What is the oldest piece of English literature?
Old English
Anglo-Saxon literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century. The oldest surviving text of Old English literature is "Cædmon's Hymn", composed between 658 and 680. There is a limited corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries, but the oldest coherent runic texts (notably the Franks Casket) date to the 8th century. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 9th century.
With the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (outside the Danelaw) by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect (Early West Saxon). Alfred advocated education in English alongside Latin, and had many works translated into the English language; some of them, such as Pope Gregory I's treatise "Pastoral Care", appear to have been translated by Alfred himself. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, but King Alfred the Great (871 to 901) chiefly inspired the growth of prose.
English literature
Significant religious works were also created in the 14th century, including those of Julian of Norwich (c. 1342 – c. 1416) and Richard Rolle. Julian's "Revelations of Divine Love" (about 1393) is believed to be the first published book written by a woman in the English language.
Matter of England
They are thought by scholars to derive features from the language and culture of the "low-born" parts of society and the emerging middle-class. However such stories should not be seen as purely the domain of the English peasant and yeoman as most of these tales survive in Anglo-Norman literary forms. The oldest surviving versions are in many cases written in Anglo-Norman or Medieval Latin—though in most cases, scholars accepted them as originally from the English tradition.
Oldest town in Britain
Amesbury along with Stonehenge in Wiltshire is claimed to be Britain's oldest settlement, dating back to 8820 BC according to a project led by the University of Buckingham. The place is said to have been a transport point with the River Avon acting as a transit route. Evidence of frogs' legs being eaten as well as 31,000 flints and animal bones have also been found.
Scots-language literature
In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. Although there are earlier fragments of original Scots prose, such as the "Auchinleck Chronicle", the first complete surviving work is John Ireland's "The Meroure of Wyssdome" (1490). There were also prose translations of French books of chivalry that survive from the 1450s, including "The Book of the Law of Armys" and the "Order of Knychthode" and the treatise "Secreta Secetorum", an Arabic work believed to be Aristotle's advice to Alexander the Great. The landmark work in the reign of James IV was Gavin Douglas's version of Virgil's "Aeneid", the "Eneados", which was the first complete translation of a major classical text in an Anglic language, finished in 1513, but overshadowed by the disaster at Flodden in the same year.
Dream of the Rood
The Dream of the Rood is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. "Rood" is from the Old English word "rōd" 'pole', or more specifically 'crucifix'. Preserved in the 10th-century Vercelli Book, the poem may be as old as the 8th-century Ruthwell Cross, and is considered one of the oldest works of Old English literature.
United Kingdom
Britain's oldest known poem, "Y Gododdin", was composed in "Yr Hen Ogledd" ("The Old North"), most likely in the late 6th century. It was written in Cumbric or Old Welsh and contains the earliest known reference to King Arthur. From around the seventh century, the connection between Wales and the Old North was lost, and the focus of Welsh-language culture shifted to Wales, where Arthurian legend was further developed by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Wales's most celebrated medieval poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym ("fl."1320–1370), composed poetry on themes including nature, religion and especially love. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest European poets of his age. Until the late 19th century the majority of Welsh literature was in Welsh and much of the prose was religious in character. Daniel Owen is credited as the first Welsh-language novelist, publishing "Rhys Lewis" in 1885. The best-known of the Anglo-Welsh poets are both Thomases. Dylan Thomas became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-20th century. He is remembered for his poetry—his "Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is one of the most quoted couplets of English language verse—and for his "play for voices", "Under Milk Wood". The influential Church in Wales "poet-priest" and Welsh nationalist R. S. Thomas was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include Richard Llewellyn and Kate Roberts.
England in the Middle Ages
The Anglo-Saxons produced extensive poetry in Old English, some of which was written down as early as the 9th century, although most surviving poems were compiled in the 10th and early 11th century. "Beowulf", probably written between 650 and 750, is typical of these poems, portraying a vivid, heroic tale, ending with the protagonist's death at the hands of a dragon, but still showing signs of the new Christian influences in England. Old English was also used for academic and courtly writing from the 9th century onwards, including translations of popular foreign works, including "The Pastoral Care".
Arts and entertainment in India
Tamil literature has been in existence for more than 2500 years. Tolkaappiyam has been credited as its oldest work, whereas the exact origins of Thirukkural is unknown. The golden age of Tamil literature was during the Sangam period, roughly 1800 years ago. The classic works of this period are Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai, and Sivakasinthamani. Tamil literature is known for its secular traditions, although its authors had strong religious beliefs. Thirukkural is considered to be the greatest of Tamil works. Kannada literature is probably the third oldest in Indian literature next to Sanskrit literature and Tamil literature. The earliest reported work in Kannada literature dates back to the fifth century. The first available literary in Kannada is Kavirajamarga, written in the eighth century by Amoghavarsha Nrpatunga. Hindi literature started as religious and philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects like Avadhi and Brij. The most famous figures from this period are Kabir and Tulsidas. In modern times, the "Khadi" dialect became more prominent and a variety of literature was produced in Sanskrit.
South English Legendary
The Bodleian Library houses the oldest manuscript (MS Laud Misc. 108), which is estimated to have been written in 1265, although Horstmann dated it to 1280-90. It is likely that the manuscript elements were being worked on for many years in advance of its compilation.
The London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published. "The London Gazette" claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is also made by the "Stamford Mercury" (1712) and "Berrow's Worcester Journal" (1690), because "The Gazette" is not a conventional newspaper offering general news coverage. It does not have a large circulation.
English literature
Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were very popular, and some, including "Beowulf", have survived to the present day. "Beowulf" is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved national epic status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia. The only surviving manuscript is the Nowell Codex, the precise date of which is debated, but most estimates place it close to the year 1000. Beowulf is the conventional title, and its composition is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century.
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are the two epic poems "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey", set in the Mycenaean era. These two epics, along with the Homeric Hymns and the two poems of Hesiod, "Theogony" and "Works and Days", comprised the major foundations of the Greek literary tradition that would continue into the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods.
