When the Romans (who conquered part of Britain and ruled there from 54 BC to 410 AD) had to leave Britain in order to defend their homeland, the Celts restored their supremacy on the island. Soon after, some conflict arose among the Celt population and King Vortigern, in order to restore peace in his kingdom, aired some mercenaries who belonged to the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Their arrival happened in between 446 and 450 AD. These mercenaries were used to fight against the Picts and Gaels (Celtic tribes who lived in the north of Britain). Vortigern aired them because he knew that the Germanic tribes had unmatched fighting skills, but these tribes soon realized that Britain was a very nice place to live and that they could easily overcome the celts and conquer the island. In fact, starting from 449 (as stated by the historian Gildas) from mercenaries they became conquerors. The celts were forced to move to the marginal areas of the island (the current Scotland and Cornwall. The Germanic tribes were smarter the Celts because, once they conquered Britain, they decided to split the land among them in order to not create any conflict. From the second half of the sixth century they had split the land into seven kingdoms:
In the most southern part of the Island the Jutes created the Kent Kingdom.
In other south areas the Saxons created three Kingdoms:
• Wessex: the West Saxon Kingdom, located between Thames and the sea.
• Sussex: the South Saxon Kingdom, located between the Downs (or Downland) and the sea.
• Essex: the east Saxon Kingdom, located above Thames’ estuary.
In the northern part of the island the Angles created three Kingdoms:
• East Anglia, located in the current regions of Norfolk and Suffolk.
• Mercia, located between Thames and Humber.
• Northumbria, located between Humber and Forth’s estuary.
Old English belongs to the branch of the Indo-European language family called Germanic languages. In particular, this language was spoken in Britain from 450 AD to 1150. From the beginning, Old English appears fragmented into various different dialects. The different tribes understood each other, but there are several differences in the physiognomy of the dialects.
In the Kent Kingdom the Jutes spoke the Kent’s dialect. In the Saxons’ kingdoms the most important language was the West Saxon dialect. In the Angle’s kingdom there were the Mercian dialect and the Northumbrian dialect.
When scholars study Old English they actually study West Saxon dialect because the majority of Old English documents is written in that dialect. That is because most of Mercian and Northumbrian documents were destroyed during the Vikings invasions that happened in between the 8th and 9th century. Only one king in the whole England proved himself to be a worthy opponent for the Vikings, and this king was King Alfred "the Great". He tried to unify England both politically and culturally so, in his kingdom he decided to put in writing not only works that belonged to the West Saxon territory but also some that belonged to the whole England that had been transmitted orally or had already some written version (if they were not destroyed by Vikings). When a West Saxon scribe transcribed works that belonged to a different dialect, he tried to normalize the language according to his own dialect; the result of this operation is the creation of a "Koiné literature", that is an artistic language which is based on West Saxon, but maintains some residual forms that belonged to the dialect of the places where the texts came from.
Bede is one of the greatest erudite of the Dark Ages. He was born in Gellow, Northumbria in 672. He had never been out of England but he could write in perfect Latin. He lived the life of Dark Ages Scholars based on prayers, study, teaching, writing and translating. He also wrote some work in Northumbrian dialect but all of his works that we have now are written in Latin. He was brought by his parents to the Warmouth monastery when he was 7 years old. His ecclesiastical career developed fast: he became deacon when he was 19 and priest at 30. He completed his biggest work, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum in 731, 4 years later he died.
