Christian Writers

• Bede
  • First great scholar
  • Known as “the father of our English Learning”
  • Works:
    • a) Ecclesiastical History of the English People
    • b) Written in Latin in about 731 AD
    • Prose history with quoted poems
    • It talks about the history of developing Christianity in England
    • Divided in 5 books
    • Describes the political and ecclesiastical condition of England from Julius Caesar to 731AD
    • The life of the Christian Poet, Caedmon has been described here
• Caedmon (657AD- 684AD)
• First English Poet
• Known as ‘Anglo-Saxon Milton’
• He was a Northumbrian
• He was a cowherd boy ignorant of the art of song but learned to compose after a divine dream vision
• This vision has been described by Bede in his work “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”
• Works:
  • a) Paraphrase
  • b) Judith
• Cynewulf
  • Greatest among the Anglo-Saxon poets
  • Only poet to sign his works (4 signed works)
  • Works:
    • a) Juliana
    • b) Elene
    • c) Christ
    • d) The Fates of the Apostles
    • e) The Dream of the Rood

Viking Invasions

• Major Viking invasion happened in 867AD
• Viking is came to mean as Scandinavian pirates
• They are also called as ‘Danes’, ‘Northmen’, ‘Heathens’ etc
• Northumbrian Literature perished because of them
• It was King Alfred who fought several years against Viking invasions
• In the Battle of Edington in 878AD, King Alfred won a great victory
• Danelaw was established
• In 886 a treaty happened between King Alfred and Viking leader Guthrum
• This treaty defined their boundaries for a peaceful relation and settlement
• Viking leader Guthrum converted to Christianity
• With the emergence of Anglo-Norse dialects, the language spoken in England was affecte.