Ceolfrith
The Codex Amiatinus is the oldest manuscript with a complete text of the Vulgate. The Codex Amiatinus is described as a brilliant display of the beauty that is Early British, Pre-Carolingian calligraphy. As a Vulgate Bible, it became so much more as it dictated the rules, not just of Christendom to the masses, but expressed exercises of monastic interest. Ceolfrid devoted a great deal of his time in the twin monasteries to composing this work. The composition of the Vulgate was part of the project to expand Wearmouth and Jarrow's extensive library, and Ceolfrid ordered three copies of this Bible manuscript to be composed; one of which would be dedicated to the Pope Gregory II, while the other two copies were meant to stay in the respective churches of Wearmouth and Jarrow. There are no official records that state that the text made it to Rome. It is said that instead, it made its way into Florence, where it was presented by the Lombard Abbot Peter to the Abbazia di San Salvatore at Mount Amiata in Tuscany. It is believed that he changed the dedicatory note inscribed within the leaves as donated to the monastery. This occurred in the 9th century. The document remained at Mount Amiata until 1786, when it was relocated to the Laurentian Library in Florence. There is some dispute over what consisted of this Vulgate Codex. Over the past few hundred years, additional leaves that appear to be related to this text have been located all over Britain, as some were disguised as book wrappings and other literary-based disguises. These new discoveries have led scholars to question the total length of the codex, as there are still fragments missing from it today.
Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
The library of the school is called "Bibliotheca Johannei". It has 55,000 books written in Latin, Ancient Greek, English, French, Italian and German. The library prides itself in having the first editions of many of the milestones of European literature. The oldest book is a Latin bible dating from 1491.
British literature
"Piers Plowman" (written c. 1360–1387) or "Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman" ("William's Vision of Piers Plowman") is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus" (Latin for "step"). "Piers" is considered by many critics to be one of the early great works of English literature along with Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" during the Middle Ages.
English literature
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance. It is one of the better-known Arthurian stories of an established type known as the "beheading game". Developing from Welsh, Irish and English tradition, "Sir Gawain" highlights the importance of honour and chivalry. Preserved in the same manuscript with Sir Gawayne were three other poems, now generally accepted as the work of the same author, including an intricate elegiac poem, "Pearl". The English dialect of these poems from the Midlands is markedly different from that of the London-based Chaucer and, though influenced by French in the scenes at court in "Sir Gawain", there are in the poems also many dialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England.
Middle English lasted until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard, a London-based form of English, became widespread and the printing press started to standardise the language. Chaucer is best known today for "The Canterbury Tales". This is a collection of stories written in Middle English (mostly in verse although some are in prose), that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer is a significant figure in the development of the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still French and Latin.
Vercelli Book
The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest of the four Old English Poetic Codices (the others being the Junius manuscript, the Exeter Book, and the Nowell Codex). It is an anthology of Old English prose and verse that dates back to the late 10th century. The manuscript is housed in the Capitulary Library of Vercelli, in northern Italy.
Elder Futhark
The Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus reading raïhan "deer" is notable as the oldest inscription of the British Isles, dating to 400, the very end of Roman Britain and just predating the modifications leading to the Anglo-Saxon futhorc.
English art
English art is the body of visual arts made in England. England has Europe's earliest and northernmost ice-age cave art. Prehistoric art in England largely corresponds with art made elsewhere in contemporary Britain, but early medieval Anglo-Saxon art saw the development of a distinctly English style, and English art continued thereafter to have a distinct character. English art made after the formation in 1707 of the Kingdom of Great Britain may be regarded in most respects simultaneously as art of the United Kingdom.
Lincoln, England
According to some historians, the city's fortunes began to decline during the 14th century, although this assertion has been disputed, it being argued that the city remained buoyant in both trade and communications well into the 15th century. Thus in 1409, the city was made a county in its own right known as the County of the City of Lincoln. Thereafter, various additional rights being conferred on the town by successive monarchs, including those of an assay town (which controlled metal manufacturing, for example). The oldest surviving secular drama in English, "The Interlude of the Student and the Girl" (c. 1300), may have originated from Lincoln.
Literature of England
This consists of a number of principally ecclesiastical and historical works, spanning a period of over a thousand years. Bede's "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" is a notable example. Several more recent examples exist of English works written originally in Latin: "Utopia" (1516) by Sir Thomas More, for example, and "New Atlantis", a utopian narrative by Sir Francis Bacon, published in Latin (as "Nova Atlantis") in 1624 and in English in 1627. Sir Isaac Newton also produced the "Principia", among other works, in Latin.
Dutch-language literature
The oldest known poetry was written by a West-Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester, England around 1100: "hebban olla vogala nestas bagunnan hinase hic enda thu wat unbidan we nu" ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"). According to professor Luc de Grauwe the text could equally well be Old English, more specifically Old Kentish, though there is no consensus on this hypothesis. At that time, Old (West) Dutch and Old English were very similar.
British literature
In the later medieval period a new form of English now known as Middle English evolved. This is the earliest form which is comprehensible to modern readers and listeners, albeit not easily. Middle English Bible translations, notably Wycliffe's Bible, helped to establish English as a literary language. Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of, or at the instigation of, John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.
Codex Amiatinus
The Codex Amiatinus, is the earliest surviving complete manuscript of the Latin Vulgate version of the Christian Bible. It was produced around 700 C.E. in the north-east of England, at the Benedictine monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria and taken to Italy as a gift for the Pope in 716. It was one of three giant single-volume Bibles then made at Wearmouth-Jarrow, and is the earliest complete one-volume Latin Bible to survive, only the León palimpsest being older; and the oldest bible where all the biblical books present what would be their Vulgate texts.
British literature
Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous: twelve are known by name from Medieval sources, but only four of those are known by their vernacular works with any certainty: Cædmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, and Cynewulf. Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. Cædmon's only known surviving work is "Cædmon's Hymn", which probably dates from the late 7th century.
King Horn
King Horn is a Middle English chivalric romance dating back to the middle of the thirteenth century. It survives in three manuscripts: MS. Harley 2253 at the British Library, London; MS. Laud. Misc 108 at the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and MS. Gg. iv. 27. 2 at the Cambridge University Library. It is also presumably based on the Anglo-Norman story "Romance of Horn" (1170). The story was retold in later romances and ballads, and is considered part of the Matter of England. The poem is currently believed to be the oldest extant romance in Middle English.
British literature
Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England (Jutes and the Angles) c. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1066; that is, c. 1100–50. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period.
