![]() ![]() Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous, with some exceptions. However those that can present a sizable body of work, listed here in descending order of quantity: sermons and saints' lives (the most numerous), biblical translations translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works laws, wills and other legal works practical works on grammar, medicine, geography lastly, but not least important, poetry. Not all of the texts can be fairly called literature, such as lists of names or aborted pen trials. These manuscripts have been highly prized by collectors since the 16th century, both for their historic value and for their aesthetic beauty of uniformly spaced letters and decorative elements. In total there are about 400 surviving manuscripts containing Old English text, 189 of them considered major. In this way many of the texts that have survived are typical teaching and student-oriented texts. He thus proposed that students be educated in Old English, and those who excelled would go on to learn Latin. King Alfred noted that while very few could read Latin, many could still read Old English. ![]() Likewise King Alfred the Great ( 849– 899), wanting to restore English culture, lamented the poor state of Latin education: "So general was decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who anslate a letter from Latin into English and I believe there were not many beyond the Humber" ( Pastoral Care, introduction). Old English began, in written form, as a practical necessity in the aftermath of the Danish invasions-church officials were concerned that because of the drop in Latin literacy no one could read their work. Old English literature is among the oldest vernacular languages to be written down. The poem Cædmon's Hymn from the 7th century is one of the oldest surviving written texts in English.Īnglo-Saxon literature has gone through different periods of research-in the 19th and early 20th centuries the focus was on the Germanic roots of English, later the literary merits were examined, and today the interest is with paleography questions and the physical manuscripts themselves such as dating, place of origin, authorship, and looking at the connections between Anglo-Saxon culture and the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.Ī large number of manuscripts remain from the 600 year Anglo-Saxon period, with most written during the last 300 years ( 9th– 11th century), in both Latin and the vernacular. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of early English history. Some of the most important works from this period include the poem Beowulf, which has achieved national epic status in Britain. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, a significant corpus of both popular interest and specialist research. ![]() These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. The initial page of the Peterborough Chronicle, likely scribed around 1150, is one of the major sources of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.Īnglo-Saxon literature (or Old English literature) encompasses literature written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) during the 600-year Anglo-Saxon period of Britain, from the mid- 5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066.
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