An Anglo-Saxon Free Community
Lecture # 6
Questions under study:
Invaders and settlers.
Effects on the Language. The diversity of dialects. Roman influence on the Language.
Royalty, parliament and religion.
The Magna Charta. The Hundred Year’s War. The War of the Roses.
The Church of England.
Civil War (1642-1651 between the King of England and his parliament)
The Industrial Revolution
Invaders and settlers
Archaeological evidence for British history dates back to the early Stone Age, before 12th bc, though most evidence dates from 4th BC. During the late Bronze Age and the Iron Age ( the period from the 6th to the 3rd century B.C.) Celtic influence gradually spread north and west from Austria and Switzerland to Britain and Ireland. Celtic culture was combined with Roman culture in the south and east, but it remained separate in Scotland, Ireland and parts of Wales. Celtic society was organized in tribes, each of which had a king or chief. There were three social orders: warriors and noblemen, druids (learned people :priests, doctors, musicians and the most highly craftsmen), and ordinary people. After the Romans came to Britain in 55 BC they defeated many of the Celtic tribes and created the province of Britannia . From this time archaeological evidence is supplemented by written evidence.
In the early 5th century Anglo-Saxons came from Germany and Scandinavia. They founded the kingdoms of East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex, and confined the British tribes to Wales, the west of England and southern Scotland. Treasures of Sutton Hoo in East Anglia were found
From 800 AD the Vikings began to raid Britain. The Anglo-Saxons fought fiercely against them and they were confined to northern England, in an area that became known as the Danelaw. By the 10th century all of England, except the Danelaw, was one kingdom under the kings of Wessex.
The Northmen who had settled in northern France in the 9th century became the new conquerors of England. In 1066, one of the most famous dates in English history, England was again invaded, and William the Conqueror, a Norman duke, defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings to become king. He ruled England for 21 years. Shortly afterwards, a survey of land ownership was carried out in order to calculate the value of lands belonging to king and his barons (= lords), and the results were recorded in the Domesday Book. This was the first registration of 1086 in England that consolidated the position of the conquerors.
|
|
|
ADDITIONAL
Primitive Society On The Territory Of The British Isles
The Earliest Man
About three thousand years B. C. many parts of Europe, including the British Isles, were inhabited by a people, who came to be known as the Iberians because some of their descendants are still found in the north of Spain (the Iberian Peninsula). We do not know much about these early people because they lived in Britain long before a word of their history was written, but we can learn something from their skeletons, their weapons and the remains of their dwellings which have been found. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. The art of grinding and polishing stone was known to them, and they could make smooth objects of stone with sharp edges and points.
The Celts
During the period from the 6th to the 3rd century B. C. a people called the Celts spread across Europe from the east \ $o the west.
More than one Celtic tribe invaded Britain. From time to time these tribes were attacked and overcome by other Celtic tribes from the Continent. Celtic tribes called the Picts penetrated into the mountains on the North; some Picts as well as tribes of Scots crossed over to Ireland and settled there. Later the Scots returned to the larger island and settled in the North beside the Picts. They came in such large numbers that in time the name of Scotland was given to that country. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country, and the southern half of the island was named Britain after them. Today the words "Briton" and "British" refer to the people of the whole of the British Isles.
The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts who were armed with metal spears, swords, daggers and axes. Most of the Iberians were slain in the conflict; some of them were driven westwards into the mountains of
what is now Wales and the others probably mixed with the Celts.
The earliest writer from whom we have learned much about the country and its inhabitants was Julius Caesar, * the famous Roman general, statesman and writer. In his Commentaries on .the Gallic War,* a book written in Latin ,Julius Caesar describes the island and the Celts against whom he fought. He tells us that the Celts were tall an| blue-eyed. They wore long flowing moustaches but no beards In their mode of life the British Celts differed little from the Celtic tribes of the Gauls who lived on the Continent. I the 1st century B. C. they lived in tribes, and were ruled by chiefs whom all the tribesmen obeyed. The chiefs were military leaders and some of them were very powerful. The military leaders of the largest tribes were sometimes called kings and stood at the head of detachments of warriors.
|
|
|
The Celts had no towns; they lived in villages. They were acquainted with the use of copper, tin and iron an< they kept large herds of cattle and sheep which formed their chief wealth. They also cultivated crops, especially corn They used light ploughs as well as hoes, and grew the crops in small, square fields. The Celtic tribes of the Briton who inhabited the south-eastern parts of the island were more civilized than the other tribes. Their clothing was made of wool, woven in many colours while the other Celts won skins.