Scotland
Scotland has a literary heritage dating back to the early Middle Ages. The earliest extant literature composed in what is now Scotland was in Brythonic speech in the 6th century, but is preserved as part of Welsh literature. Later medieval literature included works in Latin, Gaelic, Old English and French. The first surviving major text in Early Scots is the 14th-century poet John Barbour's epic "Brus", focusing on the life of Robert I, and was soon followed by a series of vernacular romances and prose works. In the 16th century, the crown's patronage helped the development of Scots drama and poetry, but the accession of James VI to the English throne removed a major centre of literary patronage and Scots was sidelined as a literary language. Interest in Scots literature was revived in the 18th century by figures including James Macpherson, whose Ossian Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation and was a major influence on the European Enlightenment. It was also a major influence on Robert Burns, whom many consider the national poet, and Walter Scott, whose Waverley Novels did much to define Scottish identity in the 19th century. Towards the end of the Victorian era a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations as writers in English, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald. In the 20th century the Scottish Renaissance saw a surge of literary activity and attempts to reclaim the Scots language as a medium for serious literature. Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of post-war poets including Edwin Morgan, who would be appointed the first Scots Makar by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004. From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of writers including Irvine Welsh. Scottish poets who emerged in the same period included Carol Ann Duffy, who, in May 2009, was the first Scot named UK Poet Laureate.
Codex
The earliest surviving fragments from codices come from Egypt, and are variously dated (always tentatively) towards the end of the 1st century or in the first half of the 2nd. This group includes the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, containing part of St John's Gospel, and perhaps dating from between 125 and 160.
In Western culture, the codex gradually replaced the scroll. Between the 4th century, when the codex gained wide acceptance, and the Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th century, many works that were not converted from scroll to codex were lost. The codex improved on the scroll in several ways. It could be opened flat at any page for easier reading, pages could be written on both front and back (recto and verso), and the protection of durable covers made it more compact and easier to transport.
A Dictionary of the English Language
Johnson's dictionary was not the first English dictionary, nor even among the first dozen. Over the previous 150 years more than twenty dictionaries had been published in England, the oldest of these being a Latin-English "wordbook" by Sir Thomas Elyot published in 1538.
Literature
History
Pastoral Care
Alfred the Great's translation is kept at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and is the oldest known book written in English. In May 2011, it was inscribed in UNESCO's UK Memory of the World Register.
Disability in the arts
Oral literature, the oldest form of literature, can be enjoyed by anyone, including the deaf or hearing-impaired (depending upon their ability to lip-read), and impaired verbal ability is the only impediment to storytelling. Homer, the ancient Greek author of the verse epics the "Odyssey" and the "Iliad", is believed to have been blind. This disability was no barrier to the challenge of composing, and reciting for others, his classic creations, which contain over 15,000 lines ("Iliad") and 12,000 lines ("Odyssey"). The "Iliad" itself is divided into 24 "books" that each take around one hour to recite. The tradition of oral storytelling, and the greater ease with which verse stories are memorized and retold, helped John Milton compose the 17th-century epic English poem "Paradise Lost". Milton gradually lost most of his eyesight and dictated "Paradise Lost" to willing assistants who wrote it down for publication (a process called Amanuensis).
England
Early authors such as Bede and Alcuin wrote in Latin. The period of Old English literature provided the epic poem "Beowulf" and the secular prose of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", along with Christian writings such as "Judith", Cædmon's "Hymn" and hagiographies. Following the Norman conquest Latin continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.
Classics
The earliest surviving works of Greek literature are epic poetry. Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are the earliest to survive to us today, probably composed in the eighth century BC. These early epics were oral compositions, created without the use of writing.
Around the same time that the Homeric epics were composed, the Greek alphabet was introduced; the earliest surviving inscriptions date from around 750 BC.
European drama was invented in ancient Greece. Traditionally this was attributed to Thespis, around the middle of the sixth century BC, though the earliest surviving work of Greek drama is Aeschylus' tragedy "The Persians", which dates to 472 BC. Early Greek tragedy was performed by a chorus and two actors, but by the end of Aeschylus' life, a third actor had been introduced, either by him or by Sophocles. The last surviving Greek tragedies are the "Bacchae" of Euripides and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, both from the end of the fifth century BC.
Welsh-language literature
Welsh-language literature ("llenyddiaeth Gymraeg") has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry, which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century (such as that contained in the Mabinogion). Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales ("Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru"), probably the largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony.
The mediaeval period had three stages. "The Earliest Poets" wrote praise poems for rulers and lords of Welsh dynasties from Strathclyde to Cornwall. In the 11th century, Norman influence and challenge disrupted Welsh cultures, and the language developed into Middle Welsh. The next period is the "Poets of the Princes", when Welsh rulers fought each other and the English in shifting alliances. The first prose literature of Wales was compiled in the 11th century.
Irish mythology
Other important sources include a group of four manuscripts originating in the west of Ireland in the late 14th or early 15th century: "The Yellow Book of Lecan", "The Great Book of Lecan", and "The Book of Ballymote". The first is these is housed in Trinity College as well as three others are in the Royal Academy. The Yellow Book of Lecan is composed of sixteen parts and includes the legends of Fionn Mac Cumhail, selections of legends of Irish Saints, and the earliest known version of the "Táin Bó Cúailnge" ("The Driving-off of Cattle of Cooley"). This is one of Europe's oldest epics written in a vernacular language. Other 15th-century manuscripts, such as "The Book of Fermoy" also contain interesting materials, as do such later syncretic works such as Geoffrey Keating's "Foras Feasa ar Éirinn" ("The History of Ireland") (ca. 1640), particularly as these later compilers and writers may have had access to manuscript sources that have since disappeared.
Gilgamesh (novel)
Gilgamesh, published in 2001, is the first full-length novel written by Joan London. It is inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest known poem.
Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect. This literature ranges from the oldest surviving written works until works from approximately the fifth century AD. This time period is divided into the Preclassical, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Preclassical Greek literature primarily revolved around myths and include the works of Homer; the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". The Classical period saw the dawn of drama and history. Three philosophers are especially notable: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. During the Roman era, significant contributions were made in a variety of subjects, including history, philosophy, and the sciences.
