Unit 1. From the beginning : Historical context
1.1 Indo-Europeans
1.2 The Celtic substratum
1.3 The Romanization of England: Caesar and Claudius. Early Latin borrowings. (A History of the English Language page 46)
55 B. C Julius Caesar tried to control England various times while trying to control the Celts of Gsul. Failing this conquest, Claudius succeed at 43 A. D* conquering only the south of England. Later on, the south was divided from the north by the Hadrian's wall (A. D 122).
Latin was only used by the high classes and the roman people. Celtic survived in the general population.
1.4 The Germanic Tribes and the decadence of the Roman Empire. The Germanic Invasions of the British Isles: Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Anglo-Saxon. (A History of the English Language page 47-50)
410 A. D Romans left England.
449 A. D Germanic tribes coming from Denmark, Norway and the low countries invaded the south and east of the island. They were three main groups:
1.Jutes: Settled in Kent where the isle of Thanet is a reward as a result of helping the Britons to fight the Picts and Scots.
2.Saxons: Since 477 A. D they settled at Sussex in the south and on 495 A. D they settled at Wessex on the west too.
3.Angles: East coast and at 547 A. D they settled at the north of Humber (Anglian kingdom)
Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy:
1.Northumbria (important at the 7th century)
2.Mercia (important at the 8th century)
3.East Anglia
4.Kent
5.Essex
6.Sussex
7.Wessex (important from 9th century until 830 A. D, king Egbert 802-839 and king Alfred 871-889).
1.5 The Christianization of England: The Roman and Celtic branches of Christianity, the Synod and Whitby. (A History of the English Language page 82-85)
597 A. D Pope Gregory the Great sent monks Augustine to Christianize England. The monks had the support of king AEthelberht (590-616) of Kent because of his queen, Bertha, was already a Christian.
632 A. D Northumbria went back to paganism after the defeat of king Edwin (616-633) by the Welsh and the Mercians.
635 A. D King Oswald (604-641/2) supported the re-Christianization of Northumbria by the monk Aidan from the Scottish monastery of Iona.
731 A. D Venerable Bede (673-735) recollects the historical context of this Christianization in his work ´´Ecclesiastical History of the English people``.
1.6 The Viking invasions. Settlements in England. Power struggles between the Saxons and the Vikings. The Danelaw. (A History of the English Language page 92-95)
793 A. D Vikings destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne.
834 A. D Groups of Vikings restarted the invasions.
850-867 A. D Continuous army of Danish Vikings, despite of the resistance of the West Saxon army, invaded the isle of Thanet, Canterbury, London and East Anglia.
869 A. D Murder of the East Anglian King, Edmund (855-869).
878 A. D The Danish were finally defeated by King Alfred (871-899) at Ethadun preventing the invasion of Wessex (Edington nowadays). This was achieved with the final peace between Alfred and Guthrum signing the Treaty of Wedmore. Hence the territory which was separated from Alfred's dominion was under the Danelaw.
991 A. D The King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason (960-1000), invaded southeast coast of England.
994 A. D Olaf Tryggvason with the king of Denmark, Svein (960-1014), invaded London.
1014 A. D Cnut (985/995-1035) , son of Svein, ruled England, Denmark and Norway.
1.7 The creation of the alphabet (Latin, German and Celtic influences).
1.8 The search for a standard: Alfred and AElfric.
1.9 The Norman Conquest: social and linguistic repercussions. (A History of the English Language page 108-114 + Bayeux Tapestry)
1042 A. D Cnut died and because of his son, Harthacnut (1018-1042), was childless, the throne passed to Emma's son of the previous marriage with king Ethelred (966/68-1016), Edward the confessor. Edward was also childless so he had to choose from four candidates:
1.Harold Godwinson (1022-1066), Earl of Wessex. Brother of Edward's wife, Edith (1029-1075).
2.Harold Hardrada (1015-1066), King of Norway. Died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 1066) defeated by Harold Godwinson.
3.William (1027-1087), duke of Normandy.
4.Edgar Atheling (1051-1126), Edward's nephew. He was too young to reign.
1066 A. D:
6 January Harold is crowned as King of England.
28 September William arrives at Pevensey accompanied with Bishop Odo and the Count of Mortain, Robert.
14 October William and Harold fight in the Battle of Hastings.
25 December William new King of England.
William's victory meant a Norman invasion which provided the imposition of a feudal system. Use of French by the higher classes.
1.10 The loss of the dominions in France.
*As said in class, some of these dates must be remembered for the exam.
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
Barry Pennock Speck
© Carolina Cody Aldaz
cacodyal@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press