knives. The Celts believed in another life after death. They were taught by priests called druids that their souls passed after death from one body to another. The druids lived near groves of oak-trees which were considered to be sacred places. No one was allowed to come near without permission. The druids were very important and powerful, sometimes, more powerful than the chiefs. The Celts believed in their magic power. They believed that the druids were able to foretell the future and the druids very often acted as prophets. The tribesmen often called upon the druids to settle disputes. The druids could give orders to begin a battle or to put down arms and stop fighting. The druids were also teachers and doctors for they were wiser than the other tribesmen. Wise women were also considered to be very important. There were women prophets, and women warriors who trained young men in arms; some women were made tribal chiefs and called queens.
|
|
|
The Primitive Communal System
In primitive society there was no private property; therefore there were no classes and no exploitation —that is, appropriation by the -rich of the fruits of other men's labour. Since there were no classes there was no state system, that is, no armed forces, no prisons, no courts, no overseers, no government bodies.
In the last centuries B.C. and in the first centuries A. D. the Celts were in a period of transition from primitive communal society to class society. The elders, military leaders and their warriors made up the tribal nobility. They were beginning to seize much land for themselves and they had more cattle than the others members of the clan.
The Celtic Language Today
To this day the descendants of the ancient Celts live on the territory of the British Isles. The Welsh who live in Wales are of Celtic origin. People in most parts of Wales speak Welsh, a Celtic tongue. In the Highlands of Scotland as well as in the western parts of Ireland the people speak a tongue of Celtic origin too.
Some words of the Celtic language can still be found in Modern English and most of them are geographical names. Many rivers, hills and towns are still called by their old Celtic names. Thus in England there are several rivers called Avon which in Celtic means a river. Some rivers have the name of Derwent, which in Celtic means clear water, The chalk highlands in the southern and south-eastern parts of England are called "the Downs". This name comes from the Celtic word ' down which means "bare, open highland". .
Roman Britain
The Roman Empire
Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society differed greatly from that of the Celts. It was a slave society divided into antagonistic classes. The main classes were the slaves and the slave-owners. The slave-owners made up the minority of the population but they owned the land, tools, buildings and slaves. The slaves possessed neither land nor tools and were themselves the property of the slave-owners. The slaves could be bought and sold, exchanged or given away like any other thing. They could be kept in chains, whipped and put to death.
|
|
|
The Roman Conquest Of Britain.
In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the Channel and invaded Britain. The Celts saw their ships approaching and rushed to attack the invaders in the sea as they were landing. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans, who saw them for the first time in battle. On the occasion of the battle their hair and moustaches were
dyed red and their legs and arms were painted blue. With loud shouts they attacked the Romans in chariots and on foot and the well-armed invincible Romans under one of the greatest generals of that time had to return to Gaul.
In the next year, 54 B. C., Caesar again came to Britain, this time with larger forces (25,000 men). The Cells fought bravely for their independence but they were not strong enough, in spite of their courage, to drive the Romans off. The Romans who had better arms and armour and were much better trained defeated the Celts in several battles. Some of the chiefs submitted and promised to pay tribute to Rome. Caesar then went back to Gaul to complete his conquest on the Continent.
Although Julius Caesar came to Britain twice in the course of two years, he was not able, really, to conquer it. The promised tribute was not paid and the real conquestor Britain by the Romans was not begun until nearly a hundred years after Caesar's visits to the island.
In 43 A. D. a Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the South-East. Other parts of the country were taken from time to time during the next forty years. The hilly districts in the West were very difficult to subdue, and the Romans had to set up many camps in that part of the country. The Celts fought fiercely against the Romans who never managed to become masters of the whole island. They were unable to conquer the Scottish Highlands and the province of Britain consisted only of the southern part of the island. From time to time the Picts from the North managed to raid the Roman part of the island, burn their villages, and drive off their cattle and sheep.
