Old English and the

Anglo-Saxon Period

(449-1066 CE)

THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, PART 1

Old English – What is it?

Recognize this?

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;

Si þin nama gehalgod

to becume þin rice

gewurþe ðin willa

on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.

urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg

and forgyf us ure gyltas

swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum

and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge

ac alys us of yfele soþlice

Old English – What is it?

Recognize this?

Our Father, who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

See anything in common?

Old English Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;

Si þin nama gehalgod

to becume þin rice

gewurþe ðin willa

on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.

urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg

and forgyf us ure gyltas

swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum

and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge

ac alys us of yfele soþlice

Modern English Our Father, who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

I. Early English History

Beaker people

Stonehenge

Left no written records

What we DO know

Celts/Britons

Women

Animism

Druids

II. Roman Invasions

55 BCE & 54 BCE –

attempted Roman

invasions under Caesar

43 CE – Successful

invasion under Claudius

Ramifications

Picts

Hadrian’s Wall (122

CE)

410 CE – Fall of the

Roman Empire

III. The Anglo-Saxon

Invasion 449 CE – considered the

beginning of the Anglo-

Saxon period

Angles

Saxon

Jutes

By 600 CE, Germanic speech

of England has become

unique from continental

Germanic languages.

IV. The Anglo-Saxons

Culture

Kinship

Lordship

Comitatus

Heroic virtues

Religion

Gods

Wyrd

597 CE – Gregorian Mission

A Clash of Religions

V. Anglo-Saxon Cultural

Artifacts and Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo – 7th century

burial mounds

Recreation of the burial chamber, which was

designed like a room in the king’s house.

The mysterious silver spoons!

Purse lid and shoulder clasp from Sutton Hoo, 7th century

Belt buckles from Sutton Hoo, 7th century

VI. Danish Invasion, English

Unification, and Norman

Conquest 871 CE – Alfred the Great

takes the throne

Battles with the Danes

(Vikings)

Importance of Christianity

in Unification

1066 – Norman Invasion –

defeats both the Anglo-

Saxons and the Danes; end

of the Anglo-Saxon period

VII. Old English Literature

Written – runes

Anglo-Saxon verse

Heroic

Historical

Elegaic

Riddles

Oral Tradition

Scops