V. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
The fall of the Western Roman Empire is regarded as the end of ancient history.
After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts had to defend the country against Germanic tribes which lived on the Continent. But the Celts were not success. By the end of the 6th cent. the Germanic tribes (Teutonic) inhabited all the territory of the Br. Isles, except Scotland, Wales and Cornwall (Корноул – граф-во в Англии). The Germanic (Teutonic) tribes, included the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, the Freezes occupied the British Isles this way – the Angles occupied the territory from Scotland to the Thames, the Saxons – near the Thames and to the south from it; the Jutes – the south – eastern part of the Br. Isles ( the part which was called Kent and up to modern days it is called Kent). By the end of the 6th cent. and the beginning of the 7th cent. several kingdoms were formed on the territory of Britain conquered by the Germanic tribes. Their names were Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and Kent. On the territory of these kingdoms 4 dialects were formed – Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessexian, Kentish.These kingdoms were hostile to each other and they fought constantly for the supreme power in the country.
In the half of the 9th century, Wessex occupied the leading position. And from that period the differences between these Anglo-Saxon kingdoms began disappearing.
But the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population of Britain. Their customs, religion and language became predominant. They called the Celts (whom they couldn’t conquer) ‘welsh’ which means foreigners as they couldn’t understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own. But gradually the Celts who were in minority merged with the conquerors, adopted their customs and learned to speak their language. Only the Celts who remained independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland spoke their native language.
In the course of time all people of Britain were referred to as the English after the Angles and the new name ‘England’ was given to the new country [ England means ‘Anglelond’ – страна/ земля ангелов]. From that period it’s possible to speak about the forming of English nation. The Anglo-Saxon language or English, has become the main language of the country since then, although it has undergone great changes.
As early as the 6th cent. (597) the Roman monks started to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. But at the end of the 7th cent. the Christianity was spread all over the country. The monasteries became centers of knowledge and learning. The monks copied many handwritten books and even translated some books from Latin and Greek into Anglo-Saxon. Some monks were chroniclers, they kept a record of the important events of every year. Psalters, chronicles and other manuscripts written by the monks are very important historical documents today. The monks started to create written English.
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VI. Scandinavian conquerors
At the end of the 9th cent. (871) Scandinavian Vikings (the Danes) began to attack England. They invaded the country several times. Finally, the king Alfred (who reigned from 871-899) won several victories over the Danes. But in 886, he had to conclude a treaty with the Danes. According to the treaty the Danes were allowed to settle in the north-eastern part of England. This part of the territory was called ‘Danelagh’ meaning – ‘ The land of the Danes’. This kingdom “Danelagh’ existed till the 11th century. At the end of the 10th cent. the Danish invasions were resumed. The Anglo-Saxon kings were unable to organize any effective resistance. And at the beginning of the 11th cent. The Danish king Canute became the king of Denmark, Norway and England. The Danish dynasty governed England till 1042 (30 years), when the Danish kingdom disintegrated and the descendent of Anglo-Saxon dynasty – Adward became the king of England. The line of Danish kings came to an end. The result of close neighbourhood of the Anglo-Saxons was the fact that a lot of words which are used in everyday life were borrowed from the Danes.
The Scandinavian dialects spoken by the invaders belonged tothe North Germanic languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar tothat of English. Close relation between English and Scandinavian dialects made mutual understanding without translation quite possible. A considerable part of the vocabulary was common to English and to Scandinavian dialects. In many words the root was the same, while endings were different. In the following list you can see the OE words and their counterparts:
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OE Scandinavian OE Scandinavian
dom (judgement) domr sunu (son) sunr
fisc (fish) fiskr heorte (heart) hiarta
cyninz (king) konongr tima (time) time
wind (wind) vindr modor(mother) moder
dxz (day) dagr fot (foot) fotr
treo (tree) tre bitan (bite) bita
zod (good) godr faran (go) fara
ic (I) ek standan(stand) standa
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