To defend their province the Romans stationed their legions in Britain. Straight roads were built so that the legions might .march quickly, whenever they were needed,
Roman Influence in Britain
As a result of the conquest signs of Roman civilization spread over Britain. There had been no towns in Britain before the Romans conquered it. The civilized Romans were city dwellers, and as soon as they had conquered Britain they began to build towns, splendid villas, public baths as in Rome itself. York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the chief Roman towns; there were also about fifty other smaller towns. London which had been a small trading settlement before the conquest now became a centre for trade both by road and river. Colchester, Gloucester, York and Lincoln sprang up round the Roman military camps. The town of Bath became famous for its hot springs.
The towns grew up as markets and centres of administration. In most towns there were market-places and plenty of shops where merchants sold their goods. The houses were built of stone, plastered and painted, with roofs made of large red tiles. The rich merchants and officials had luxurious houses which contained many rooms, with mosaic floors and central heating. Every Roman town had a drainage system and a good supply of pure water. Temples and public baths could be found in most towns. The Roman towns were military stations surrounded by walls for defence which were guarded by the.Roman warriors.
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Romans -remained in Britain for about four centuries and during that time Britain was a Roman province governed by Roman governors and protected by Roman legions.
In the 3rd-4th centuries the power of the Roman Empire gradually weakened. The unproductive labour of the slaves led to the economic decline of the empire. Neither new methods of land cultivation nor new technical inventions were introduced. Slavery became an obstacle to technical progress. Poor cultivation exhausted the fields, the harvests became poorer from year to year.
Early in the 5th century (407) the Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend the central provinces of the Roman Empire from the attacks of the barbarian tribes. They did not return to Britain, and the Celts were left alone in the land.
During the 5th century the Germanic tribes overran the empire and settled in all parts of it. The fall of the Western Roman Empire meant the end of the slave-owning system in Western Europe.
THE ANGLO-SAXON-CONQUEST OF BRITAIN
After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts remained independent but not for long. From the middle of the 5th century they had to defend the country against the attacks of Germanic tribes from the Continent. In the 5th century, first the Jutes and then other Germanic tribes—the Saxons and the Angles began to migrate to Britain. The Saxons came from the territory lying between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers which was later on called Saxony. The Jutes and the Angles came from the Jutland Peninsula. At first they only came to plunder. They would land from their boats, drive off and slay the cattle, seize the stores of corn, and be off again to sea before the Celts could attack them. But after some time they returned again and again in larger numbers, and began to conquer the country.
In 449 the Jutes landed in Kent and this was the beginning of the conquest. The British natives 
In the 5th century, first the Jutes and then the Saxons and the A ngles began to invade Britain
foughtfiercely against the invaders and it took more than a hundred and fifty years for the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes to conquer the country. Other Germanic tribes conquered the Roman provinces on the Continent without any serious resistance as the bulk of the population in the provinces occupied by the Romans welcomed the Germanic conquerors as their liberators. But the British Celts were free at the time and their resistance was often stubborn and prolonged. In the South-East the Celts were soon overwhelmed, but in the western parts of the country they offered stout resistance for many years. Now and then the Celts won and the invaders were forced back. As a result Britain held out longer than the other provinces of the Roman Empire. It was only by the beginning of the 7th century that the invaders managed to conquer the greater part of the land.
The final refuge of the Celts was Cornwall and Wales— the mountainous districts of the West—and the northern part of the island (Scotland) where the Celts were still living in tribes and, later on, some independent states were formed. The Celts of Ireland remained independent too. In the course of the conquest many of the Celts were killed, some were taken prisoners and made slaves or had to pay tribute to the conquerors. Some of the Celts crossed the sea to the North-West of France and settled in what was later on called Brittany after the Celtic tribes of Britons.
Descendants of the ancient British Celts can be found in Brittany today.
By the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century several kingdoms were formed on the territory of Britain conquered by the Germanic tribes. (This territory later on became England proper.) Kent was set up by the Jutes in the South-East. In the southern and the southeastern parts of the country the Saxons formed a number of kingdoms—Sussex (the land of the South Saxons), Wessex (the land of the West Saxons) and Essex (the land of the East Saxons). Farther north were the settlements of the Angles who had conquered the greater part of the country. In the North they founded Northumbria, which has left its name in the present county of Northumberland; Mercia was formed in the Middle, and East Anglia—in the East of England, north of the East Saxon kingdom. These kingdoms were hostile to one another and they fought constantly for supreme power in the country.
