Alfred the Great's most important contribution to Old English prose literature Content

2. Monuments of Old English writing
The most ancient Germanic inscriptions (starting from the 3rd century AD) used a runic alphabet consisting of 24 characters containing only vertical and oblique lines. This is due to the fact that these signs were carved on stone, wood or metal. The most widely used runes among the Scandinavians. The origin of this alphabet has not been clarified, although it is generally believed that it is one of the southern European alphabets in a highly modified form.

Only two Old English monuments of runic writing have been found. This is an inscription on a stone cross near the village of Rootwell in southwestern Scotland ( the Ruthwell cross ). The text of the inscription is a poem of religious content. The second runic monument is a whalebone box found in France. The box is decorated with carvings depicting scenes from ancient Germanic and Roman mythology, and bordered with an inscription about legendary creatures. Christian missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet to England. Several runic signs were added to it; so, to convey the sounds / θ / and /ð/, the runic sign Þ, the so-called thorn , was used ; the same sounds were transmitted by the letter. Monuments of writing are divided into prosaic and poetic.⁷

Wessex dialect. "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". It exists in the form of a series of parallel chronicles, starting from the 7th century. The most important is the so-called "Parker Chronicle", which was conducted until the end of the 9th century. ( 891 г.) in the Wessex dialect. Monk chroniclers, whose names remain unknown, usually wrote without pretensions to artistic processing of the text; probably the language of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" is close to the spoken language of that time. By the 9th century include translations made by King Alfred: 1) “C ur a Pastoralis ” (“Care of the Shepherd”) - a work of Pope Gregory I , who lived in the VI century. The translation is preceded by a preface written by Alfred; 2) "World History" by the Spanish monk Orosius ( VB .) 3) "Consolation of Philosophy" by the Roman Christian philosopher Boethius ( 5th - 6th centuries). By the X century. include the writings of Abbot Elfric (sermons, translation of The Art of Grammar, etc.); by the 11th century - Wulfstan's sermons.
Mercian. Translation of the psalter ( IX century), glosses ( VIII century) and church hymns.
Northumbrian dialect. The two runic inscriptions described above; the translation of the gospel, the anthem of the monk Kadmon and the so-called “Death Song of Beda” are written in the Latin alphabet. Priest Beda the Venerable was one of the most educated people in Europe at that time. He wrote an Ecclesiastical History of the English People ( Historia Ecclesiastica Gent is Anglorum ") in Latin in the first half of the 8th century. ( 731 г.); in the ninth century it was translated into Old English by translators of King Alfred's school.⁸
Kentish. Translation of psalms and legal documents (wills, bills of sale).
The most significant surviving work of Anglo-Saxon poetry is the poem "Beowulf" ( Beowulf ). This is a work of a heroic epic that has come down to us in manuscript (about 3000 verses) from the end of the 10th century. Like many other folk songs and tales, this poem has long been in the oral tradition. It goes back to the time when the Angles, Saxons and Jutes still lived on the Continent. It reflects the rites, customs and beliefs of the ancient Germans of the pre-Christian era, but later episodes created under the influence of the Christian religion also entered the fabric of the main narrative.
The plot of this largest of the Anglo-Saxon epics is simple. Beowulf, a young knight from the people of the Gauts, having learned about the disaster that has befallen the king of the Danes Higelak - about the attacks of the monster Grendel on his palace Heorot and about the gradual extermination of the king's warriors over the course of twelve years, goes overseas to destroy Grendel. Having defeated him, he then kills in a new single combat, this time in an underwater dwelling, another monster - Grendel's mother, who tried to celebrate her son's death. Showered with awards and thanks, Beowulf returns to his homeland. Here he performs new feats, and later becomes the king of the Gauts and safely rules the country for fifty years. After this period, Beowulf enters into battle with the dragon, which devastates the surroundings, being angry at the attempt on the ancient treasure he guards. Beowulf manages to defeat this monster as well, but at the cost of his own life. The song ends with the scene of the solemn burning of the hero's body on the funeral pyre and the construction of a mound over his ashes and the treasure he conquered.⁹
In addition to Beowulf, examples of lyrical Anglo-Saxon poetry have survived. These are small poems "Laments of the wife" ( The Wife 's _ Lament ), "Message of the spouse" ( The Husbund 's _ Message ), "Wanderer" ( The Wanderer ) and others. The poems are interesting and significant by the strength of the feelings conveyed in them, by the richness of emotions and experiences. In these works, vivid pictures of the harsh northern nature, the raging sea, and the dark forest are created. Since the end of the 6th century, in connection with the spread of Catholicism, Christian church literature in Latin has been developing in England. The activities of such representatives of Christian religious poetry in the Anglo-Saxon language as Caedmon ( Caedmon , 7th century) and Cynewulf ( Cynewulf , 8th - early 9th century) were associated with monasteries.