identify major characters in the poem.

• Hrothgar—King whose hall is attacked by Grendel
• Grendel—monster
• Hygelac—Beowulf’s king
• Ecgtheow—Beowulf’s father
• Healfdene—Hrothgar’s father
• Hrethel—Beowulf’s grandfather and Hygelac’s father
• Unferth—character vexed by Beowulf
• Breca—character with whom Beowulf contended in the sea
• Wealhtheow—Hrothgar’s wife
• Aeschere—Hrothgar’s thane killed by Grendel’s mother
• Wiglaf—Beowulf’s faithful thane
• Scyldings—Hrothgar’s people
• Geats—Beowulf’s people
• Heorot—Hrothgar’s hall
• Hrunting—sword given to Beowulf by Unferth

Literary Techniques

• cæsura and half lines

  Old English verses are divided into two half lines with a pause in the middle of the line. The cæsurathe pause in the middle of a line of Old English poetry, the pause in the middle of a line of Old English poetry, is indicated in print by the space in the middle of each line:

  line 1	Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena	in geār-dagum
  line 2	Þēod-cyninga	Þrym gefrūnon,
  line 3	hū Þā æðelingas	ellen fremedon.
  line 4	Oft Scyld Scēfing	sceaðena Þrēatum,
  line 5	monegum mǣgðum	meodo-setla oftēah.
  line 6	Egsode eorl,	syððan ǣrest wearð
  line 7	fēa-sceaft funden:	hē Þæs frōfre gebād,
  line 8	wēox under wolcnum,	weorð-myndum ðāh,
  line 9	oð Þæt him ǣghwylc	Þāra ymb-sittendra
  line 10	ofer hron-rāde	hȳran scolde,
  line 11	gomban gyldan:	Þæt wæs gōd cyning!

• alliteration

  Old English poetry does not use rhyme. Instead, it uses alliterationthe repetition of initial sounds of words in a line of poetry, the repetition of initial sounds of words in a line of poetry. For example, note the repetition of initial “s” sounds in line 4 above and the repetition of initial “m” sounds in line 5.

• kennings

  Old English poetry is characterized by the use of kenningsa compound metaphor used in place of a simple noun, compound metaphors used in place of a simple noun. Examples include whale’s way or swan’s road for ocean, heaven’s candle for the sun, battle sweat for blood, and ring-giver for king.

• litotes

  Old English poetry sometimes expresses ideas with the use of litotesa type of understatement in which meaning is expressed by negating its opposite, a type of understatement in which meaning is expressed by negating its opposite. For example, litotes may be found in the “that was X Y” formula in statements such as “That was not a good place” to mean it was a bad place.

Resources