We must keep in mind that the terms Old English, Middle English and Modern English are modern terms. In these days, the Britons would say that they spoke English as there is not a major turning point in the language. The changes in the language were made gradually over the years.
Old English
The English spoken in the period between the invasion of the Angles and the Saxons (Adventus Saxonum) and the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD is generally referred to as Old English.
The Anglo-Saxon invasion
Britain used to be inhabited in the north by Scots and Picts and in the south by various groups which were under Roman rule. In the early 50th century AD, the Roman Empire withdrawn from Britain as Gaul, now known as France, was being taken over by Germanic speaking tribes. The Britons, still celtic speaking but Romanised in their behaviour as well as in their attitude, had now to take care of their own.
As the Romans were not able to protect the Britons anymore, the Britons found themselves in a weak position. This weak position was taken advantage of by the Germanic tribes as they started attacking the British Isles. Those Germanic tribes have probably come from the area’s now known as Denmark and the north-east of Germany. The people were called the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The Germanic raiders were not the only enemy the Britons had to face, in the north they were facing hostile Scots and Picts. To have some sort of protection, the Britons engaged the Germanic mercenaries.
The Germanic nations succeeded quickly in defeating the Picts and the Scots. Not much later they allied with the Picts and started to conquer territory that is know known as England. This conquest took more than a century. The Anglo-Saxons considered themselves as warriors and their pride were the areas they conquered.
What is remarkable of the Anglo-Saxon culture is that there was an abundance of literature. Many works were on Christian themes as in the late sixth and seventh century the Anglo-Saxon territories reformed to Christianity. In the late seventh and eighth century two acknowledged authors existed: Aldhelm and the Venerable Bede. Aldhelms most important work was De Virginate (On Virginity). He made this work twice, once in prose and once in verse. Bede wrote biblical commentaries, textbooks on orthography, nature and time and he wrote Historia Ecclesiastica.
Many authors in the seventh- and eighth-century wrote in Latin, the Anglo-Saxon authors as well. However the Anglo-Saxons created a relatively large amount of literature in vernacular language at a time when not much was written down in other European Languages. The poem Beowulf is from this period.
A literary project had arised which contained the focus of activity switch from Latin to English. The Old English written work reflected the way the pronounced the words very closely.
The Viking Invasion
Late eighth century Vikings raids in England started. They came from what is now known as Denmark and Norway. They spoke Old Norse. This language was very similar to Old English. In 865-9 the Vikings conquered some Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in East Anglia. However, the Anglo Saxons fought back and eventually the Vikings retreated and settled in Northumbria and East Anglia. Their new appropriated land was called the Danelaw. In the Danelaw, Old English and Old Norse merged together what would shape the main characters of future English.
The language started changing. In the Danelaw, the Vikings and the Britons strove to communicate with each other. Their languages had a lot of similarities, for example the grammatical inflexions, the ending of words. For example the words ‘worm’ or ‘serpent’. When used as object in sentences the word in Old Norse was ‘orminn’ and in English is was ‘wrymm’. As the two languages molded together, those inflexions eventually disappeared.
The Norman invasion
The literary transformation lasted for more than 200 years, until it came to a sudden stop due to the Norman Conquest of 1066 and its aftermath. The Anglo-Saxon territories were over run by the Norman French, descendants from the Vikings. They were lead by William the Conqueror. Not only did the Normans appropriated the Anglo-Saxon lands, they massacred whole Northumbria areas. Those who fled ended up in the Scottish lowlands. Their language mixed with the native language and eventually became the basis of the lowland Scottish tongue.
The king of Scotland had peaceful relations with the Normans which granted him land. He was given english speaking servants, whose language had been strongly influenced by Norse. As this English which was influenced by the Norse and the local language mixed, ‘Inglis’, later know as ‘Scottis’ developed. Today the Scottish language is very similar to Old English. The pronunciation of Scottish and English developed in different directions, as Scottish has some words deduced from Old Norse and English has words deduced from Anglo-Saxon dialects.
In England, in the south, France had started a war against England which would last about 100 years. After those years, the political and the personal links between the two countries had vanished. The language spoken by higher classes and the government became Norman French. English became the speech of the peasants. The interaction between Old English, Old Norse and Norman French resulted in new pronunciations and grammar. A new language evolved, more suitable to write down.
Beowulf
Beowulf clearly draw on earlier oral tradition. The contribution of the scribes to the work is unclear.
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