Old English literature
There are a number of partial Old English Bible translations and paraphrases surviving. The Junius manuscript contains three paraphrases of Old Testament texts. These were re-wordings of Biblical passages in Old English, not exact translations, but paraphrasing, sometimes into beautiful poetry in its own right. The first and longest is of "Genesis" (originally presented as one work in the Junius manuscript but now thought to consist of two separate poems, A and B), the second is of "Exodus" and the third is "Daniel". Contained in Daniel are two lyrics, "Song of the Three Children" and "Song of Azarias", the latter also appearing in the Exeter Book after "Guthlac". The fourth and last poem, "Christ and Satan", which is contained in the second part of the Junius manuscript, does not paraphrase any particular biblical book, but retells a number of episodes from both the Old and New Testament.
British literature
During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and then James I (1603–25), a London-centred culture that was both courtly and popular, produced great poetry and drama. The English playwrights were intrigued by Italian model: a conspicuous community of Italian actors had settled in London. The linguist and lexicographer John Florio (1553–1625), whose father was Italian, was a royal language tutor at the Court of James I, and a possible friend and influence on William Shakespeare, had brought much of the Italian language and culture to England. He was also the translator of Montaigne into English. The earliest Elizabethan plays include "Gorboduc" (1561), by Sackville and Norton, and Thomas Kyd's (1558–94) revenge tragedy "The Spanish Tragedy" (1592). Highly popular and influential in its time, "The Spanish Tragedy" established a new genre in English literature theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. Jane Lumley (1537–1578) was the first person to translate Euripides into English. Her translation of "Iphigeneia at Aulis" is the first known dramatic work by a woman in English.
Culture of Sussex
Writing in the early 16th century, Andrew Boorde was author of the first English guidebook to Europe. Co-written by Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, the play "Gorboduc" from 1561 is one of the earliest documented works of literature from a Sussex writer. One of the earliest works about Sussex was Michael Drayton's epic topographical poem "The Poly-Olbion" . First published in 1612, the 17th song describes Sussex's four large Wealden forests of St Leonards, Worth, Ashdown and Waterdown Forests as if they were four wood nymphs driven away from their woodland abodes by the cutting down of woods to supply the county's iron forges. The Downs, which have already lost much of their foliage, laugh at the grief of the wood nymphs. Sussex's rivers, which spring from the forests are represented as water nymphs, which sympathise with the wood nymphs' plight.
Medieval Welsh literature
The oldest Welsh literature does not belong to the territory we know as Wales today, but rather to northern England and southern Scotland (collectively Yr Hen Ogledd), and so could be classified as being composed in Cumbric, a Brythonic dialect closely related to Old Welsh. Though it is dated to the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries it has survived only in 13th- and 14th-century manuscript copies. Some of these early poets' names are known from the 9th-century "Historia Brittonum", traditionally ascribed to the historian Nennius. The "Historia" lists the famous poets from the time of King Ida, AD 547–559:
English literature
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching the height of their popularity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre.
English language in Europe
The most famous surviving work from Old English is "Beowulf", and from Middle English is Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales".
English delftware
The earliest known piece with an English inscription is a dish dated 1600 in the Museum of London. It is painted in blue, purple, green, orange and yellow and depicts the Tower of London and Old London Bridge, surrounded by the words, "THE ROSE IS RED THE LEAVES ARE GRENE GOD SAVE ELIZABETH OUR QUEENE" and an Italianate border of masks and leaves. The rim is decorated with dashes of blue and can be considered the first in series of large decorated dishes so painted and called blue-dash chargers.
Merton College Library
Merton College Library (in Merton College, Oxford) is one of the earliest libraries in England and the oldest academic library in the world still in continuous daily use. The library is located in several parts of the college, and houses a priceless collection of early printed books and more than 300 medieval manuscripts. The historic collection was initially built through benefactions, including manuscripts donated by the medieval clergyman William Reade. The library also contains early printed books from the personal libraries of Griffin Higgs and Henry Kent, who originally donated approximately 600 and 800 volumes respectively. The main collection runs to approximately 70,000 volumes.
Literature in the other languages of Britain
In the Cornish language "Passhyon agan Arloedh" ("The Passion of our Lord"), a poem of 259 eight-line verses written in 1375, is one of the earliest surviving works of Cornish literature. The most important work of literature surviving from the Middle Cornish period is "An Ordinale Kernewek" ("The Cornish Ordinalia"), a 9000-line religious drama composed around the year 1400. Three plays in Cornish known as the Ordinalia have survived from this period.
Culture of the United Kingdom
From its formation in 1707, the United Kingdom has had a vibrant tradition of theatre, much of it inherited from England and Scotland. The West End is the main theatre district in the UK. The West End's Theatre Royal in Covent Garden in the City of Westminster dates back to the mid-17th century, making it the oldest London theatre. Opened in 1768, the Theatre Royal at the Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continually-operating theatre in the English speaking world.
English literature
The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible as well as the Great Vowel Shift. Through the influence of the British Empire, the English language has spread around the world since the 17th century.
Herbal
Anglo-Saxon plant knowledge and gardening skills (the garden was called a "wyrtzerd", literally, herb-yard) appears to have exceeded that on the continent. Our limited knowledge of Anglo-Saxon plant vernacular comes primarily from manuscripts that include: the Leechbook of Bald and the Lacnunga. The Leechbook of Bald (Bald was probably a friend of King Alfred of England) was painstakingly produced by the scribe Cild in about 900–950 CE. This was written in the vernacular (native) tongue and not derived from Greek texts. The oldest illustrated herbal from Saxon times is a translation of the Latin "Herbarius Apulei Platonici", one of the most popular medical works of medieval times, the original dating from the fifth century; this Saxon translation was produced about 1000–1050 CE and is housed in the British Library. Another vernacular herbal was the "Buch der natur" or "Book of Nature" by Konrad von Megenberg (1309–1374) which contains the first two botanical woodcuts ever made; it is also the first work of its kind in the vernacular.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is both a "Bildungsroman" and a picaresque novel. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in London, and is among the earliest English prose works to be classified as a novel. It is the earliest novel mentioned by W. Somerset Maugham in his 1948 book "Great Novelists and Their Novels" among the ten best novels of the world. It totals 346,747 words divided into 18 smaller books, each preceded by a discursive chapter, often on topics unrelated to the book itself. It is dedicated to George Lyttleton.
Textus Roffensis
The two manuscripts were bound together in around 1300. The first part is a collection of documents which includes the Law of Æthelberht, attributed to Æthelberht of Kent (c. 560–616), and the 1100 coronation charter of Henry I of England. The Law of Æthelberht is the oldest surviving English law code and the oldest Anglo-Saxon text in existence. The second part of the "Textus Roffensis" is the oldest of the Rochester Cathedral registers. The entire volume consists of 235 vellum leaves.
