Background. Britain, as a place, was first mentioned by ancient Greek writ­ers

Britain, as a place, was first mentioned by ancient Greek writ­ers. To the Greeks, Britain was a legendary place - remote and mysterious. The Romans found the island occupied by Celtic Brit­ons, who were related to the Celtic peoples of Western Europe con­quered by the Romans. During the fifth century, when the Roman Empire was crumbling, the Romans withdrew, leaving the Ccltic peoples to find their own means of defense.

Despite a brief period of military success under the leadership of the individual who became the King Arthur of medieval legend, the culture of the Romanized Celts of Britain had collapsed by 600 under the attacks of a variety of enemies, principally German tribes from across the North Sea. For the following two hundred and fifty years (600—850), the Anglo-Saxons - a multitude of wealthy, in­dependent lords and kings - fought among themselves, with many kingdoms rising and falling.

To add to the plight of the Anglo-Saxons as they fought to protect their own petty kingdoms, Viking Danes began to attack during the second half of the ninth century. Under the leadership of Alfred the Great (871—899), and later, his grandson, Athelstan (925—940), the Danes were defeated, but the country was not united under an Anglo-Saxon king until the middle of the eleventh century. Howev­er, their unified land did not survive for very long. In 1066 they were once again invaded. Their conquerers, the Normans from across the English Channel, instituted their own culture, thus bringing to a close the Anglo-Saxon epoch of English history.

Anglo-Saxon Culture

When the Anglo-Saxons came to England, they brought with them a relatively well-developed society organized around the fam­ily, the clan, the tribe, and finally the kingdom. The eorls (ег1з), the ruling class, and the ceorls (cherlz), bondsmen whose ancestors were former captives of the tribe, made up the two classes of Ang­lo-Saxon society. Although he was considered to be an absolute ruler, the king relied heavily on advice from a council, the wilan («wise men»). For example, in the selection from Bede's «Ecclesi- astical History of the English People», King Edwin consults his witan before converting the Christianity.

The centre of the Anglo-Saxons' social life was the mead hall. As part of the celebrations in the mead hall, professional singers or bards, called scops, entertained by recounting stories of brave he­roes and by serving as resident poet and chronicler for the king and his tribe. These entertainers were responsible for preserving much of the literature of the time by keeping it alive until it was written down by Church scholars after Christianity came to England.

Until the end of the sixth century, the Anglo-Saxons worshiped various pagan gods — gods associated today with Norse mytholo­gy. Christianity did not have much impact on these pagan people until a missionary named Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert King Ethclbert of Kent in 597. Within one or two generations Christianity had spread throughout England.

Along with a new religion, the Christian missionaries brought education and culture. Schools grew up as monasteries were built. Young Anglo-Saxons learned not only the Scriptures but also the writing of the Roman Virgil and of the ancient Greeks. The coming of Christianity had a marked influence on literature, as the monks in the monasteries recorded the poetry that had been passed down orally from generation to generation by the mead-hall entertainers.

In spite of the wide-spread effects of Christianity on the Anglo- Saxons, they clung tightly to many of the superstitions and cus­toms from their pagan past.

Anglo-Saxon Literature

English literature had its beginnings while the Anglo-Saxons were still on the Continent. When they conquered the Cells, they brought with them a rich tradition of oral literature steeped in their customs and pagan beliefs and rituals. This literature focusscd on the telling of the brave and heroic deeds of the warriors possessing attributes they valued and wished to emulate.

The first English poet known by name Caedmon, who lived during the 600's. His only authentic surviving work is «Hymn», a nine-line poem thai praises God. About the same time, Saint Aid- helm, an English bishop, wrote poems in Latin and Old English. However, only his Latin verses have survived.

The only surviving full-length epic in Old English from this tradition is «Beowulf», the first major work of English literature. One or more unknown authors wrote it in the 700's. The poem tells about the adventures of a brave hero named Beowulf.

The influence of the epics was sustained throughout the Anglo- Saxon period. As late as the tenth century, Christian writers pro­duced two very excellent imitations of the battle scenes of the old heroic epics: «The Battle of Brunanburh» and «The Battle of Mal- don». Both of this epics recount clashes between the English and the Viking Danes.

Two other important types of Anglo-Saxon poetry are the lyric and the riddle. The lyric presents a more personal and emotional form of poetry in which an object or person is described in a rather ambiguous manner, demonstrates the Anglo-Saxon fascination for manipulating words. In the lyrics and riddles, the Anglo-Saxons expressed their terror of the northern winter, their awareness of the transitory nature of human life, and their reverence and fear of the sea because of its immensity, its mystery, and its cruelty.

After about 750, poetry flourished in Northumbria an Anglo- Saxon kingdom in the north. There, poets wrote verses about the lives and hardships of saints. The leading Northumbrian poet was Cynewulf. Several works are attributed to him, including the reli­gious poems «The Fates of the Apostles», «Elene», and «Juliana».

Many Old English poems glorified a real or imaginary hero and tried to teach the values of bravery and generosity. Poets used allit­eration (words that begin with the same sound) and kennings (elab­orate descriptive phrases). They also used internal rhyme, in which a word within a line rhymes with a word at the end of the line.

Unlike Anglo-Saxon poetry, which exemplifies the highly imag­inative nature of the Anglo-Saxons, the highly utilitarian prose writing from this period had its origins in the Church with the priests and monks. Because Latin was the language of the Church and because it was considered to be the language of educated men, the earliest prose writing was in Latin. The earliest recognized prose writer was the seventh century scholar Bede. Bede's «Ecclesiasti­cal History of the English Nation» (731) is the first history of the English people and a valuable source of information about English life from the late 500's to 731. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon

by Alfred the Great, who was the most influential prose writer of this period. One of the Alfred's greatest accomplishments was the encouragement that he gave to the continuation of the «Anglo-Sax­on Chronicle», a year-by-year accounting of the events of English history. As Bede's «Ecclesiastical History» is a valuable source for Church history, the «Anglo-Saxon Chronicle» gives an accuratc account of the secular events in English history. A monk named Aelfric wrote a series of homilies (short moral essays) in Old En­glish during the 990's.

Because Anglo-Saxon literature was preserved in a very disor­ganized fashion, because much of it was never written down at all, and because only four manuscripts of the poetry have survived, much of the life and literature of these people who inhabited En­gland for approximately six centuries still is a mystery. Archaeolo­gists and literary scholars have many questions that arc yet unan­swered about this Anglo-Saxon civilization. One question that cer­tainly has not been satisfactorily answered for many is what role the monks played as they recorded the literature. Were they merely recorders or were they using the literature to inculcate Christian principles and values? What is certainly known about Anglo-Sax­on literature is that it is imaginative, heroic, exciting and rich in tradition. And like the literature of any era, its poetry and prose reveal much that is worth knowing about its creators.