English literature the book is designed to acquaint students with the main outlines

(673-735;

The Venerable Bede is considered the father of English history, as he was the author of the most important history of early England. During his lifetime he was the most learned scholar in all of Western Europe. He was bom in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in 673. He was orphaned when he was only seven and his relatives put him under the supervision of monks, at W'earmouth Abbey.

Two years later, in 682, he was sent to the newly built abbey of Jarrow, where he was to spend the rest of his life.
From boyhood Bede studied in the library of Jarrow. Then in 703, the year of the ordination to the priesthood, Bede began to write. During 28 years he completed forty books: commentaries on the Bible; lives of abbots, martyrs, and saints; books on philosophy and poetry.
Bede’s masterpiece, completed in 731, when he was 51 years old, is his “The Ecclesiastical History of the English Race”, which describes the growth of the Christian church in England from the attack of Julius Caesar in 55 BC to Bede’s own days. Although Bede was Anglo-Saxon, he wrote the work in Latin, the language he spoke and wrote. Late in the ninth century, scholars at the court of King Alfred translated it into Anglo-Saxon. “The Ecclesiastical History of the English Race” seemed to them one of the central works of their culture, worthy of reproduction into a language more people could read.

Alfred the G reat (849 - 901)

The beginning of the 9th century was a troubled time for England. Danish pirates, called Northmen kept coming from overseas for plunder. Each year their number increased. When Alfred was made king iri 871, England’s danger was the greatest. Nevertheless, in a great battle fought by Alfred at Maldon in 891, tiie Northmen were defeated, and Alfred decided to make peace with them. The greater portion of England was given up to the newcomers. The only part of the kingdom left in possession of Alfred was Wessex.

Alfred was a Latin scholar. He is famous not only for having built the first navy, but for trying to enlighten his people. He drew up a code of laws and translated the Church-history of Bede from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, the native language of his people, and a part ofthe Bible as well. He created the first history of England, the first prose in English literature, the famous “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”.
The literature of the early Middle Ages and the church taught that man was an evil being and his life on earth was a sinful life. As man was subordinated to God he had to prepare himself for the after-life by subduing his passions and disregarding all earthly cares.


Questions and Tasks

1. 
   What places became the centers of learning in England in the 7lh- l l lh centuries?
   
2. 
   What was the main plot of the literary works of that time?
   
3. 
   What can you tell about the literary activity of Caedman?
   
4. 
   What are Cynewulf’s works notable for?
   
5. 
   Who was the greatest writer of the 7,h-8’h centuries in England?