The new conquerors brought about changes altogether different from those that had followed the conquest of the country by the Romans. The new settlers disliked towns preferring to live in small villages. In the course of the conquest they destroyed the Roman towns and villas. All the beautiful buildings and baths and roads were so neglected that they soon fell in ruins. Sometimes the roads were broken up, the stones being used for building material. Thus the art of road-making was lost for many hundreds of years to come.1
The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles were closely akin in speech and customs, and they gradually merged into one people. The name "Jute" soon died out and the conquerors are generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons.
As a result of the conquest the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population in Britain and their customs, -religion and languages became predominant. They called the Celts "welsh" which means foreigners as they could not understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own. But gradually the Celts who were in the minority merged with the conquerors, adopted their customs and learned to speak their languages. Only the Celts who remained independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland spoke their native tongue.
At first the Anglo-Saxons spoke various dialects but gradually the dialect of the Angles of Mercia became predominant. In the course of time all the people of Britain were referred to as the English after the Angles and the new name of England was given to the whole country. The Anglo-Saxon language, or English, has been the principal language of the country since then although it has undergone great change.
THE GROWTH OF THE BIG LANDED ESTATES AND THE INTRODUCTION OF SERFDOM
• how big landed estates grew up in Britain;
b how free peasants began to lose their land and freedom;
• how the administration of the Anglo-Saxons changed;^
• what changes the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons . to Christianity brought about.
An Anglo-Saxon Free Community
The peasants of the village formed a little society—a community. The land of the village belonged to the whole community and each villager had a right to a share of it. From the village meadows the members of the community had a share of hay to feed their cattle in winter-time, in the common forests they cut branches for winter-fuel; they grazed their cattle on the common pasture and fished in the rivers and lakes. However, harvest, cattle, implements of labour and the house with a garden round it was the villager's private property.
The Anglo-Saxons used to have what was called Trial by Ordeal. The usual trial was as follows.' When a man was accused of a crime he took an oath to say that he was inno-cent and he got twelve well-known people to say that he was probably speaking the truth. If be could not find twelve such people he was sent to the ordeal. The accused would have to put his bare hand and arm into boiling water, or to carry a piece of red-hot iron a certain distance. Then the hand was tied up, and at the end of four days it was untied and looked at by the elders. If it was healing, the man was considered innocent, if not, he was pronounced guilty and was punished.
But not all the members of the community were equal. Inequality had already appeared among the Anglo-Saxons before the conquest of Britain. The tribal nobility, that is, military leaders and elders, possessed more land and cattle than other tribesmen. Their land was cultivated by prisoners of war who were their slaves. The effect of the conquest of Britain was to increase the j wealth1 of the: Anglo-Saxon nobility. The elders and mili-tary leaders distributed the land and cattle among the tribesmen in the conquered country and they got more land and cattle than the rank-and-file members of the tribe. The tribal nobility took possession of large tracts of land
and became great landowners. The nobles were better armed than the rank-and-file tribesmen. They went to war wearing helmets and coats of mail, bearing swords and axes. A rank-and-file warrior had only a spear and a round shield.
The famous Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf l tells us about the life of the Anglo-Saxons at the time when every man was a warrior. The poem describes the arms and armour of the Anglo-Saxon warriors, their exploits and adventures. It is named after the great legendary warrior, Beowulf.
The Anglo-Saxon nobles with the help of their warriors began to seize the land of the free communities to make the free peasants work for them. The noble would raid a village and proclaim the village land his private property. The peasants usually went on farming the plots of land, but they were not owners of the land any longer. The noble would keep a considerable number of the strips for himself and the peasants would be given small land-holdings. Now the peasants' land-holdings ran alternately with the landlord's strips and the peasants had to cultivate both the landlord's land and their own holdings.
The royal power helped to place the free peasants under the power of the rich landowners. The kings had the right to collect dues from the whole population of the country. Quite often they granted this right to their warriors. The kings also granted them the right to administer justice in the neighbourhood. As a result many free peasants found themselves in the power of the neighbouring landowner. Though they lived on their own land, quite often they had to work for their powerful neighbour. A considerable number of peasants became semi-bondsmen in this way and gradually lost their freedom.
Thus, in the 7th-9th centuries feudal relations were beginning to develop among the Anglo-Saxons, that is, a class of rich landowners was forming and the free peasants were gradually losing their land and freedom. But it was a slow process in Britain. Though some peasants were already in bondage and others had plots of land too small to live on, the majority of the population in the 8th-9th centuries consisted of free peasants who cultivated their own land.
