Historia externa de la lengua inglesa.

Pre-Old Engl Old Engl Middle English

Early OE Late OE Early ME* Mature ME Old ME

*= English was almost extinct, only the poor peolple and peasants spoke it. The wealthy
people used to speak French.

Chronological Division of English:

a) Pre-Old Enlgish (~430-700)

b) Old English - Early Old English (700-900)
- Late Old English (900-1100)
c) Middle English (Paradoxically, English is born from French, thus the language is
created in the continent, not in Great Britain)
- Early Middle English (1100-1300)
- Late Middle English (1300-1500)
d) Modern English: - Early Modern English (1500-1650)
- Late Modern English (1650-1950)
e) Contemporary English (1950- ?)

Hoy en da el ingls posee una gramtica germnica y un lxico con base romnica y
aadidos de otros idiomas. Hoy, en el ao 2006, el ingls cuenta con palabras
procedentes de aproximadamente 300 idiomas)

The Internal History of a language will include all aspects of the development of the
language estructure. The evolution of phonology, writing, grammar, lexicoloy and
semantics.
The External History of English deals with all non-structural factors which have exerted
certain influence on the development of the language. These factor can be from different
nature:
a) CULTURAL events or changes in ideologies: the Christianization of the
country (plus ideas and literature), the introduction of the printing press, Renaissance,
Enlightment...
b) ECONOMIC uprisings and all sort of economically motivated social
movements...
c) POLITICAL invasions, wars, the formation of new status...
d) SOCIAL tructure, changes in society...

Languages change in order to:

fulfil its basic functions as an instrument of thought and communication.
satisfy the communicative needs of a more or less differentiated speech
community.
keep the balance of the two properties a language must have:
VARIABILITY SYSTEMATICITY
The rank of different forms The capacity of a language to arrange itself
a language can take in a well organized pattern or system
 The linguistic system undelrying language activity in a complex community has
been described as an orderly heterogeneus system in which choice between linguistic
alternant carries out social and stylistic function to which might be added the function of
regional differentiation.
Not only dialectal variation and stylistic and functional variation, but a variable
social phenomenon in the sense that it varies through time.
Historical variation or change is a characteristic of any language and may be said
to be due to an incessant adaptation of the means of expression of the ever-changing,
ever increasing communicative needs in the community.

Socio-historical circumstances affecting the requeriments of linguistic

communication to be met by the language system include:
a) Socio economic groupings (urban tribes)
b) Social stratification (Status classes)
c) The relationships between the classes as determined by changes of:
1.- The character of the social system
2.- The coming into existence of new social classes or groups
3.- The passing out of existence of others in the course of the rise of special
socio-economic conditions.
4.- The rise to power of new social classes
d) The degree of political & economic unit of the country ( + centralization)
e) The size and complexity of the speech community and its territorial expansion.
f) Other social factors:
1.. The importance of rural & urban communities within the society in question.
2.- Increasing range of travel and communication.
3.- Cultural changes (the spread of literature)
4.- Division of labour in the course of the development of the productive process
of society
5.- Technological progress.

CONTACT-INDUCED CHANGES FROM INTER-LANGUAGE CONTACT

They are mainly in the lexico- semantic level

A) DIRECT CONTACTS
1.- Seizure & settlement of a foreign territory
2.- Foreign invasions
- bi or multilingual communities
- language shift on a larger or lesser scale.
3.- Foreign trade relations
4.- Exploration of foreign lands
5.- Foreign travel or exposure to foreign ideas and cultures.

B) INDIRECT CONTACTS
1.- Foreign language leraning and education
2.- Culture exchange
3.- Increased international communication.
INTRA LANGUAGE CONTACTS

Contact between co-existing varieties of the same language: dialectal borrowings and
inter-social borrowings. Due to:
1.- Close geographical proximity
2.- Migration & mixed communities
3.-Social and linguistic interaction between members of various social classes or
groups.

The over-all proecess of linguistic chang may involve stimuli and constraints both from
society and from the structure of the language.

CHANGES IN THE COMMUNICATIVE REQUERIMETS.

The action of social conditioning factor can be claerly traced in:

1.- The lexicon
2.- Semantic development of words
3.- New word formations
4.- Linguistic borrowings
5.- Falling of use of lexical items
6.- Other kinds of lexical change.

ECONOMICALLY MOTIVATED TENDENCES

Linguistic economy: regularitation of irregular words and/or verbs (Ex: Dare Durst
Durst was regularizated into Dare Dared Dared)
Geografical distribution of England

a) Midlands
- Part of England limited by natural barriers
The Wlesh Massif to the West
The Pennines to the North

b) The Fens
- An alluvial plain: ditches, canals, dikes, windmills...
- Short rivers flowing into the Wash
- Cambridge as the main urban nucelus
- Limited in the South by river Gt. Ouse.

c) East Anglia
- Open country between the Wash and the Thames.
- A fertile farming plain
- Marshy by the seaside
- A region of woods in the South (Essex)

d) The Lakes (Ouse Basin)

d.1.- Limestone tablelands between the valleys
Dry and stony area
Pinewoods and meadows
Sheeps
d.2.- Clay depression
Alternation of smooth hilly forest and green valleys
Cattle milk
Beadford, Swindon, Oxford
d.3.- Chalk tablelands
The Marlborough downs (to the (SW)
The Chiltern Hills (to the NE)
d.4.- Sandstones and clay plains and valleys.
Rough wild area with frequent rivers and meanders
Sandstone crop-outs with no agriculture

e) Southern England
- Between the Thames and the Channel.
- The Downs run from east to west
- Chalk moors

f) The Weald
- Wooded hills in the South
- Kent, Sorney, Sussex, Hampshire, Essex, Canterbury, Dover, Southampton,
Brighton, Portsmouth.

Rivers in England: Thames, Great Ouse, Ouse, Severn, Avon, Tren, Welland, Waveney,
Stour, Nene, Tamar, Exe, Parrett, Eden, Derwent, Tyne, tees, Swale, Lune, Ure, Wharfe,
Ribble...
NON-INDOEUROPEAN LANGUAGES

- Indo-chinese: Japanese, Chinese...

- American-indian languages
- Basque
- Ural-altaic languages:
Finno-Ugrian languages: Finish, Estonian, Hungarian
Altaic languages: Turkish

INDOEUROPEAN LANGUAGES

a) All those in which original velar stops were not palatalized

Latin, Hellenic
Celtic:
/ Goidelid: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx.
/ Britonic: Welsh, Breton, Cornisa.

B) Those in which original velar stops became palatalized

Indo-iranian: Hindi, Persian
Balto-slavic: Lithuanian, Prussian, Serbo-croatian, Polish, Gzecho-slovak,
Russian, etc.

GERMANIC AND CELTIC LANGUAGES

GERMANIC COMMON FEATURES

1) Some common vowel changes:
- Umlant (from German, change)
Gast -- Gste
Man -- Men

- Diphtongization
Middle english /mu:s/ -- contemporanean E /maus/
Middle high German /mu:s/ -- contemporanean G /maus/

2.- some typical consonant shifts:

- Voiceless plosives+h > voiceless fricatives
/p, t, k/ /f, /
- Voiced plosives > voiceless plosives
/b, d, g/ /p, t, k/

3.- Two tense verbal system: present, preterite (at first, theres no future)

4.- Weak verbs (adding -ed to express preterite)

Strong verbs (internal vowel change)

5.- Stress on the first syllable of the word (except when it is a prefix)

6.- Similar vocabulary Hand - Hand

Milk - Milk
Book - Buch
x) Influenced by French and by the viking cultures, all declination in English are going
to be lost. Thus, we divide the history of English in three periods:
OLD ENGLISH MIDDLE ENGLISH MODERN ENGLISH
Totally declined Almost all declinations Only a few residues
will be lost of the old declination
system:
my -mine
man- men

SOME GAELIC WORDS WITHIN ENGLISH FROM NEIGHBOURING CELTIC

TONGUES

a) FROM IRISH GAELIC (words entering E in the XVII century)

- Leprechaun
- Tory (an Irish outlaw)
- Shamrock (tifolium minus)
b) FROM SCOTS GAELIC
- Bog (wet, spongy land)
- Cairn (pile of stones)
- Slogan (warcry)
- Whiskey (spirit from maltes barley)
c) FROM WELSH
- Crag (steprock) (cumberland place names: Blakrag, Buckecrag...)
- Cromlech
OLD ENGLISH
IMPORTANT DATES

410 - Romans leave Britain, ending the first period of latin influence. (Paradox: English
has latin words even before it is born)

~449 - Titanic invasions (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) bring the founders of the E nation and
language to Britain.

