11. The Anglo-Saxon invasion. Old English kingdoms and dialects.

When Roman legions came back to Rome to defend it, Britain was left to defend and rule itself. The time had come for new rulers and new rulers came. They were Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They came from the territory of present Denmark and Northern Germany. The Germanic invaders first arrived in small groups throughout the fifth century. Being terrific warriors, they controlled most of the island by the seventh century A.D., ousted the British population to the mountainous parts of the Isle of Great Britain. Later, they united and became the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons controlled the central part of Britain which was called as England, while the Romanized Celts fled West, talking with them their culture, language and Christianity. England was a network of small kingdoms. That time there were seven kingdoms established: Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), East Anglia (East Angels), Kent, Mersia and Northumbria, and the largest three of them – Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex – dominated the country at different time. The southern part of Britain became known as Angieland or England. That time the Anglo-Saxons followed their old Germanic religions. Pope Gregory 1 decided to convert the Anglo-Saxon population to Christianity. In 597 A.D. there was sent a mission of 41 monks under the leadership of the monk Augustine. By 700 A.D., all England was Christian. The Pope became a head of the Church. They built many monasteries in England and those monasteries became centers of religion and culture.  The Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the members of the Council and they ruled with the advice of the councilors, the great men of the kingdom. In time, it became the custom to elect a member of the royal family, and the power of the king grew parallel to the size and the strength of his kingdom. In return for the support of his subjects, - who gave him free labour and military service, paid taxes and duties – the King gave them his protection and granted lands.

The language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons at the time of their migration to Britain was probably more or less uniform. Over time, however, Old English developed into four major dialects: Northumbrian, spoken north of the river Humber; Mercian, spoken in the midlands; Kentish, spoken in Kent (in the far southeastern part of the island); and West Saxon, spoken in the southwest.All of these dialects have direct descendants in modern England, and American regional dialects also have their roots in the dialects of Old English. “Standard” Modern English (if there is such a thing), or at least Modern English spelling, owes most to the Mercian dialect, since that was the dialect of London.Most Old English literature is not in the Mercian dialect, however, but in West-Saxon, for from the time of King Alfred (reigned 871-899) until the Conquest Wessex dominated the rest of Anglo-Saxon England politically and culturally. Nearly all Old English poetry is in West Saxon, though it often contains spellings and vocabulary more typical of Mercian and Northumbrian—a fact that has led some scholars to speculate that much of the poetry was first composed in Mercian or Northumbian and later “translated” into West Saxon. Whatever the truth of the matter, West Saxon was the dominant language during the period in which most of our surviving literature was recorded. It is therefore the dialect that this book will teach you.