Changes in the Administration
By the beginning of the 9th century changes had come about in Anglo-Saxon society. There were now big landed estates with bond peasants working on them for the owners. With the development of feudal relations great changes were taking place in administration too. Rich landowners were given great power over the peasants.
At first after the conquest of Britain, folk-moots at which the members of the free communities gathered were held periodically. The hundred-moots presided over by an elected elder were held once a month. At the hundred-moots the men who were elected were sent as representatives to a shire-moot. (A shire was a larger district than a hundred.) Theshire-moots were presided over by shire-reeves, or sheriffs, and were held two or three times a year.
In the 9th century the free members of the community were not sent to the hundred-moot any longer; it was the greatest and the most influencial landlords of the hundred who attended the hundred-moot and administered justice there.
The hundred-elder was now one of the royal officials, p representative of the central power in a hundred, and the sheriff became the king's chief official in the shire. The sheriff was responsible for justice and he presided over the shire-moots on behalf of the king. The king himself became the supreme judge.
Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity
The Christian Church also influenced the growth of the new feudal relations a great deal. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity began at the end of the 6th century (597) and was completed, in the main, in the second half of the 7th century.
Before this the Angles, Saxons and Jutes had been pagans, that is. They believed in many gods. They worshipped .the sun and the moon, the sea, springs and trees, and other pagan gods. One of their gods was Tu, or Tuesco—the god of Darkness. Another was Woden—the great god of War. The red-bearded Thor was the god of Thunder. The Anglo-Saxons thought they heard his magic hammer in the thunderclap. Freya 1 was the goddess of Peace and Plenty. The Anglo-Saxons named the days of the week after their gods. Thus Sunday meant the Sun's day, Monday—the Moon's day, Tuesday—the day of the god Tuesco; Wednesday was Woden's day, Thursday was Thor's day and Friday—Freya's day; Saturday was named after Saturn, a Roman God.
In 597 the Roman Pope sent about forty monks to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks landed inKent and it became the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to be converted. The first church was built in the town of Canterbury, the capital of Kent, that is why the Archbishop of Canterbury is now Head of the Church of England. Then Christianity spread among the Anglo-Saxons of the other kingdoms.
It was the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles who accepted Christianity first. Then they began to convert the rank-and-file to the new faith. But they did not meet with great success. The people were attached to their old gods and after a short time they went back to their old religion. Moreover, the old religion meant freedom for the peasants, while the new one justified the power of the big landowners over them, that is why they resisted their conversion into Christianity stubbornly. It took about a century to compel all the Anglo-Saxons to accept the new faith.
The spread of Christianity brought about important changes in the life of the Anglo-Saxons. Many new churches and monasteries were built all over the country. The kings and nobles granted much land to the bishops and monasteries, and that promoted the growth of the big landed estates. The kings also granted them the right to collect dues from the population and to administer justice on their estates. Thus alongside with the lay landlords the churchmen became great landowners too.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND
Unification of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms waged a constant struggle against one another for predominance over the country. From time to time some stronger state seized the land of the neighbouring kingdoms and made them pay tribute, or
even ruled them directly. The number of kingdoms was always changing; so were their boundaries.
The greatest and most important kingdoms were Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex. For a time Northumbria gained supremacy. Mercia was the next kingdom to take the lead. The struggle for predominance continued and at last at the beginning of the 9th century Wessex became the strongest state. In 829 Egbert, ' King of Wessex, was acknowledged by Kent, Mercia and Northumbria. This was really the beginning of the united kingdom of England, for Wessex never again lost its supremacy and King Egbert became the first king of England. Under his rule, all the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united to form one kingdom which was called England from that time on.
The clergy, royal warriors and officials supported the king's power. It was the king who granted them land and the right to collect dues from the peasants and to hold judgement over them. In this way the royal power helped them to deprive the peasants of their land and to turn them into serfs.
The political unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was sped up by the urgent task of defending the country against the dangerous raids of the new enemies. From the end of the 8th century and during the 9th and the 10th centuries Western Europe was troubled by a new wave of f barbarian attacks. These barbarians came from the North— I from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and were called North- f men. In different countries the Northmen were known by many other names, as the Vikings, the Normans, the Danes. They came to Britain from Norway and Denmark. But more often the British Isles were raided from Denmark, and the invaders came to be known in English history as the Danes.