597 - St. Augustin (of Canterbury) introduces the second period of L influence into
Britain.

787 - Begining of the Danish invasions (the vikings), which influence basic E in both
vocabulary and grammar.

871-899 - Reign of king Alfred the Great, who united large portion of England in 866,
fostered learning (translating in OE) > founded an excelent English prose style. Anglo-
saxon chorincle. Many latin books were translated to Old English.

~1000 - Flowrishing of the monastic revival that preserved OE poetry.

1066 - Victory of William the Conqueror. Language will begin to change. The new
language will be the French, because of the new invaders.

ROMAN BRITAIN

a) The roman conquest

- in 55-54 bC, Britain was invaded by Rome. These two first landing fleets led
by Julius Caesar had no consequences: any political ocupation.
- in 43 aD, Imperator Claudius. Systematic conquest of the island, honoring his
antecessor JC. Formal rule over the south of Britain.
- Soon after aD 71, the frontier of the expansion reached the Clyde, but the lands
north of the Tyne-Solway lines were never mantained by the romans.

b) Decline of roman rule in Britain

- The romans were always in danger of an attack from the north by two celtic
tribes (the scots and the picts).
- In 367, a great a attack of the scots from Ireland, the picts from the North and
the saxons from the East. > Although the invaders were finally driven out, the end of
roman Britain was near:
- 383 most of the legions were recalled to the metropolis
- 400 the last troops leave Britain to defend Rome against the Vandals.
- 409 Honorius informed the citizens of Britan that they would have to depend
on themselves from then on.
The end of roman rule on Britain

c) The romanization of Britain:

 - Roads and towns
- Houses and villas (with all the luxuries usual for roman villes: water supply,
heating floor mosaics, painted walls)
- Baths, large villas, temples, theatres... high Standard of living and well
developed cultural life.
- Archaeological findings testify to a common use of roman glass and poetry.

d) Influence on development of English.

- The extent to which latin was used is impossible to asess: probably used along
with another Celtic languages.

Tacitus
Germania (~ AD80), the inhabitants of Britain began to speak the language of invaders.

- Latin-Celtic bilingualism extensive among members of the upper classes and

city dwellers.
- Latin inscriptions referring to public matters (lack of similar ones in the vocal
vernacular)
- Graffiti found on tiles and pottery

PLACE NAMES

Portchester, Foss, Portsmouth, Fosham, Chester, Caster...

a) With Celtic element

Colchester, Doncaster, Gloucester, Lancaster, Winchester
b) With Old-English elements
Casterton, Chesterton, Chesterford, Chesterfield...

After the departure of the roman legions, the attacks of various germanic tribes and the
picts intensified until another large scale invasion from the continent:
BIRTH OF ENGLISH

A) LATIN WITHIN OLD ENGLISH

Germanic tribes (after the conquest of Gaul by Caesar): Transference of latin from one
tribe to another.
- War terms:
Camp Battle/Campaign
Segn Banner/Sign
Pin Javelin/ Pilum
Weall Wall
Pytt Pit
Straet Street
Mill Mile
- Trade
Ceap Cheap
Mangian To Mong
Mangere Monger
Mangung Trade place
Mangung-hus Shop
 Pun Pound
Seam Burden
- Wine trade
Win Wine
Must Must
Eced Vinegar
Flasce Flask
- Domestic life and houseland
Cytel Kettle
Mese Table
Teped Carpet/Courtain
Pyle Pillow
Pycelle Robe of skin
Sigel Sigil
(not conclusive, probably these words belong here)
Cycene Kitchen
Cupp Cup
Disc Dish/ disc
Cucler Spoon
Mortere Mortar
Line Line
Gimm Gem
- Food
Ciese Cheese
Spelt Wheat
Pipor Peeper
Senep Mustard
Butere Butter
Ynne Onion
Plume Plum
Minte Mint
- Building
Cealc Chalk
Coppor Copper
Tigele Tile
- Miscellaneous
Mul Mule
Draca Dragon
Pawa Peacock
Sicor Secure
Calm Calm
Pipe Pipe

B) LATIN THROUGH CELTIC TRANSMISION

- CELTIC ROOT AND LATIN
Dorchester Winchester Doncaster Golchester Manchester Lancaster
Gloucester Worcester

- ALL LATIN AND OLD ENGLISH

Casterton Chesterford Chesterton Chesterfield Fossham
- OE AND LATIN
Woodchester Norwich Sandwich

C) LATIN THROUGH THE CHRISTIANIZING OF ENGLAND

Apostol, munuc, maese, scol, papa, abbot, fers (verse), magister,
Lcornung - cniht
Heah - fader = Head father = Patriarch
Strata Street
Puteus Pit
Planta Plant
Palma Palm
Irlium Lily
Prunum Plum
Vinum Wine
Coquina Kitchen
Caseus Cheese
Butyrum Butter
Molinos Mill
Cattus Cat
Discus Dish
Cappa Cape
Ancora Anchor
Saccus Sack
Mercatus Market
Millia pasum Mile
VallumWall
Tegula Tile
Calx Chalk
Mortarium Mortar
Cuprum Copper
Monasterium Mynster
Papa Pope
Abas Abbot
Monachus Monk
Nonna Nun
Diabulus Devil
Schola School
Falsus False

The latin influence begins a lot of time before the arriving of germanic tribes
into Britain, so even before the English is formed as a language, it has latin words.
THE DIFFERENT REGIONS OCCUPIED BY THE TRIBES IN ENGLAND

KENT SUSSEX- Brighton EAST ANGLIA

MIDDLESEX WESSEX - Winchester (5th cent)
(2nd/2 of 4th cent) ESSEX NORTHRUMBIA
MIDDLESEX (6th cent)
(5th cent)

JUTES SAXONS ANGLES

Jutes firstly invaded a little island called Thanet

6.- THE GERMANIC INVASION

I) The written tradition

- Britannic sources > Account of the Celts telling about their invaders
The Welsh sources consist of two books
- English tradition > The account of the invaders
- Continental sources
II) Archaeological evidence
III) Place-name evidence
1.- BEDE
the parents of Bede were heathens, but he became a saint. He had never responsibilities
in a monastery and he never wore an abit. He wrote in Latin. He died at 735.

Historia eclesiastica gentis anglrum

Very important. It was translated into several languages.
A history of Christianity in England and some political events
Precisely that.
* He invented the interlibrary borrowings, a kind of book interchange between different
libraries.
* Bede incorporates Gildas account but he provides it with exact, local, chronology of
events.
* Hes the first to call Vortigen Supervus tyrannus
* Bede also mentions Hengest and Horsa, the Germanic leaders who came to help
againstVortigen
* Horsa was buried in Kent.
* The 1st Germanic landing took place in 449
- The Jutes settled in Kent and the isle of Wight
- The Saxons followed them, stablishing at the west of Kent and at the south of
the Thames.
- Finally, the Angles stablished at the North of the Thames (up to the Clyde)

2.- THE ANGLO-SAXCON CHRONICLE (End of the 9th century)

It was commended to be written by the king Alfred I the Great of Wessex.

Example: 455. In this year Hengest and Horsa fought against king Vortigern at a place
called Aeglesprep (Ayselford), and his brother Horsa was slain. And
after that, Hengest succeeded to the kingdom. And Aese, his son.

a) Five entries (from 449 to 473) give the account of the establishment of a kingdom in
Kent by the Brothers. Hengest and Horsa and (Horsas son) Aese.

b) three entries (between 447 and 491) give information about other landings: battles
against the Welsh, establishment of a kingdom on Sussex.

c) a series of entries (begining under 495 and going on to the middle of the 6 th century)
tell about the landing of chief trains near the isle Wessex

3.- THE POETIC RECORDS

Wildsith, Beowulf & the Fight at Finnsbung that contain some details concerning the
history of the Anglo-Saxons before the invasions:
- A certain Offa ruling near Schlesweig, the predecessor of another Offa, king of
Mercia, in the 8th cent.
- A chieftain from Denmark, Hengest, who fought against Finn, a king of Frisia.
However, no further hitory of Hengest can be found in these sources to relate
him to the Hengest who settled in Kent.
4.- THE CONTINENTAL SOURCES

More contemporary with the events they tell.

Limited to a few short passages into chronicles & histories.
a) ZOSIMUS, a Byzantine historian writes about the people of Britain defending
thmselves from attacks of barbarians after the withdrawal of the romans. Written
~500aD.
b) PROSPER (Maiselle, first half of the 5th century) describes a visit of bishop
Germanus to Britain in 429, giving an account of contemporary events.
c) [An anonymous Gallis chronicler] writes that, in 441-442, the 19 th year of the
emperor Theodosius, Britain was concquered by the Saxons after long
harassment.
d) PROCOPIS of CAESAREA. History of the wars. Second half of the 6 th
century. History of the wars tells about the Angloi (English/Angles) and
Frissones (Frisians) among other inhabitants of Britain.
Procopius also mentions that they (Angloi & Frissones) were so many that every
year they had to send large numbers of their people to the Franks on the
continent to settle.