Miscellany
Most medieval miscellanies include some religious texts, and many consist of nothing else. A few examples are given here to illustrate the range of material typically found. The Theological miscellany (British Library, MS Additional 43460) was made in late 8th century Italy with 202 folios of patristic writings in Latin. The 9th-century Irish Book of Armagh is also mostly in Latin but includes some of the earliest surviving Old Irish writing, as well as several texts on Saint Patrick, significant sections of the New Testament, and a 4th-century saint's "Life". The Nowell Codex (BL Cotton Vitellius A. xv, ignoring a later volume bound in with it) is an Old English manuscript of about 1000 to 1010. It is famous for the only text of "Beowulf" but also includes a life of Saint Christopher, "Wonders of the East" (a description of various far-off lands and their fantastic inhabitants), a translation of a "Letter of Alexander to Aristotle", and the poem "Judith" based on the Old Testament "Book of Judith". It is one of the four Old English Poetic Codices from which the bulk of surviving Old English poetry comes, all of which can be classed as miscellanies.
Breton literature
The oldest surviving manuscript in the Breton language (dating to the end of the 8th Century) is kept in Leyden University, Netherlands, and predates by more than a century the oldest text referenced in French. It is generally assumed by specialists that this is the most ancient text in a continental Brythonic language and was studied by the late Professor Léon Fleuriot (1923–1987). The manuscript itself is a fragment of medicinal recipes composed of plants suggesting that Breton may well have been used by people of learning at the turn of the 11th century.
Japanese poetry
The oldest written work in Japanese literature is "Kojiki" in 712, in which Ō no Yasumaro recorded Japanese mythology and history as recited by Hieda no Are, to whom it was handed down by his ancestors. Many of the poetic pieces recorded by the "Kojiki" were perhaps transmitted from the time the Japanese had no writing. The "Nihon Shoki", the oldest history of Japan which was finished eight years later than the "Kojiki", also contains many poetic pieces. These were mostly not long and had no fixed forms. The first poem documented in both books was attributed to a kami (god), named Susanoo, the younger brother of Amaterasu. When he married Princess Kushinada in Izumo Province, the kami made an "uta", or "waka", a poem.
This is the oldest waka (poem written in Japanese) and hence poetry was later praised as having been founded by a kami, a divine creation.
British literature
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155) was one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity for the tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain) of 1136, which spread Celtic motifs to a wider audience. Wace (c. 1110 – after 1174), who wrote in Norman-French, is the earliest known poet from Jersey, also developed the Arthurian legend.) At the end of the 12th century, Layamon in "Brut" adapted Wace to make the first English language work to use the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was also the first historiography written in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
English literature
Among the earliest Elizabethan plays are "Gorboduc" (1561) by Sackville and Norton, and Thomas Kyd's (1558–1594) "The Spanish Tragedy" (1592). "Gorboduc" is notable especially as the first verse drama in English to employ blank verse, and for the way it developed elements, from the earlier morality plays and Senecan tragedy, in the direction which would be followed by later playwrights. "The Spanish Tragedy" is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592, which was popular and influential in its time, and established a new genre in English literature theatre, the revenge play.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) stands out in this period as a poet and playwright as yet unsurpassed. Shakespeare wrote plays in a variety of genres, including histories (such as "Richard III" and "Henry IV"), tragedies (such as "Hamlet", "Othello", and "Macbeth", comedies (such as "Midsummer Night's Dream", "As You Like It", and "Twelfth Night") and the late romances, or tragicomedies. Shakespeare's career continues in the Jacobean period.
Joseph and Aseneth
British Library manuscript #17,202 is an anthology containing a variety of writings including the oldest existing manuscript of this work. Written in Syriac, "Joseph and Aseneth" is a translation of an older Greek writing, made around 550 CE by Moses of Ingila. The anthology was compiled around 570 CE by an individual whom scholars call "Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor."
History of poetry
The oldest surviving speculative fiction poem is the "Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor", written in "Hieratic" and ascribed a date around 2500 B.C.E. Other sources ascribe the earliest written poetry to the "Epic of Gilgamesh" written in "cuneiform"; however, it is most likely that "The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor" predates "Gilgamesh" by half a millennium. The oldest epic poetry besides the "Epic of Gilgamesh" are the Greek epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and the Indian Sanskrit epics "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata". Some scholars believe that either the "Mahabharata" or the Tibetan "Epic of King Gesar" is the longest example of epic poetry in history.
English literature
The most important prose work of the early 17th century was the King James Bible. This, one of the most massive translation projects in the history of English up to this time, was started in 1604 and completed in 1611. This represents the culmination of a tradition of Bible translation into English that began with the work of William Tyndale, and it became the standard Bible of the Church of England.
Scots-language literature
Scots-language literature is literature, including poetry, prose and drama, written in the Scots language in its many forms and derivatives. Middle Scots became the dominant language of Scotland in the late Middle Ages. The first surviving major text in Scots literature is John Barbour's "Brus" (1375). Some ballads may date back to the thirteenth century, but were not recorded until the eighteenth century. In the early fifteenth century Scots historical works included Andrew of Wyntoun's verse "Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland" and Blind Harry's "The Wallace". Much Middle Scots literature was produced by makars, poets with links to the royal court, which included James I, who wrote the extended poem "The Kingis Quair". Writers such as William Dunbar, Robert Henryson, Walter Kennedy and Gavin Douglas have been seen as creating a golden age in Scottish poetry. In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. The first complete surviving work is John Ireland's "The Meroure of Wyssdome" (1490). There were also prose translations of French books of chivalry that survive from the 1450s. The landmark work in the reign of James IV was Gavin Douglas's version of Virgil's "Aeneid".
Scottish literature in the Middle Ages
In the late Middle Ages, Middle Scots became the dominant language of the country. The first surviving major text in Scots literature is John Barbour's "Brus" (1375). This was followed by major historical works in Latin, including the "Chronica Gentis Scotorum" of John of Fordun. There were also Scots versions of popular French romances. Much Middle Scots literature was produced by makars, poets with links to the royal court. Many of the makars had a university education and so were also connected with the Church. Much of their work survives in a single collection: the Bannatyne Manuscript, collated around 1560. In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. The first complete surviving work is John Ireland's "The Meroure of Wyssdome" (1490). The landmark work in the reign of James IV was Gavin Douglas's version of Virgil's "Aeneid", the "Eneados", which was the first complete translation of a major classical text in an Anglic language, finished in 1513, but overshadowed by the disaster at Flodden in the same year.