It is a fundamental source for scholars and their studies about the history of England. It’s the history of abbeys and monasteries but also about the English people. In fact, although Bede’s intent was related to catechesis, as he represented the church, he was also an intellectual and so he wrote about things that went beyond the church history. Without his work we would not have information about Britain colonization by the German tribes. We also would not know about details, histories, legends and works (like Cædmon’s Hymn) of that time that would have been lost without it. Bede is a reliable source because in his work he cites his own sources such as the documents stored in the archives both in England and Rome (he ordered some of Rome’s documents to be brought to his monastery). He also respects oral tradition, and collected information because of the other monks who came from other regions, which he considers as good witnesses for the events that happened in their regions. He cites some names like "Albino" for the Christianization of Kant and Daniel of Winchester for the Saxon Kingdoms. He considers also himself as a "Verax Historicus". Historia is stored in more than 170 manuscripts, after the Bible, it is one of the most copied work in the ancient times. It had a great success because it was an original work written in Latin so it could be shared in most of the European countries because Latin was still the language of culture at that time. Moreover Bede belonged to the order of Benedictines whose monasteries were spread in the whole Europe so it is easy to imagine that his brethren wanted to read his work. Saint Boniface requested a copy of it while he was committed to evangelising Germany. This work was very useful in evangelisation, especially if the gospel needed to be spread among Germanic tribes as it could be used like a model to convert Germanic tribes like it already happened in England.
He was one of the first poets to write in Old English (Northumbrian dialect). We know about him because of Bede’s, who dedicated a chapter of his "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum" to him. In the story told by Bede Cædmon appears to be blessed by a God’s Messenger who teaches him how to sing and write in poetry. The whole story is a metaphor to represent a cultural transmigration, the passage between oral and written poetry and also the application of metric techniques, that used to be applied to Germanic epic poems, to a completely new subject which is related to religion and Scripture.
He is known because of the Cædmon’s Hymn, the only part of it that we have now is included in Bede’s work. Because of "Historia Ecclesiastica"’s popularity, it was translated several times into Old English (as the original text was written in latin, so Bede translated the Hymn into latin), and when the scribes translated the text they did not re-translate the hymn from Latin to Old English, because they had at their disposal the original hymn. For these reasons we can find the part of the hymn cited in Bede’s work both in Northumbrian (Original), West Saxon (King Alfred’s translation), and Latin (Bede’s translation). In our edition you can find the hymn in his West Saxon variety even if it seems to be written after king’s Alfred reign and it contains already some variations from the West Saxon Dialect given by the evolution of the language itself. Below you can find a table listing all these variations:
| Northumbric | Occidental Saxon | Latin | Later Occidental Saxon (Our manuscript) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nū scylun hergan hefaenrīces Uard, Metudæs maecti end his mōdgidanc, uerc Uuldurfadur, suē hē uundra gihuaes, ēci dryctin, ōr āstelidæ. Hē āērist scōp aelda barnum heben til hrōfe, hāleg Scepen. Thā middungeard moncynnæs Uard, ēci Dryctin, æfter tīadæ firum foldu, Fréa allmectig. |
Nū sculon herigean heofonrīces Weard, Meotedes meahte ond his mōdgeþanc, weorc Wuldorfæder, swā he wundra gihwæs, ēce Drihten, ōr onstealde. Hē ǣrest sceōp eorðan bearnum heofon tō hrōfe, hālig Scyppend. ā middangeard moncynnes Weard, ꝥēce Drihten, æfter tēode firum foldan, Frēa ælmihtig. |
Nunc laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis, potentiam creatoris et consilium illius, facta Patris gloriae: quomodo ille, cum sit aeternus Deus, omnium miraculorum auctor exstitit; qui primo filiis hominum caelum pro culmine tecti dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotens creavit. |
Nu sculan herian heofon rices weard metodes mihte and hismod geþonc werawuldor fæder swa he wundra ge hwæs ecedrẏhten ooronstealde. he hærest gesceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe halig scẏppend ðamiddon geard moncẏunnes weard ecedrẏhten æfterteo de firumfolda frea ælmihtig. |
This manuscript has been copied by one scribe, writing square minuscule. Annotated by hands associated with Archbishop Parker;
Specifying its provenance, it was owned by Achbishop Matthew Parker (1559-75); then it was presumably bequeathed to the College by Brian Twyne (CCC 1594, d.1644)
The opera contains some decorations: titles and initials, offset in the margin, in metallic red. (Source)