II.- ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

In the reconstruction of events in the 5th and 6th cents, England is less helpful about
Germanic invaders than to their Roman and Celtic predecessors. The only thing found
were:
- Cementeries and the artifacts found therein
- No traces of households or other constructions (as the building material used
by germanic people was not stone, but wood... less durable)

III.- PLACE-NAME EVIDENCE

Some placenames are continental: these ones ending in OE-ING, plural INGAS or
ING(A)MAM. Eg:
Vocinga > Working
Walsingham > Washingham
Hoesteingas > Hastings
Heartingas > Harting
Cletinga > Cletlam
Byrhtlinga > Brightling

ENGLAND AND ENGLISH

Celtic writers called the Germanic tribes in England Saxons, and the country Saxonia

BUT
a) Procopius and Pope Gregory used the term Angli. In the same sense, Vich from the 7th
century replaced the previous one
b) Bede (731) entitled his work Historia Eclesiastica Gentis Anlrum
c) Paulus Diaconus (Langobardian historian in the 8th century) used Angli Saxones and
Saxones Angli
d) Asser (King Alfreds biograpfer) called him Rex Angulsaxrum.

Writers in the vernacular never used any other term but Englisc (from the name the
Angles, Engle) the refer to the language of all the Germanic tribes in Britain.

It is obvious that the language of all the invaders was not the same since they CAME
from different places of Europe. OE had 4 main dialects:
Northrumbian >> Gaelic
Mercian >> Welsh Brythonic
Kentish >> Cornish
Angic >> Western Saxon
Celt, Northrumbian, West Saxon, Angliard, Mercian ... these were the most important
dialects.

THE DANELAW (Viking kingdom)

There were two Danelaws:

a) the smaller one: Normandy, carved out of the Frankish kingdom
b) the larger one: all Eastern England between the Thames and the Tyne.

Finally, the Norse settlers in Lancashire and Cumberland joined hands across England
with the Danish settlers in Yorkshire so that at this point the Scandinavian predominated
from sea to sea.

FACTS:

[end of the 8th cent]: Iona, Lindisfarne, Jarrow... sacked

[first half of the 9th cent] raids in the South, but the scale of viking attack seems to have
increased after 850.
The Anglo-Saxon chronicle describes the armies of 865 and 871 as great indeed

865.- Ivan the Boneless and his brother Halfdan landed in East Anglia. During the
following 15 years they gained possession of practically the whole Eastern portion of
England

867.- Battle of York. End of Northrumbia as a political power.

869.- King Edmund of East Anglia was killed by the Danes. East Anglia is overruned.

870.- Wessex is attacked (AEthelroed was succeeded by his brother Aelfred in 871).

877.- Danes settle in East Anglia

878.- West saxon victory over Guthrum (the Danish king in East Anglia) at Edignton.
 Guthrum promises to depart from Wessex and to be baptized.

878-892.- Wessex was unmolested > Creative years > Aelfreds program of military
reforms and cultural revival.

~886.- Boundaries of the Danelaw agreed with Guthrum. Aelfred occupies London.

892.- Further Danish invasion

899.- Death of king Aelfred

SCANDINAVIAN WORDS IN ENGLISH

Linguistic consequences from the scandinavian presence in England.

seven vowels: a, ae, e, i, o, u, y.
consonants in contact with vowels are vocalized:
gifan > /yian/ > give

a) some scandinavian sounds:

OE gitan > get
OE gifan > give
OE aeg > egg
(pallatalization of g in the neighbourhood of front vowels did not occur in
Scandinavian cognates)

b) Pronouns (example with second person)

OE N./ Ac. Hie > hi
OE G. Hiera > hira
OE Dat. Heam > him
Plural replaced by they, their, them

c) Some adjectives and functional words:

c.1) weak, ill, odd, low, wrong, bleak, meek, sly, loose...
c.2) till, though, aloft

d) SK- words:
Skin, scar, scales (in the sense of escamas), score, scurf, scare, scathe, scorch,
scowl, scrapw, scrub...

e) semantic fields:
shipping: boatswain, bulk, keel...
farming: egg, kid (young goat), bark (of a tree)...
hunting: slaughter, steak, reindeer...
trading: loan, outlaw, bag...
war: gun, gap...
everyday life: fellow, skirt, kettle...
nature: benk, creek, sky, root, down, wing, gill, skin, etc...
f) some verbs:
crawl, die, hit, scare, take, thrust, cast, want, gaze, seem...

g) semantic contamination from Old Scandinavian:

OE dream (joy) ------ OS draumr (vision while sleeping)
OE bloma (lamp of metal) ------ OS bloom (flowering)
OE bread (fragment) ------ OS bread (food made of flour)
...

h) Personal names: (but Viking influence does not manifest in OE, but in ME)
Harold, Brunhilde, Eric, Guthrum, Guthfrith, Ingrede, Orm, Sigwar, Swegen,
Tosfig, Ulf...
We have to remember that the main English dialect was the West Saxon
(developed in the south of the Thames), and viking influence was in the north, so that it
is impossible to be any influence in OE.

SCANDINAVIAN TOPONIMY OF ENGLAND

i) Place-names:
-by (farm, town): Derby, Rugby, Whitby, Crosby, Enderby, Firsby... ~600 ex
-thorp(e) (village): Althorp, Bishopsthorpe, Gawthorpe. Scunthorpe,
Linthorpe... ~300 ex.
-thwaite (isolated piece of land): Crosthaite, Langthwaite, Applethwaite,
Braithwaite... ~300 ex.
-toft (piece of ground with a house) Brimtoft, Eastoft, Langtoft, Lowetoft,
Nortoft... ~100 ex.

EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH (1066-1307)

INFLECTIONAL LEVELING OR GENERAL REDUCTION OF DECLENSIONS
(OR INFLECTIONS)

There are three main factors responsible of the phonetic transmutations that
resulted in the loss of almost all inflectional endings in the language.
a) under the French influence, the habit of stressing the root syllable (thus
weakening the unestressed ones) is erased, adopting the French habit of stressing
the last syllable.
b) Morphological simplification due to the speech interference of French
and Scandinavian.
c) The suppression of West Saxon as a Standard dialect.
-s (poss. sing, nom, acc. pl.)
-es (plural in the stron declination)
-en (plural in the weak declination)
>> from then on, N. sing. Dominates all cases in singular and N. pl. Dominates
all cases in plural.
ch is always a French influence: cild, cildu >> child, children
THE END OF CASE ENDINGS REDUCES VASTLY THE AMOUNT OF
ADJECTIVES
 In the weak declension of the adjectives, both s and pl supported the same -e
ending.
The strong declension of the adjectives often supported the same -e ending.
Thus, Grammatical gender gave way to natural gender, since gender-
distiguishing modifiers were reduced to one uninflected form.
It is fixed a word order for the development of an Anlaytic Syntax (it is the
synthetic one of the Old English).

INLFUX OF THE NORMAN FRENCH

At least 10000 terms before the onset of the Tudor dinasty (moreless 7500-
8000 are still in use).
1150-1250: 900 Norman termes entered the E Language
1250-1400: The larges French influx. (from the marriage between Henry III,
Hammer of Scots, and Eleanor of Provence to the death of Richard II and the end of the
Anjou Dinasty).

Medical Terms:
Physician, surgeon, debility, malady, main, gout, leper, plague, paralytic,
anatomy, remedy, poison...

HIGH CULTURAL TERMS:

Art, paint, sculpture, figure, cathedral, palace, mansion, ceiling, chimney, base,
tower, cloisester (claustro), pinnacle, column, prose, romance, history, chronicle,
prologue, preface, title, volume, parchment, paper, geometry, study, noun, clause,
gender, copy, compile...

Domestic social terms:

* Everything involving intelligence and mans hand will have French
name, while everything natural will have german origin. Eg:
pig (G) - pork (Fr)
bull (G) - beef (Fr)
Courtain, chair, cushion, lamp, lantern, blanket, towel, closet, dance, minstrel,
melody, music, chess, conversation, stallion, curb (tirar de las riendas), harness,
terrier, spaniel, forest, park, joust (justa), tournament, pavilion...

Culinary terms:
Dinner, supper, feast, famine, salmon, bystec, mussel, venison, beef, veal,
mouton, pork, bacon, sausage, gravy, pigeon, peasant, toast, toast, cream, sugar,
olive, salad, lettuce, endive, almond, grape, orange, lemon, cherry, peach, pastry,
tart, jelly, spice, mustard, vinegar, boil, fry, grate, mince...