Fulgens and Lucrece
Fulgens and Lucrece is a late 15th-century interlude by Henry Medwall. It is the earliest purely secular English play that survives. Since John Cardinal Morton, for whom Medwall wrote the play, died in 1500, the work must have been written before that date. It was probably first performed at Lambeth Palace in 1497, while Cardinal Morton was entertaining ambassadors from Spain and Flanders. The play is based on a Latin "novella" by Buonaccorso da Montemagno that had been translated into English by John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester and published in 1481 by William Caxton.
The play was printed in 1512–1516 by John Rastell, and was later only available as a fragment until a copy showed up in an auction of books from Lord Mostyn's collection in 1919. Henry E. Huntington acquired this copy, and arranged the printing of a facsimile. The play is an example of a dramatised "débat".
English literature
In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity and Hagiographies were written, adapted and translated: for example, "The Life of Saint Audrey", Eadmer's (c. 1060 – c. 1126). At the end of the 12th century, Layamon in "Brut" adapted the Norman-French of Wace to produce the first English-language work to present the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was also the first historiography written in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Middle English Bible translations, notably Wycliffe's Bible, helped to establish English as a literary language. Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of, or at the instigation of, John Wycliffe. They appeared between about 1382 and 1395. These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and cause of the Lollard movement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Medieval Spanish literature
The Auto de los Reyes Magos is the oldest extant liturgical drama (12th century) written in Spanish language. It is a codex found in the library of the Toledo Cathedral and is a mystery play belonging to the Christmas cycle. It is a play about the Biblical Magi, three wise men from the East who followed a star and visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. It is believed to have been based on an earlier liturgical Latin play written in France.
Norwich
Historically Norwich has been associated with art, literature and publishing, which continues to the present day. Norwich was the site of the first provincial library in England, which opened in 1608, and was the first city to implement the Public Libraries Act 1850. The "Norwich Post" was the first provincial newspaper outside London, first published in 1701. The Norwich School of artists was the first provincial art movement, with nationally acclaimed artists such as John Crome associated with the movement. Other literary firsts associated with the city include Julian of Norwich's "Revelations of Divine Love", published in 1395, which was the first book written in the English language by a woman, and the first poem written in blank verse, composed by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in the 16th century.
Four Branches of the Mabinogi
The Four Branches of the "Mabinogi or Pedair Cainc Y "Mabinogi are the earliest prose stories in the literature of Britain. Originally written in Wales in Middle Welsh, but widely available in translations, the "Mabinogi" is generally agreed to be a single work in four parts, or "Branches." The interrelated tales can be read as mythology, political themes, romances, or magical fantasies. They appeal to a wide range of readers, from young children to the most sophisticated adult. The tales are popular today in book format, as storytelling or theatre performances; they appear in recordings and on film, and continue to inspire many reinterpretations in artwork and modern fiction.
Old English literature
One of the earliest Old English texts in prose is the "Martyrology", information about saints and martyrs according to their anniversaries and feasts in the church calendar. It has survived in six fragments. It is believed to date from the 9th century by an anonymous Mercian author.
English art
The earliest English art - also Europe's earliest and northernmost cave art - is located at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire, estimated at between 13,000 and 15,000 years old. In 2003, more than 80 engravings and bas-reliefs, depicting deer, bison, horses, and what may be birds or bird-headed people were found there. The famous, large ritual landscape of Stonehenge dates from the Neolithic period; around 2600 BC. From around 2150 BC, the Beaker people learned how to make bronze, and used both tin and gold. They became skilled in metal refining and their works of art, placed in graves or sacrificial pits have survived. In the Iron Age, a new art style arrived as Celtic culture and spread across the British isles. Though metalwork, especially gold ornaments, was still important, stone and most likely wood were also used. This style continued into the Roman period, beginning in the 1st century BC, and found a renaissance in the Medieval period. The arrival of the Romans brought the Classical style of which many monuments have survived, especially funerary monuments, statues and busts. They also brought glasswork and mosaics. In the 4th century, a new element was introduced as the first Christian art was made in Britain. Several mosaics with Christian symbols and pictures have been preserved. England boasts some remarkable prehistoric hill figures; a famous example is the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire, which "for more than 3,000 years . . . has been jealously guarded as a masterpiece of minimalist art."
Old English literature
Because Old English was one of the first vernacular languages to be written down, nineteenth-century scholars searching for the roots of European "national culture" (see Romantic Nationalism) took special interest in studying Anglo-Saxon literature, and Old English became a regular part of university curriculum. Since WWII there has been increasing interest in the manuscripts themselves—Neil Ker, a paleographer, published the groundbreaking "Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon" in 1957, and by 1980 nearly all Anglo-Saxon manuscript texts were in print. J.R.R. Tolkien is credited with creating a movement to look at Old English as a subject of literary theory in his seminal lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" (1936).
Playwright
The earliest playwright in Western literature with surviving works are the Ancient Greeks. These early plays were for annual Athenian competitions among play writers held around the 5th century BC. Such notables as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes established forms still relied on by their modern counterparts. For the ancient Greeks, playwriting involved "poïesis", "the act of making". This is the source of the English word "poet".
The Interlude of the Student and the Girl
The Interlude of the Student and the Girl () is one of the earliest known secular plays in English, first performed c. 1300. The text is written in vernacular English, in an East Midlands dialect that suggests either Lincoln or Beverley as its origin, although its title is given in Latin. The name of its playwright is unknown. Only two scenes, with a total of 84 lines of verse in rhyming couplets, are extant and survive in a manuscript held by the British Museum, dated to either the late twelfth or very early thirteenth century. Glynne Wickham provides both the original text and a rendering in modern English in his "English Moral Interludes" (1976). In tone and form, the interlude seems to be the closest play in English to the contemporaneous French farces, such as "The Boy and the Blind Man", and is related to later English farcical plays, such as the anonymous "Calisto and Melibea" (published c. 1525) and John Heywood's "The Foure PP" (c. 1530). It was most likely performed by itinerant players, possibly making use of a performing dog. In "Early English Stages" (1981), Wickham points to the existence of this play as evidence that the old-fashioned view that comedy began in England with "Gammer Gurton's Needle" and "Ralph Roister Doister" in the 1550s is mistaken, ignoring as it does a rich tradition of medieval comic drama. He argues that the play's "command of dramatic action and of comic mood and method is so deft as to make it well-nigh unbelievable" that it was the first of its kind in England.
