Note 1: Celts

Celt also spelled Kelt, Latin Celta, plural Celtae a member of an early Indo-European people who from the 2nd millennium BC to the 1st century BC spread over much of Europe. Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and Galatia in Anatolia and were in part absorbed into the Roman Empire as Britons, Gauls, Boii, Galatians, and Celtiberians. Linguistically they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany. The Celtic settlement of Britain and Ireland is deduced mainly from archaeological and linguistic considerations. The only direct historical source for the identification of an insular people with the Celts is Caesar's report of the migration of Belgic tribes to Britain, but the inhabitants of both islands were regarded by the Romans as closely related to the Gauls. Information on Celtic institutions is available from various classical authors and from the body of ancient Irish literature. The social system of the tribe, or “people,” was threefold: king, warrior aristocracy, and freemen farmers. The druids, who were occupied with magico-religious duties, were recruited from families of the warrior class but ranked higher. Thus Caesar's distinction between druides (man of religion and learning), eques (warrior), and plebs (commoner) is fairly apt. As in other Indo-European systems, the family was patriarchal. The basic economy of the Celts was mixed farming, and, except in times of unrest, single farmsteads were usual. Owing to the wide variations in terrain and climate, cattle raising was more important than cereal cultivation in some regions. Hill forts provided places of refuge, but warfare was generally open and consisted of single challenges and combat as much as of general fighting. La Tene art (archeological artifacts found in Switzerland) gives witness to the aesthetic qualities of the Celts, and they greatly prized music and many forms of oral literary composition.

Note 2

The supremacy of Kent lasted until the early 7the c.; it is attributed to the cultural superiority of Kent and its close contact with the mainland. The 7^th and 8^th centuries witnessed the temporary rise of Northumbria, followed by a period of balance of power of the three main rivals (Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex) and the dominance of Mercia, large and prosperous kingdom in the rich Midland plains. Yes already in during Mercia’s supremacy Wessex had secured the control of Sussex and Kent, and was growing more influential. The conquest of Mercia by Wessex in the early 9^th c. reversed the position of two kingdoms: Wessex was brought to the fore and acquired the leadership unsurpassed till the end of the OE period 11^th c.) Wessex was a kingdom with good frontiers and vast area of fertile land in the valley of the Thames; the control of London and the lower Thames valley (formerly part of Essex) as well as the growing contacts with the Franconian Empire contributed to the rise of Wessex. Apart from internal reasons the unification of England under the leadership of Wessex was speeded up by a new factor; the pressure of common enemy.

Note 3 The "national" language embraces all the varieties of the language use; the nation including dialects; the "national literary language" applies only to recognized standard forms of the language, both written and spoken; for earlier periods of history the term "literary language" may indicate the language of writing in a wider sense, including chronicles, legal documents, religious text? A mature national literary language is characterised by codified norms or rules of usage and functional stylistic differentiation.

Note 2

Many of the great classics, both ancient and modern, were translated Int. English: Plutarch and Ovid, Montaigne and Thomas More. Religious prose flourished not only in the translations of the Bible but also in collections of sermon! and other theological compositions. Secular prose grew in the philosophical workf of Francis Bacon (1561—1626), who wrote his chief work, NOVUM OROANUM i Latin, but proved his mastery of the mother tongue in essays and other compositions.