Fashion terms:
Crystal, diamond, ivory, enamel (esmalte), ruby, emerald, sapphire, ornament,
fur, ermine, blue, brown, jewel, vemrilion, scarlet, boots, button, veil, coat,
garment, robe, gown (botines), dress, fashion.
 Legal terms:
crime, justice, defendant, judge, advocate, bill, attorney, jury, veredict, degree,
punishment, prison, pardon, tresspass, fraud, estate, legacy, patrimony, heritage,
execution, executor, innocent...

Military terms:
Army, navy, peace, battle, ambush, soldier, garrison, sergeant, banner, mail,
archer, lieutenant, moat, horness, defend, attack...

Government terms:
Government, crown, state, empire, royal, majesty, court, parliment, treaty, rebel,
traithor, exile, republic, marshall, chancelor, minister, prince, princess, duke,
duchess, court, countess, marquis, baron, vassal, slave...

Church and religion terms:

Theology (from Geek), sermon, homily, baptism, comfession, prayer, clerk,
abbess, trinity, virgin, redemption, obedience, devout, adore, sacrifice...

MATURE MIDDLE ENGLISH (1307-1422)

The stress is moved to the first syllable again, and the use of the ch is
reduced.
ChTEAU >> CAStle
QuesTION >> QUEStion
VicTOIRE >> VICtory This word entered E before the formation of
the diftong in French
The entrance rate of French words into English was at its highest range
The second half of the 14th century, during the bloom of Chaucers literary
career supposed a time of growin nationalism, but the first this linguistic period still
gave entrance to French words and expressions.

French words:
Bussiness, adventure, country, cruelty, flower, opinion, power, quelity, sign,
tailor, task, tavern, tempest, chief, strife, clear, common, eager, easy, curious, firm,
principal, simple, arrive, arrange, universal, soldier, destroy, enter, excuse, flowrish,
nourish, murmur, inquire, please, marry, mount, prefer, serve, remember, summon,
suppose, travel...

French Expressions:
By heart, in vain, at large, plenty of, to make peace, hand to hand, according to...

In the 15th century, French had become an artificial tongue in England, so that a
large portion of the E borrowing from F during this period were from the Central or
Parisian dialect.
- Norman F was the popular spoken language (mainly in Normandy )
- Central F was the cult, written, literary language (mainly in Paris)
CF dropped the N s before t at the end of the 12th century.
NF Feast >> CF Jte
 NF Hostel >> CF Htel
CF forwarded and broke N /k/ to /ts/
NF Cattle >> CF Chattle
NF mantained an initial /w/ in place of CF /gu/
NF Warden >> CF Guard
CF dropped the /w/ from NF /kw/ in initial positions or stressed syllables; thus,
the present-day pronunciation of require, quit, quarter, quality, question... shows that
they are early, NF, entrants into E.
CF shifted the NF diphtong ei to oi early in the 12th century.
NF Real >> CF Royal
CF changed NF -arie and -orie to -aire and -oire.
NF Salarie >> CF Salaire
NF Victorie >> NF Victoire
(these words were incorporate to E from early NF)
There are a lot of words in English that are formed with a F root and an E word
or an E suffix:
Gentleman, gentleness, gently, faithless, faithful, faithfully, faithfulness,
commonly, eagerly, feebly, justly, peacefully, peaceful...

Many old E words are lost and replaced by new F words:

OE Words F Words
Aedhele noble
Leode people
Firen crime
Here /jere/ army
Sibb place
Blaed flower
Adl disease
Iel du age
Lof praise
Lift air
Hold gracious
Wuldor glory
Slidhe cruel
Wlite beauty
Andettan confess
Dihtan compose
Godian improve
Miltsian pity

DECLINE OF ENGLISH MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Some native methos for words formation will decline, from then on, these
words will be considered relics.
FORlorn desamparado
FORswear reanunciar
FORsake abandonar
FORgo provarse de
FORgive perdonar
FORbid prohibir
 FORbear refrenarse
The preffix for- mantained a dim life in Middle English
FORhang kill by hanging
FORcleave cut into pieces
FORshake shake off
The preffix to- is extinct today
The preffix with- also disappears, but it survives in:
WITHdraw(al) retirar (retirada)
Withhold retener, negar algo a alguien
Withstand aguantar
The preffixes over-, under- and un- owe their present life to a revival in
Modern English.
Overkill excess
Undersell sell too cheaply
Unzip release something restrained by a zipper
Several OE suffixes met a similar decline, but some others will survive
WedLOCK Marriage
HaTRED Action of to hate
WisDOM High knowledge
FalseHOOD Lie
KinSHIP To be relatives.
(But Modern English will preffer the suffix -ness)
Adjectives ending in -ful, -less, -some and -ish, will remain vital.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE NORMAN INVASION

It is the great French influence in English, we have seen it before

They abolite the English nobility, influencing in culture, lifestyle and
architecture, too.

NEW LATIN INFLUENCES

The L terms that entered E during the 14th and 15th centuries were less popular
than F ones. The reason is that L filtered into E via literature and was only spoken
among clerics and scholars
There is a rich Anglo-Latin literature (this means: Latin book written by
English people)
- HISTORIA REGUM BRITTANIAE, History of the British kingdom, by
Geoffrey of Monmouth. This book was well-known and used in that ages. Some places
in W. Shakespeares stories will be taken from this book.
- DE NUGIS CURIALIM, About Courtiers Sillyness, by Walter Map. This
book was also popular and originally written in Latin, bu this is funny literature, even
insultant.
John Wycliffe (~1328-1384) did a translation of the Holy Bible from Latin that
brought permanent additions to the English Language:
Allegory, custody, frustrate, genius, history, include, inclredible, individual,
inferior, legal, magnify, mechanical, nervous, picture, polite, popular, rational, submit,
testify, tract, ETCETERA...
IMPORTANT. Here comes a new system for dericative formation of words: a
system of AFFIXES and SUFFIXES:
 Affixes: counter-, dis-, re-, trans-, sub-, super-, pre-, pro-, de-
Suffixes: -able, -ible, -ent, -al, -eus, -ive
(thanks to this, the evolutionary history of E changes forever)

LONDON DIALECT

It becomes the Standard English.

This isnt born form an English dialect (West saxon, Northrumbian, Kentish,
Mercian...), its born from the speakers of the main city of island, basically the result of
all other influences on the citizens:
Mercian (East of London)
West Saxon (West of London)
Kentish (South of London)
French (Nobility of London)
Denmark and Netherlands (Seamen and tradesmen of London)
Its importance is based on the self economic and military importance of the
city, the numerical superiority and social status of the speakers (thus, the utilitarism of
this dialect), the importance of the East Midland region in culture (Oxford and
Cambridge)
Geoffrey Chaucer (the author of the Canterbury Tales) writes in the same way
as he speaks, thus writing in the London dialect and giving birth to this dialects
literature.
William Caxton spreads the books by Chaucer some time later. He is the
introducer of the printing press into England (he was also the creator of the best seller
system, in order to earn even more money). He is supposed to have translated more than
90 books from French to English (again, in the London dialect).

INFLUENCES FROM THE NETHERLANDS

Since 1327, words from Flemish, Dutch and Low German enter the English
Language. E wool industry supplied looms to Flanders, Holland and Northern Germany,
and many weavers from these countries took residence in England.
Words introduced this way:
Nap (lanilla)
Deck (of a ship)
Lighter(barraza)
Dock
Freight(flete)
Rover
Mart
Groast (half milled cereal)
Guilder >> Guild

Later loans:
Boom (botavara)
Beleaguer (siege)
Furlough (licence)
Commodore
Gin
Gherkin (Prekkles)
 Easel (Gentleman)
Etching (strong spirit drink)
Landscape
Cranberry

LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS

John Wycliffes translations of the Bible (see above)

Alliteration: the repetition of sounds in poetry. OE poetry is written with
alliterative techniques, but the F introduction of rhyme and meter lowered the use of
alliteration until the nationalism of the MME gave rebirth to these techinques.
PIERS PLOWMAN, by William Langland. Translatable to Spanish as Perico
el Labrador
PEARL, written at som time between 1350 and 1380. This poem is the
responsible of the entrance to E of French gemology words.
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, a good observance of the
medieval costumes of protocol and hunting, and a metaphorical allegory of the inner
fight of virtues and sins.

LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (1422-1485)

See also John Skelton and Stephen Hawes (even when they are chronologically
placed in the Early modern english period.

LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH, A TIME OF LITERARY IMITATIONS

Imitations and imitators. Specially in Scotland.

The emmergence of the Scottish Chaucerians, a group of poets who came under
the influence of Geoffrey Chauncer. They are so called because of their debt to the
satirical and narrative skill of their master:
King James I of Scotland
The renewed influx of Latin terms into Late Middle English gave the Language
a rash of AUREATE DICTION, an artificial, stilted elegance.
Blow the thorn >> tocar el pito
+ Ink
= Ink-thorn terms.
Chaucer intorduced such words as:
Laureate, meditation, oriental, proxility...
This is the embyion to a future problem: the INKHORN terms (words pouring
into the English language from learned Latin languages)
Threefold structure of synonyms:
- English >> popular (ask, goodness, fear, holy)
- French >> literary (question, virtue, terror, sacred)
- Latin >> learned (interrogation, probity, trepidatium, consecrated)
AUREATE DICTION, LITERARY IMITATION, DEVELOPMENT OF A TRI-
LEVEL SYSTEM OF SYNONYMS
 PLUS:
- levelling of inflexions completed
- dialect differences reduced (the history of London E will become the
history of British E as a whole)
- word order put the final touches on an analytic sintax
* Analytical: Sentences with declension
* Asynthetical: Sentences with prepositions.

MODERN ENGLISH (1485-1920)

1485-1649: Early Modern English. From the Renaissance to the Baroque
1649-1810: Authotritary Modern English. From the Baroque to the enlightment
1810-1920: Mature Modern English. From the industrial revolution
1920- ... : Present day English. From the post-industrial society.

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1485-1649)

Reinaissance begins and brings a growing interest in the past achievements of
humanity
- Ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, architecture...)
- Interest in human beings
- A revival of interest in scientific research, writing, vernacular
languages...
English literature became important
- innovative techniques
- Growing of English vocabulary
The interes in ancient writings led to the translations of works by
Thucydides, Herodotus, Caesar, Tacitus, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Homer, Virgil,
Ovid, Horace...

IMPACT OF THE RENAISSANCE

Spread of popular education under Henry VIII: 1 grammar school per 5,625
inhabitants (later on, in 1864, there will only be 1 per 23,750 inhabitants)
The protestant reformation also gave birth to a movement opposin the ideals of
renaissance. That led into mysticism and the pursue of religious oponents
By 1649, the intolerant Puritanists are banned and the atmosphere of freedom
disappears.
Latin is still the language of scholarship in Western Europe (until the middle of
the 17th century), and it will become the coine of English with the continent.
The E tried to overcome the usefulness of Latin
English was criticize for being too short of words, inelegant, immature and
unstable.
Thomas More (1528): Dialogue concerning Heresies (translation)
Sir John Cheke (1557): writes against borrowing from other languages, praising
the virtues of English
Roger Ascham: pronounces the enlgish to be a language very capable of all
the ornaments, both words and sentences
 1580: Criticism against English almost disappears. People was convinced that
English could cover all topics, at least, as well as Latin or any other language could.
Richard Mulcaster (a French name and a surname mixture of Celtic and Latin)
wrote in his The first part of the Elementarie (1582) thet English was capable of speak
about everything and is perfectly formed.
Richard Carew, in The excellency of the English tongue (1595) praises
English as a perfect language.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the opinion about E leads to glorify E
above all othe languages.

THE NEED FOR THE REGULATION OF THE LANGUAGE

The freedom of choice in ortography, lexical and grammatics is criticized at the

end of the 16th century
The vernacular was expected to follow certain well defined rules. This is
particularly important in the context of formal scholars, where the concept of
correctness is enforced by the rules of Latin.
This led to the writing of grammar and vocabulary English dictionaries. The
freedom in language will began to disappear
Due to the puritans, in 1606, any reference to God, Christ, the Trinity... will be
FORBIDDEN

LEXICAL ENRICHMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The use of Latin during the middle ages deprived the English to develop its
own lexicon. It becomes clear when they try to translate Latin and Greek books into
English when the E took the place that Latin occupied before.
The impossibility of English to face the meaning of Latin and Greek
expressions led to the major use of borrowings, new word-formation processes and the
adaptation of already existing words into new meanings.
Massive borrowing (not only from Latin and Greek, but from more than 50
languages) created disensions between the defenders and opponents of borrowing words
from other languages
Purists were against borrowings
- Sir John Cheke (1561)
- Roger Ascham (intorduced the concept of INKHORN terms
- Thomas Wilson (1553) wrote the strongest attack against Inkhorn terms
Defenders of borrowing processes pointed out that:
- Each language had enriched itself through borrowing (even L and G)
- Strangeness and obscurity of new words would disappear through time
- Richard Mulcaster
- George Pettie
- William Bullokan
English acquired more than 10,000 words in the 16th century and the first half
of the 17th c. Most of them have survived until present day, some others passed out
Latin borrowings:
Allusion, eradicate, extinguish, accent, excursion, fiction, benefit, expectation,
insane, capsule, elegy, external, phrase...
Greek borrowings via latin:
 Anachronism, climax, scheme, enthusiasm, atmosphere, chaos, crisis, skeleton,
chronology, dogma, pathetic, system...
Greek direct borrowings:
Polemic, anonymous, thermometre, heterox, catastrophy, lexicon, criterion,
tonic, ostracize...
French borrowings:
Counterpoint, entrance, explore, anatomy, genteel, naturalice, volunteer, judge,
probability, comrade, essay, shock...
Italian borrowings:
Algebra (from arab), bandit, piazza, caprize, portico, artisan, carnival, design,
violin, balcony, citadel, fresco, stanza, volcano...
Spanish and Portuguese borrowings:
Anchovy, galleon, mulatto, embargo, mosquito, negro, armada, barricade,
mestizo, sombrero, desperado, cocoa, banana...

EARLY GRAMMARIANS

The importance of a regularization was stressed in the midle of the 16th

century. English was being tought with no dictionary.
In 1582, Richard Mulcaster expresses the need for a Grammar.
1586.- William Bullokan writes Pampflet for Grammar, relying mainly on
Latin grammar and the importance of morphology
1594.- Grammatica Anglicana. Heavily influenced by Latin.
In the first half of the 17th century, there were five more grammars of English...
- 1640: The English Grammar, by Ben Johnson
- 1653: The English Grammar, by Charles Butler
All of them rely on Graeco-Roman traditions, very few of them have a section devoted
to syntax (Ben Johnsons, for example)

AUTHORITARIAN MODERN ENGLISH (1649-1810)

With the bourgeois revolution, English starts a new period and new social
forces gain importance. A new political order was intorduced after the decapitation of
Charles I.
The remaining burdens of feudalism were removed as a result of the allegiance
of the wealthy bourgeois with the lower peasants.
The returning absolutism represented by the instauration of James II was
forced to flee
In 1689, William of Orange became the new king of England, beginning a new
constitutional monarchy
The change of century witnessed the raise of experimental science and the
rationalist philosophy
There was a high spread of education and the cultural influence of classical
scholarship arised
After the revolution, a new period of stability began, and it lasted through the
th
18 century.
1783.- James Watt creates the STEAM ENGINE
1789-1799.- French Revolution and rise of Napoleon.
Industrial revolution changed the political and economical system
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

1653-1659.- Protectorates of Oliver and Richard Cromwell. Symbols of Puritan

domination.
1664.- Royal Society appoints to a comitte to improve English
1667.- Publication of John Miltons Paradise Lost
1668.- John Drydens essay about Dramatic Poetry
1678-1684.- John Bunyans The pilgrim progress, beginning of the E novel
1679.- John Dryden calls for rules and standards
1697.- Daniel Defoe calls the academy to dictate E usage
1712.- Jonathan Swift calls the academy to improve and correct the language
1721.- Nathaniel Baileys Universal Etymological Dictionary of the English
Language
1740-1771.- The English novel become a mature art form
1775.- Samuel Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language
1757.- India
1759,. Battle of Quebec (won by James Wolfe)
1760-1795.- Rise of English Grammar and Rethorics whose prescriptions and
proscritpions are still in the current handbooks
1775-1783.- American Revolution >> The American Dialect earns importance

ENGLISH IN OTHER ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

IRELAND:

In 1800 the Irish Gaelic was still the main language.

1803,. The Act of Union. The Gaelic begins to decline and it only survives
due to the Roman Catholic Church.
Later on, in 1840, the Great Famine killed many Irish people, while other fled
to the USA or Australia.