Estoire des Engleis
Ian Short, an Emeritus Professor of French at Birkbeck, University of London, stated that the chronicle was written "to provide a vast panorama of the Celto-British, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Norman dynasties in the British Isles from Trojan times until the death of William Rufus." It is the oldest known history chronicle written in the French language. The chronicle was written with a Norman bias, stating that the Normans were the true successors to the English throne. As mentioned in the chronicle's epilogue, it opened with England's mythical Trojan beginnings when it was first written. However, this first portion of the chronicle, known as the "Estoire des Troiiens", along with another early part named the "Estoire des Bretuns", has been lost. The present-day copy begins with the 495 landing of Cerdic of Wessex in England, and ends with William II's death in 1100. The chronicle was written in couplets, containing 6,532 octosyllables. Four manuscripts of the "Estoire des Engleis" currently exist. The title "Estoire des Engleis" derives from the British Library version.
History of British newspapers
"The News Letter" is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published Monday to Saturday. It is the oldest English-language general daily newspaper still in publication in the world, having first been printed in 1737. Originally published three times weekly, it became daily in 1855.
English novel
The English novel has generally been seen as beginning with Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) and "Moll Flanders" (1722), though John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) and Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko" (1688) are also contenders, while earlier works such as Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur", and even the "Prologue" to Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" have been suggested. Another important early novel is "Gulliver's Travels" (1726, amended 1735), by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, which is both a satire of human nature, as well as a parody of travellers' tales like "Robinson Crusoe". The rise of the novel as an important literary genre is generally associated with the growth of the middle class in England.
The History of English Poetry
The History of English Poetry, from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century (1774-1781) by Thomas Warton was a pioneering and influential literary history. Only three full volumes were ever published, going as far as Queen Elizabeth's reign, but their account of English poetry in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance was unrivalled for many years, and played a part in steering British literary taste towards Romanticism. It is generally acknowledged to be the first narrative English literary history.
Manchester
Manchester is a UNESCO City of Literature known for possessing a "radical literary history". In the 19th century, Manchester featured in works highlighting the changes that industrialisation had brought to Britain. These included Elizabeth Gaskell's novel "Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life" (1848), and studies such as "The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844", written by Friedrich Engels while living and working in Manchester. Manchester was the meeting place of Engels and Karl Marx. The two began writing "The Communist Manifesto" in Chetham's Library. The library was founded in 1653 and lays claim to being the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. Elsewhere in the city, the John Rylands Library holds an extensive collection of early printing. The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, believed to be the earliest extant New Testament text, is on permanent display in the library.
Ancient Egyptian literature
Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination. It represents the oldest corpus of Egyptian literature. Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest literature.
English literature
Another literary genre, that of Romances, appears in English from the 13th century, with "King Horn" and "Havelock the Dane", based on Anglo-Norman originals such as the "Romance of Horn" (c. 1170), but it was in the 14th century that major writers in English first appeared. These were William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer and the so-called Pearl Poet, whose most famous work is "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight".
Culture of New England
New England is the oldest region of the United States and one of the first successful English settlements in the Americas, and it has a long and oft-contested cultural history. Professor of American and New England Studies Joseph A. Conforti writes, "New England has been a storied place. Its identity has been encoded in narratives about its past—stories that have been continually revised in response to new interpretive needs generated by the transformations of regional life[, helping] New Englanders negotiate, traditionalize, and resist change." As such, New England culture is a complex combination of its overarching and popular Puritan English colonial narrative and its multiple and equally important complementary and competing alternative narratives.
History of literature
Certain primary texts, however, may be isolated which have a qualifying role as literature's first stirrings.
Very early examples include "Epic of Gilgamesh", in its Sumerian version predating 2000 BC, and the "Egyptian Book of the Dead" written down in the "Papyrus of Ani" in approximately 1250 BC but probably dates from about the 18th century BC.
Ancient Egyptian literature was not included in early studies of the history of literature because the writings of Ancient Egypt were not translated into European languages until the 19th century when the Rosetta stone was deciphered.
Sunderland
The Codex Amiatinus, described by White as the 'finest book in the world', was created at the monastery and was likely worked on by Bede, who was born at Wearmouth in 673. This is one of the oldest monasteries still standing in England. While at the monastery, Bede completed the "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" "(The Ecclesiastical History of the English People)" in 731, a feat which earned him the title "The father of English history."
History of King's College London
In 1838, King's set up only the second engineering course in Britain, which was (as the course established at Durham closed after only a few years) the oldest department of engineering in the country until its closure in 2013. The study of English Literature as a distinct subject was also pioneered by King's.
Early Irish literature
The oldest books of miscellaneous literature are the "Lebor na hUidre", or "Book of the Dun Cow", transcribed about 1100, and the "Book of Leinster", which dates from about fifty years later. These books are great miscellaneous literary collections. After them come many valuable vellums. The date at which these manuscripts were penned is no criterion of the date at which their contents were first written, for many of them contain literature which, from the ancient forms of words and other indications, must have been committed to writing at least as early as the 7th century. We cannot carry these pieces further back with firm certainty using linguistic methods, but it is evident from their contents that many of them must have been orally transmitted for centuries before they were committed to writing. It must also be noted that a 17th-century manuscript may sometimes give a more correct version of a 7th-century piece than a vellum many centuries older.
Cornish literature
The earliest surviving examples of Cornish prose are the Tregear Homilies, a series of 12 Catholic sermons written in English and translated by John Tregear around 1555-1557, to which a thirteenth homily "The Sacrament of the Alter" was added by another hand. Twelve of Edmund Bonner's "Homelies to be read within his diocese of London of all Parsons, vycars and curates" (1555; nine of these were by John Harpsfield) were translated into Cornish by John Tregear, and are now the largest single work of traditional Cornish prose.