' In 793 the Danes carried out their first raids on Britain. Their earliest raids were for plunder only. The raiders came in three or four ships, each with as many as a hundred men on board. They sailed along the coasts of the country and up the rivers thus plundering not only the coasts but the midlands as well. They came in spring and summer, and when the ship was loaded with plunder they returned home
for the winter. Every year they went to different places— rarely to the same place twice. Thus all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms faced the same dangerous enemy.
In later years large Danish fleets (more than three hundred ships) brought large armies to conquer and settle in the new lands. They did not go home for the winter but they made large camps, well-guarded, to which they brought their booty. From these camps the Danes would make many raids upon the villages in the area. Thus began the fourth conquest of Britain. Once more the cattle was driven off, the houses burnt, churches and monasteries plundered and the people slain.
Strengthening of the Kingdom in the Reign of Alfred the Great (871-899)
In 871 the Danes invaded Wessex again. But it was not so easy to devastate Wessex as other parts of England. Wessex had united the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and under the reign of Egbert's grandson, King Alfred (871-899) who became known in English history as Alfred the Great, Wessex became the centre of resistance against the invaders.
Alfred managed to raise an army and to stop the offensive of the Danes. He made new rules for the army, in which every free man had to serve and to come provided with the proper weapons. A levy of infantrymen made up of free peasants and an army of knights consisting of landlords were formed. The landlords were ordered to come with good armour and on horseback. Only half of the infantrymen of the shire served in the army at a time. The others were occupied with their work at home and when it was their turn to serve, they became warriors. Thus all the free peasants of Wessex were trained to fight and Alfred could raise a large levy of infantrymen when it was necessary. The army of horsemen was increased too. Alfred granted much land to his warriors and in this way the number of fighting men who were bound to do military service in return for their estates grew considerably.
During the reign of Alfred the Great the first British Navy was built and a war fleet of ships larger and faster
a war fleet of ships larger and faster than those of the Danes protected the island. Besides, many places which could be easily attacked by the enemy were fortified. Earthen walls were built around them. These walls, or forts, were protected by fighting men who owned land in the neighbourhood.
As a result of all these measures, the Anglo-Saxons won several victories over the Danes. In the treaty which followed in 886, the Danes promised to leave Wessex and a part of Mercia. They settled in the north-eastern part of England, a region which was from that time called the Danelaw, because it was ruled according to the law of the Danes. The great Roman road, Watling Street, was the boundary that separated the Danelaw from Wessex. Thus the Danes were prevented from conquering the whole island ; and the country was divided into two parts: the Danelaw (Northumbria, East Anglia and a part of Mercia).
In time of peace Alfred the Great took measures to improve the laws in the interests of the great landowners and
to raise the standard of culture among them. King Alfred knew not only how to write and read—an uncommon thing even for princes in those days—but he was well versed in Greek and Latin. He read a good deal and he realized how backward the Anglo-Saxons were compared with the people of France and Italy, and even more so as compared with the Romans five hundred years earlier. The Anglo-Saxons, whose ancestors had destroyed the Roman civilization in Britain four centuries before, could build nothing better than rough timber dwellings, and wore nothing finer than coarse homespuns. Few, even among the clergy, could read and write and even at Canterbury' there were not enough priests to conduct the services in the cathedral.
Alfred demanded that all the priests should learn Latin, as the Bible and service-books were all in that language, and it was the duty of the clergy to understand them. He also ordered all future state officials to learn the Latin language as well. A school was started in the palace itself where the sons of the nobles learned to read and write. Alfred himself sometimes taught there. As nearly all the books of that time were written in Latin, and few people could read them, translations of some Latin books into Anglo-Saxon were made. Books on religion, history and philosophy were translated so that those people who learned to read could understand them in their own tongue.
Effects on the Language.
Celtic languages.
Different forms of the Celtic languages developed over time and still survive in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. The forms spoken today in Ireland and Scotland are known as Gaelic .Irish literature began to be written down in the 6th century and contains stories of earlier heroes. At this time language spread from Ireland to Scotland, where it developed independently. The Welsh and Cornish languages are similar to Breton, the Celtic language of north-west France. The Celtic language also survived in England in the names of many places and rivers. Dover and Kent and the rivers Thames and Severn are all names derived from Celtic words.
Дата добавления: 2022-01-22; просмотров: 75; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!