U. S. A.

The borders of E language difussion in 1790 were Florida (by the South),
Mississippi River (by the West) and Ohio River (By the North), and it was still
spreading.
The purchase of Florida
The war against Mexico (annexions of California [Hot Oven], Arizona [Arid
zone], New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah, (partially) Colorado...
The Gold Rush in California fostered the migration to the West.
Unitl 1776 the language was essentialy the same as British English, but, since
the Declaration of Independence (by Jefferson), they began to force differences
1828.- American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster.
The westward migration had generated more differences
The huddled masses also supposed changes from Standard English. They were
immigrants from: Ireland (see above, 1840), Germans and Italians (failure of the 1848
revolutions), Central Europe Jews, Russians, Scandinavians, British, Asians, Latin
Americans...
The expansion of the USA territory: Midway island (1867), Pearl Harbour
(1887), Hawaii and Puerto Rico (1898), Samoa (1899)...
 Military activity over Philipines, Mexico, Cuba...
Protectorates in Cuba, Panama, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Haiti...

CANADA

Nova Scotia ceded by the French in 1713, with a high number of emigrants
from Scotland.
After the victory over the French in the Battle of Quebec (1759), a number of
Scottish colonies were stablished on Ontario and Manitoba.

INDIA

1600.- EAST INDIA Co. Founded between 1639 and 1686 English settlements
in Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.
1763.- India falls under British Supremacy.
1857.- University foundations in Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.

OCEANIA

A) AUSTRALIA

Discovered by Dutch navigators in the 17th century.

James Cook charted the unexplored Eastern coast.
1786.- British Government stablished penal colonies: Sydney (1788), Perth
(1829), Melbourne (1835), Adelaide (1836)
Convict transportation to Australia ceased in 1840.
1855-1890.- Six Australian Colonies gain self-government: New South Wales,
Victoria, South Australia, West Australia, Tasmania, Queensland.

B) NEW ZELAND

Discovered by Tasman (1642) and by Capt. Cook (1768), and declared British
property by the latter in 1840 via The Waitange Treaty.
European-Maori coexistence.

AFRICA

1795.- The British seized the Dutch settlement at Cape Town

1899-1901.- The Boer War marked the beginning of a permanent English
Settlement in South Africa.

FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY TO NOWADAYS

Success of the British on the seas in the course of Napoleonic Wars (Nelsons
Victory at Trafalgar in 1805) brought undisputed naval supremacy and control over
most of the international commerce.
1854-1856.- The War of Crimea against Russia and the contests with the native
princes in India forced England to pay atention to the East once again.
REFORM MEASURES EN ENGLAND

Reorganization of the Parliment

Revision of the Penal code
Restrictions on child labour
Industrial reformations
Leessened distances between higher and lower classes and the chance for the
people to enjoy the advantages available in the course of the 19th century:
- 1816.- The 1st cheap newspaper
- 1840.- Cheap postage
- Improved means of communication: railroad, steamboat, telegraph...
(this also spreaded the influence of standard speech/ London dialect)
THE GROWTH OF SCIENCE

Great progress in Medicine and its auxiliary sciences (bacteriology,

biochemistry, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, cure...)
Quick development from Benjamin Franklin (lying his kite in a thunderstorm)
and Faraday (deflecting a magnetic needle with an electric current)... to Bell, Edison,
Westinghouse... telephones, electric refrigerators, hydroelectrical power plants...
The evolution in every field of science, pure or applied, supposed the need for
thousands of new terms, even familiar to the layman:
anaemia, appendicitis, arteriosclerosis, bronchitis, diphtheria, homeopatic,
osteopathy, bacteriology, immunology...
HISTORY OF KINGS OF ENGLAND AND MAIN
AUTHORS
ALFRED I THE GREAT (899)

Besides restorin churches & founding monasteries, he strove to spread education in his
kingdom and foster learning.
Eg: Wessex was the name of the King Alfred >> His efforts bore little fruit.
BUT
In the second half of the 10th century, three great Benedictine leaders arose the church:
a) DUNSTAN, Archbishop of Canterbury (d.998)
[CANTERBURY = KENT-ER BURY = Place of the people of Kent]
b) AETHELWOLD of Winchester (d. 984)
c) OSWALD of Worcester bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York (d. 992)

With the support of King Edgar of Wessex, these men effected a Revival of
Monasticism in Anglo-Saxon England begining a new age in church on England

KING AELFRED OF WESSEX: HIS TRANSLATIONS FROM LATIN TO OE.

He prepared measures to prevent future invasions

and to put into practice all of his cultural ideas.

ALFREDS MILITARY REFORMS

a) It became a lot harder to break into Wessex again in the 890s thanks to a ring of
fortresses known as burhs. Some kinds of burhs were:
- former roman towns or ports: Chichester, Porchester
- fortified royal states: Wilton, Eashing
- positions of natural defensive potential: Lydford
- newly fortified settlements on open sites: Crickdale, Wallingford.
b) He organized an army, becoming a static defense and a mobile army. Levies were
mustered by countries under the command of the ealdor man (lord) of the shire. The
army raised on this fashion was called the fyrd.
c) (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, annal for 896): The king ordered long-ships to be built
with which to oppose the viking warships. Some had LX oars, some more. They were
both swifter and more stable and also higher than the others.

ALFREDS CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

He put into practice all hi cultural ideas (lets do not forget that he was going to be a
priest until his brothers death)
- Like Frankish rulers, Alfred was a patron of learning. He wanted to be like
Charlemagne and to imitate his attitudes
- He recruited a number of craftmen
a) Plegmund, from Mercia, bishop of Sherborne
b) Werfesth, from Mercia, bishop of Worcester
c) Grimbald of St. Bertin, Flemish monk.
d) John, from continental Saxony, abbot of Aelfreds monastic foundation
of Athelney.
TRANSLATIONS FROM LATIN TO OLD ENGLISH
... certain books which are the most necessary ones for all men to know.

a) Liber Regulae Pastoralis: Book of Pastoral Rule, by Pope Gregory the Great
This book contains an interesting OE Preface in which the King Alfred outlined his
educational policy
It is a guide for bishops (applied to the office of the king)

b) Soliloquia: Soliloquies, by St. Augustine of Hippo about the immortality of the

soul.
St. Augustine of Hippo must not be confused with St. Augustine of Canterbury.
The presence of St. Augustine of Hippo in the English Literature is great, his
books will be translated in the 10th, 11th and 12th denturies. Basicly, all questions
to be dealed in OE will be treatised by him.
A free rendering (a kind of spiritual self-portrait)

c) De consolation philosophiae: About Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (a

roman consul in 510 who wrote the book in jail befor his execution in 525).
A classic account of endurance against adversity, the pursuit of wisdom as a
means of rising above earthly misfortune.
Conversation between a caged man (that is, him) that is going to be decapitated
and a woman in white (Philosophy, Wisdom) that consolates him.

a), b) and c) are supposed to have been translated by Alfred himself (probably with the
help of his team)

d) Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglrum: English people eclesiastic history, by

Venerable Bede.

e) Historia Adversus Paganos: by Orosious, a priest from Braga or tarragona (it is not
clear).
A universal history and geography
The main message is: life is very difficult and poor because this world is
difficult, but, with the presence of Christ, we have hope.

AETHELWOLD OF WINCHESTER

Organiser of the Church

Teacher of Aelfric (see downwards)
His organising habilities are evident in the document known as the REGULARIS
CONCORDIA (Agreement about the Rule). It is a supplement to the Rules of Saint
Benedict designed to standarise the observance of the English monastic communities.
The Church was living a period of disorder and lack of control, so, Dunstan, Aethelwold
and Oswald gave birth to the Benedictine Reformation and they reorganized the church.
- REGULARIS CONCORDIA: It provides the first evidence in western
Christendom for the performance of an Easter Play written in Latin, considered the first
play performed in Egnland (though it was in Latin). Theatre plays are born in churchs,
and the priest is the main character.
Main interest in studying Aethelwold:
a) One of the creators of the Benedictine Reformation
b) Teacher of Aelfric of Eynsham
c) First one to write and keep theatre in England.

AELFRIC OF EYNSHAM

The most accomplished writer of Old English in the late Anglo-Saxon period (~1012)
987.- Monastery of Cerne (Dorset) founded. Aelfric was a teacher on Cerne,
teaching Latin, Grammar and Theology
1005.- Another Wessex Saxon monastery founded in Eynsham (Oxford Shire).
Aelfric was the first Abbot. He dies at Eynsham, known then on as Aelfric of
Eynsham.

Chronology of his writings:

989-992.- Two books of sermons (catholic homilies). The prose style in which
these books are written was the best prose style ever writen that far.

992-999.- Translation of six books of the old testament, the HEXAMERON.

EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH (1066-1307)
1066-1209.- THE French speaking upper class remained indiferent to the lethargic
English Language. French was the language of army and justice and English was near to
disappear. Only a few peasants spoke English.