England in the Late Middle Ages
The period produced some influential English scholars. Roger Bacon (c. 1214–94), a philosopher and Franciscan friar, produced works on natural philosophy, astronomy and alchemy; his work set out the theoretical basis for future experimentation in the natural sciences. William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) helped to fuse Latin, Greek and Islamic writing into a general theory of logic; "Ockham's Razor" was one of his oft-cited conclusions. Despite the limitations of medieval medicine, Gilbertus Anglicus published the "Compendium Medicinae", one of the longest medical works ever written in Latin. Prominent historical and science texts began to be translated into English for the first time in the second half of the fourteenth century, including the "Polychronicon" and "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville". The universities of Oxford and Cambridge were established during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, drawing on the model of the University of Paris.
British literature
Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were thus very popular, and some, including "Beowulf", have survived to the present day. "Beowulf", is the most famous work in Old English and has achieved national epic status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia.
Apollonius of Tyre
The earliest vernacular translation is an incomplete Old English prose text from the 11th century, sometimes called the first English novel. The existence of this unique text is unusual, as secular prose fiction from that time is extremely rare. The manuscript copy may only have survived because it was bound into a book together with Archbishop Wulfstan's homilies. Various versions of the tale were later written in most European languages.
Old English
Old English literature, though more abundant than literature of the continent before AD 1000, is nonetheless scant. The pagan and Christian streams mingle in Old English, one of the richest and most significant bodies of literature preserved among the early Germanic peoples. In his supplementary article to the 1935 posthumous edition of Bright's "Anglo-Saxon Reader", Dr. James Hulbert writes:
Medieval literature
Secular literature in this period was not produced in equal quantity as religious literature. The earliest tales are based on oral traditions: the British "Y Goddoddin" and "Preiddeu Annwfn", along with the Germanic Beowulf and "Nibelungenlied". They relate to myths or certain 6th-century events, but the surviving manuscripts date from centuries later—"Y Goddoddin" from the late 13th century, "Preiddu Annwfn" from the early 14th century, "Beowulf" from c. 1000, and the "Nibelungenlied" from the 13th century. The makers and performers were "bards" (British/Welsh) and "scops" (Germanic), elite professionals attached to royal or noble courts to praise the heroes of legendary history.
British literature
Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England and several Old English poems are adaptations of late classical philosophical texts. The longest is King Alfred's (849–99) translation of Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy".
Italian literature
After the original compositions in the "langue d'oïl" came translations or adaptations from the same. There are some moral narratives taken from religious legends, a romance of Julius Caesar, some short histories of ancient knights, the "Tavola rotonda", translations of the "Viaggi" of Marco Polo, and of Latini's "Tesoro". At the same time, translations from Latin of moral and ascetic works, histories, and treatises on rhetoric and oratory appeared. Some of the works previously regarded as the oldest in the Italian language have been shown to be forgeries of a much later time. The oldest prose writing is a scientific book, "Composizione del mondo" by Ristoro d'Arezzo, who lived about the middle of the 13th century. This work is a copious treatise on astronomy and geography. Ristoro was a careful observer of natural phenomena; many of the things he relates were the result of his personal investigations, and consequently his works are more reliable than those of other writers of the time on similar subjects.
Old English
Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are "Beowulf", an epic poem; the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", a record of early English history; the Franks Casket, an inscribed early whalebone artefact; and Cædmon's Hymn, a Christian religious poem. There are also a number of extant prose works, such as sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations, and translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers, legal documents, such as laws and wills, and practical works on grammar, medicine, and geography. Still, poetry is considered the heart of Old English literature. Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous, with a few exceptions, such as Bede and Cædmon. Cædmon, the earliest English poet we know by name, served as a lay brother in the monastery at Whitby.
English literature
The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" is a collection of annals in Old English, from the 9th century, that chronicle is the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The poem "Battle of Maldon" also deals with history. This is a work of uncertain date, celebrating the Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion.
History of English
Old English was first written using a runic script called the futhorc, but this was replaced by a version of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish missionaries in the 9th century. Most literary output was in either the Early West Saxon of Alfred the Great's time, or the Late West Saxon (regarded as the "classical" form of Old English) of the Winchester school inspired by Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester and followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham ("the Grammarian"). The most famous surviving work from the Old English period is the epic poem "Beowulf", composed by an unknown poet.
East End of London in popular culture
The East End features in one of the earliest works in English, Geoffrey Chaucer's (1343–1400) "The Prioress' Prologue and Tale" (ca. 1390), which makes fun of the Prioress' Cockney accent: ""After the scole of stratford atte bowe, For frenssh of parys was to hire unknowe"". Chaucer, himself lived for many years on the edge of the East End, in the gatehouse of Aldgate. The Isle of Dogs plays a central role in two Jacobean plays, with which Ben Jonson was associated. "The Isle of Dogs" (1597) was reported to the authorities as a "lewd plaie" full of seditious and "slanderous matter". The authors and cast were quickly arrested and the play suppressed. This play was the root of the argument in which Jonson killed Gabriel Spencer in 1598, at Hoxton fields. "Eastward Hoe" (1605) was equally scandalous, and resulted in the arrest of the playwrights.
English nationalism
During the later decades of the fourteenth century English started to come back into official use. The Pleading in English Act 1362 sought to replace French with English for all pleas in courts. The Mercers' Petition to Parliament of 1386 is the oldest piece of parliamentary English; the earliest English wills at the London Court of Probate date from 1387; the earliest English returns of the ordinances, usages, holdings of the gilds are from 1389 and come from London, Norwich and King's Lynn. John Trevisa, writing in 1385, noted that: "...in all the grammar schools of England children are dropping French and construing and learning in English...Also gentlemen have now largely stopped teaching their children French".
English literature
Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England, and several Old English poems are adaptations of late classical philosophical texts. The longest is King Alfred's (849–899) 9th-century translation of Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy".
Scottish literature in the Middle Ages
Much of the earliest Welsh literature was actually composed in or near the country now called Scotland, in the Brythonic speech, from which Welsh would be derived. This includes the epic poem "The Gododdin", considered the earliest surviving verse from Scotland. Very few works of Gaelic poetry survive from the early Medieval period, and most of these are extant in Irish manuscripts. There are religious works that can be identified as Scottish. In Old English there is the "Dream of the Rood", from which lines are found on the Ruthwell Cross, making it the only surviving fragment of Northumbrian Old English from early Medieval Scotland. What is probably the most important work written in early Medieval Scotland, the "Vita Columbae" by Adomnán, was also written in Latin.