WILLIAM I, the Conqueror or the Bastard, 1066-1087

His grandfather was a viking

He was the Duke of Normandy (and, so, his successors will be simultanoeusly
to be kings of England)
He is the 1st Normand king of England
Saxon resistance flared and splutterder for some years after Hastings, specially
in the South.
Only the South-East recognized Williams authority (after he defeated king
Harold in the battle of Hastings.
Saxon rebellions in the SW and W. In the first years of his reign he had to fight
against Saxons in th SW, W and N. His authority wan no immediately recognized.
Saxon nobility was destroyed and dispersed in favour of norman knights (one
century after Hastings, almost all large states and the most important positions
were in Norman hands).
In great matters such as lands and taxation, Normans developed their own
system. Saxon customary laws were set aside for unimportant matters.
A strong military force controlled constant arisings during the reign pf William
I and his immediate successors.
Saxon bishops and abbots were replaced by Norman ones.
All hierarchies of the church, nobility and army were so replaced by Normans.
The new high class spoke only French.
New monasteries were founded and filled with foreign monks
He had three sons: Robert, William and Henry. They opposed him, but he
defeated all three either in the court or in battle.

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS (AS REPRESENTED IN THE TAPESTRY OF

BAYEUX)

The royal army of Harold II is composed by 7000 soldiers (equiped with axes,
spears and broadswords): housecarls (royal guard, with shields and javelins) and
spearmen (well equiped militia)
The army of William is composed by 10000 soldiers (crossbowmen, light
cabalry and melee infantry).
The royal army had taken positions on the Senlac Hill (~105 km NW of
Hastings).
- An initial attack based on crossbowmen and spear throwing on the
housecarls had not real effect on the defenders.
- Melee attack on the housecarls supposed casualties in both sides, and
Norman infantry retreated to defend the crossbowmen
- Norman cabalry charged against the housecarls but they are repelled.
Some Norman cabalry units flee.
 - William is wounded and Norman morale falls. Some royal fyrdmen
charge against the left flank of the Norman army, but William recovers and cabalry
overruns the attacking fyrdmen
- Melee troops cross weapons again with the housecarls, but they are
repelled again.
- Some other fyrdmen try to take profit of a (false) fall of morale in the
right flank of the Norman army and charge against the crossbowmen and the infantry.
- It was a trick, cabalry overruned again the fyrdmen, leaving the elite
royal troops with little militia support.
- A rain of arrows from the crossbowmen force the housecarls to hold
positions and use the shields
- Then, the Norman infantry charges against the housecarls (that are still
defending themselves against the deadly rain)
- Once combat is developing, one more cabalry charge breaks the balance
between both infantry fronts. Harold dies, the royal army disbands, the fleeing
housecarls are overruned by the cabalry and the rest of the fyrdmen run away.

William II, Rufus or the Red, 1087-1100

One of the three sons of William I. He defeated his two brothers when they
three contested for the throne.
He was called the Red or rufus due to the redness of his appearance: he
was red haired and used to be bearded.
A professional soldier. He supressed two rebellions thanks to the military
efforts of his father and the army he heritated.
He was killed by an arrow while he was hunting (it was said to be a murder, an
accident, or even black magic). Noone knows exactly what happened, so his death is
still today a mistery.

Henry I, 1100-1135

Rufus younger brother.

In 1106, he defeated his older brother, Robert, seized his Duchy and
imprissoned him for the rest of his life.
He married aSaxon woman, descendant of Alfred I the Great. Surprisingly he
idnt marry a Norman woman, and people greeted him.
He had three sons:
- one that died prematurely
- William, that drowned at the sea
- Matilda, the Empress.

Matilda, the Empress

She was never a queen, but she married the Emperor Henry V of Germany.
She was about to be recognized as the heir of his father, but Count Stephen of
Blois (who had married with Matildas daughter) was acclaimed and crowned as the
new king.
In 1128, she married to Count Geoffrey of Anjou [Geoffrey = Godofredo = God
frightened]
 She had a son with Geoffrey, Henry of Anjou.

Stephen I, 1135-1154

His realm was constantly chalenged by Matilda, his mother-in-law.

Specially between 1139-1145, anarchy arranged in England and a civil war
took place between the king and the followers of Matilda.
Stephens son, Eustace, died befor his father, so, he was succeeded by his
womans brother, Henry.

Henry II, 1154-1189

The most important English king.

The Anjou dinasty will survive in england until 1399 (Richard II).
His Empire included what nowadays is: England, Wales, Ireland, North Ireland,
half France (From Cean to Avignon, incluiding Paris and the lowest half of the Loire)
and the kingdom of Navarra.
He was a lover of letter, art, law and architecture.
He was the 1st Norman king able to understand English Language.
He was famous thanks to his many quarrles:
a) with the church:
- Thomas Beckett (St. Thomas Beckett, for catholics) is murered in
Canterbury. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury and represented the
Pope in England. He was killed by the king, becoming a saint for
catholics and creating a peregrination place in Canterbury for Roman
church.
- Starts the separation of England from the roman church. They will still
be Catholics, but they wont be romans (just apostolics)
b) with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitain, (one of the most powerful women in
medieval Europe) to decide which of their sons would inherit the throne.
c) with hi children, Richard and John

Richard I, Lionheart or Coeur de Lion, 1189-1199

A cosmopolitan military adventurer.

Few English kings have played so small part in the affairs of England and so
large part in the affairs of Europe
He was always fighting in the crusades.
His secretary, Walter of Coventry, wrote a description of Burriana and
Peiscola.
Once he was crowned, he was only twice in his country (one of three months
and one of two months)
He campaigned against France, Sicily and Palestine, where he fought his way
to 12 miles of Jerusalem.
On his way back, he was captured in Viena, and England had to pay an
expensive ransom for his life.
He supposed a decade of royal absentism, and therefore the rule of Hubert
Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury and justician os the Crown.
Richards death came as a consequence of a wound, leaving no son due to his
homosexuality.
 In this period, it is written a poem called The Owl and the Nightingale,
described as a miraculous poem.
Ich was in one sumere dale I was in a summer valley
In one sedhe dizele hale In a very dark hole
I herde Ich (h)olde gretetale I heard a great discussion
An hule and one nightingale An owl and a nightingale
Dhat plait was stif and stare and strong That fight was stiff and hard and strong
... ...
- We can see the aliteration in the last verses (typical in OE), a French
word in the last one (plait), and the use of rhyme (typical in Old Middle English)

John I, Lackland, 1199-1216

Richard Is brother.
His reign was trobled by internal upheavals and external problems in the
terrirories won by Henry II.
In 1204 he lost NORMANDY
Rise of English nationalism. > Clash with the church.
The king was excommulgated from 1209 to 1213.
A rebel faction of the nobility forced John to concede a list of privileges in
1215 (the MAGNA CARTA), the cornerstone of English liberties and the seed of the
English Parliment. It was written in French and Latin

Henry III, Hammer of Scots, 1216-1272

1216.- Two thousand French knights were given authority in England

1236 He marries Eleanor of Provence (until 1246). Provenals poured into
England... and that meant more foreign nobels contesting the authroity in England.
A lot of factions were angry at the time: the English barons, bands of rebellious
clerics, free-thinking Oxford university students, peasants... all of them led by Simon de
Monforte and ready to drive the foreign enemy out of the office and even out of the
country. French begins to be known as the language of the Enemy, giving birth to the
English nationalism.
1250.-The double allegiance of the English nobility ends. So, the most valid
reason for the use of French in England is gone.
1258.- The king id forced to accept a settlement known as the PROVISIONS
OF OXFORD (a supplement to the Magna Carta), a document issued in French and
English
1259.- The Anjouin Empire is formally buried by Louis IX of France. Only
Gascony remains in English hands.
> Nobility had forced the situation in a way that peasants had to eat their own
children and to kill the knights horses to survive. This pressure promoted the liberties
of the Magna Carta in order to reach even more liberties. England for the English
> paradoxically, the main promoter of this slogan had a French name: Simon of
Monforte
1264.- Battle of Lewes: a victory for Simon de Monforte.
1265.- Battle of Evesham: Edward, Henrys son, defeats the barons. Monforte
is killed in action.
Edward I, Long hands, 1272-1307

The first English-speaking English king, born from a French woman.

Despite of his mother, he spoke mainly English. It was his first language.
Polite-society French literature was translated into English.
He defeated the new Welsh leader, Llywylyn.
Married to Leonor of Castilla
1284.- Statute of Wales, the principalities are annexed to the English crown.
Edwards new-born son is proclamated Prince of Wales at Laeravon Castle: the
prince was Welsh-born and unable to speak English.
Edwards atempt to keep his overlordship over the Scots was complicated by
French attacks on his Gascon possessions.
By 1300, English nobility started to look for a foreign language to learn for
purposes of cultural and social refinement.
In the last years of Edwards reign, the language has begun its evolution
towards a cosmopolitan vocabulary and had intiated several processes of great linguistic
changes.

MATURE MIDDLE ENGLISH (1307-1422)

The Hundred Years War (it starts in 1337). The growing English patriotism and
nationalism will lead to the disuse of French in England.
Decline of French
The church and the universities mantained an artificial use of French.
- French used in Benedictine monasteries in Canterbury and Westminster
- Oxford students were required to translate to French their Latin studies.
Peasant Revolts in 1381

Edward II, 1307-1327

He is married to Isabelle of France

1314.- Edward II is defeated at Bannokburn by Robert Bruce. The English
army is destroyed and Scotland wins independence for the next three centuries.

Edward III, 1327-1377

1332.- The English Language is steblished as the official language in the

parliment. It is a victory over the aristocratic attempt to mantain the supremacy of
French.
1337.- Beginning of the Hundred Years War
1346.- Geat victory over the French in Crcy.
1348-1350.- The Bubonic Plague:
- Reduction of unemployment (due to general reduction of population)
- Expanding economic strength of English-speaking middle-classes.
1356.- Victory over the French in Portiers. The Sheriffs Court in London and
Middlesex is conducted in English
The Parliment opens with a speech in E from the chancellor. The STATUTE OF
PLEADING demands that the kings court and allo other courts had to be therefore
conduced in English.
 He had a son called Edward, but he will not herit the crown, it will pass on to
his grandson Richard.

John Wycliffe, 1328-1384

He wrote partial translations of the Holy Bible from Latin to English for the
first time.

William Langland, ~1330-1400

He wrote Piers Plowman

Geoffrey Chaucer, 1344-1400

His name comes from German and his surname is French.

He is the author of the CANTERBURY TALES

Richard II, 1377-1399

1381.- The Peasants Revolt strengthens the role of the labourers and the
importance of their language (English).

Henry IV, 1399-1413

Henry V, 1413-1422

He is married to Catalyn of France

During his reign, the English is the official language to be written or spoken,
yet French is still the language of culture (the best literature is written in French, thus
becoming a luxury)
1415.- He defeated the French at Agincourt.
He promoted the English, but he still wanted it to NOT be the main language in
written communication.
>> The embryon of the E written language was born from an artificial
movement based in the printing press and the issue of many documents in the court and
in London.

LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH (1422-1485)

Henry VI, 1422-1461

1423.- The records of parliment are kept in English

1425.- E was the Language of correspondance, private and public, formal and
informal.
1450.- Local laws had been translated into E.
He is king of France until 1453.
The records of the Parliment begin to be written in English.
The War of Roses took place in 1455. The York nobels won the throne in battle
Thomas Occleve / Hoccleve, ~1370-1426

His main work, a poem, De Regimine Principum (Abouth the way of reign
of Princes), is a N E version of a La treatise by Aegidius (a disciple of St. Thomas of
Aquinnas) or The duty of a ruler, adressed to Henry, Prince of Wales (the poem
contains a eulogy de Chaucer.

John Lydgate, ~1370-1451

One of the most prolific writer of verse.

Troy book (written in 1412-1420) was first printed 1513
The story of Thebes
The falls of Princes (based on Boccaccios De caribus Virrum Illustrium)
moreles 36,000 lines.

King James I of Scotland, 1394-1437

Captured while on his way to France by an E ship and kept for 19 years in
England, where he was well educated.
While in England, he composed The kings quair (200 stanzas written 14, 23,
24)

Sir Thomas Mallory, ?-1471

Author of the Famous Le morte Darthur, a skillful selection and blending of

material taken out from the man of Arthurian legends.
2 main elements:
- The reign of King Arthur engding in catastrophe the disolution of the
round table
- The quest of the Holy Grail which Lancelot finds by reason of his sin
(and the love of Arthurs queen) succeeds.

William Caxton, 1421-1491

A merchant and a man of affairs, he spent thirty years in the Netherlands. He

prints his own translations in Cologne: Recuyell of the histories of Troye (1475).
Miguel Fuster translated it into Catalan.
1476.- He landed in London and introduced the first priting press in England. It
was a new influence of great importance in the disemination of London English.
He also printed in Gruges The game and playe of the chesse
He stablished a print at Westminster in 1476 and printed ~100 books; a number
of them were translations from the French by himself
He contributed with his translations to the formation in the 15 th century of an
English prosestyle.

Robert Henryson, ~1430-1506

Tale of Orpheus
Testament of Cresseid (atributed to Chaucer till 1721)
 We are talking about a Greek thematic, that is, Reannaissance

Gavin Douglas, 1474-1522

2 allegorical poems, a translation of the Aeneid

The earliest translator of the classics into E.

Edward IV of York, 1461-1483

He had a son (Edward) and a daughter (Isabelle of York)

His brother, Richard, will be the tutor of his foster son, Edward.

William Dunbar, ~1465- ~1530

The dance of the sevin

Derdly Synnis
The Lamment for the Makais
Rabelaisian humour, satirical power.

Edward V, 1483

Son of the king Edward IV, he inherited the throne being only 13 years old.
His uncle and tutor, Richard, imprisoned and killed him and took his place in
the succesion line.

Richard III, The Hunchback, 1483-1485

He grabbed the throne until his brothers daughter, Isabelle of York, and her
husband, Henry of Tudor, killed him in battle.

Sir David Lindsay, 1490-1555

The dreme, an allegorical lamment on the misgovernment of Scotland

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1485-1649)

Henry VII of Tudor, 1485-1509

1489.- Abolition of English from the legal system in England.

He is married with Isabelle of York

John Skelton, ?-1529

Tutor to prince Henry (VIII).

He enjoyed the court favour despite of his outspokenness
The vowge of court, a satyr on the court of Henry VII.
 Phyllyp Sparowe, a lamentation put into the mouth of a young lady whose
sparrow has been killed by a cat.
Colyn cloute, a complaint by a vagabond of the missdeeds of eclesiastics...

Stephen Haues, ?-1523

He is a poet of the school of Chaucer and Lydgate.

Passtyme of pleasure, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509
Example of Virtue, a poem in the seventh line Chaucerian stanza, an allegory
of life spent in the pursuit of purity, also printed by W. De Worde.

Henry VIII, 1509-1547

In 1541 he becomes king of Ireland

Protestan reformation:
- Less importance of Latin
- Political difficulties with Rome
- Closing of monasteries
- The king becomes the head of the church in England.
- Growing patriotism
- Introduction of the English into the Church (including seven major
versions of the Bible between 1536-1611)
He married Catalina of Aragon, and they gave birth to Maria of Tudor
He married Ana Bolena, and they gave birth to Isabel
He married Juana Seymour, and they gave birth to Edward
He married Anne de Clves
He married Catalina Parr

Edward VI, 1547-1553

Maria I of Tudor, 1553-1558

Married with Felipe II of Spain

Isabel I, 1558-1605

She fought Maria Estuardo, mother of James

1588.- Defeat of the Spanish Invincible Armada

James I, 1605-1625

1611.- King James Bible

Captain John Smith founded Jamestown, Virginia

Charles I, 1625-1649

there is a bourgois revolution and, in 1649, he is decapitated and the Parliment

stablishes a republic
He had two sons: Charles and James
AUTHORITARIAN MODERN ENGLISH (1649-1810)

PARLIMENT (1649-1660)

Charles II, 1660-1685

James II, 1685-1688

He is the BROTHER of Charles II

He was banned buecause he was a catholic.
He had two daughters. The first one had a daughter (Ana Estuardo) and the
second one married with a man called William

William III of Orange, 1689-1702

He supposed the begining of a new constitutional monarchy

He had a son called James

James III, 1702

He was rejected by the Parliment

Anne I Estuardo, 1702-1714

George I, 1714-1727

George II, 1727-1760

His son did not reign, his heir was his grandson

George III, 1760-1810

MATURE MODERN ENGLISH (1810-1936)

George IV, 1810-1830

William IV, 1830-1837

He was the brother of George IV

Victoria I, 1837-1901

William was her uncle.

Edward VII, 1901-1910

George V, 1910-1936

He had two sons, Edward and George

PRESENT DAY ENGLISH (1936- ...)

Edward VIII, 1936

He left the throne to marry a non-nobel woman.

George VI, 1936-1952

Isabelle II, 1952-...

She HAS two sons (Charles and Edward) and a daughter (Ana). Her heir will
surely be her primogens primogen, Harry.

WRITTEN IN 2006