Evolution of the English language, culture and society

Mención en Lengua Extranjera Curso 2023 - 2024

Evolution of the English language, culture and society

Eduardo González Fernández

Index

Until 450

450 - 1066

1066 - 1450

1750 - 2023

1450 - 1750

Middle English

Early Modern English

Modern English

Old English

Early History

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

Early History

The early history of Britain, from 750 B.C. until 409 A.D., was marked by significant cultural, political, and social developments. It started with the first findings of the Iron Age and ended with the last years of presence of the Romans in the territory and the arrival of some Germanic tribes.

End of Roman period

Beginning of Iron Age

Early History

Around the year 750 B.C., iron and all the technology behind it came from continental Europe to the isles, marking the start of a new period: The Iron Age. Iron was way stronger and, especially, more abundant than bronze, so it was a revolution for many aspects of the life of the inhabitants. The most important use was for sure for agriculture, since it let them work at a greater speed than the bronze tools.

Early History

The Celtic Britons lived in highly organised tribal groups ruled by a leader. Their society was divided into an upper class (warriors) and a lower class (slaves and workers), although they were not considered a warlike culture. Their religion was the Paganism and their priests were the druids. According to some accounts, druids used to worship in oak groves and perform sacrifices.

Early History

One of the languages that they spoke was the Common Brittonic (also known as Brythonic), a language whose origins were Indo-European. In the future, this language evolved and formed what we know now as Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric and Breton. Another parts of the isles spoke Gaelic (which is coloured in green in the map) and Pictish (coloured in blue). The Gaelic is now spoken in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man (that little island that is between the big ones). The Pictish language ended up disappearing and it's only maintained in some geographic names.

Early History

In the years 55–54 B.C., the Romans of Julius Caesar's period reached Britain for the first time. They tried to conquer the islands, but due to guerrilla opposition and unfavorable weather, his attempt was unsuccessful. Nearly a century later, in 43 A.D., Emperor Claudius initiated a large-scale invasion, marking the beginning of Britain's Roman period. As the Celtic Britons were not a warlike culture and of course were not used to fighting, they were easier to conquer by the Romans.

Early History

The Romans conquered the Britons very easily, but that did not prevent them from encountering some difficulties and challenges like for example the rebellion of Queen Boudica (whose husband was killed and daughter raped). Boudica is now remembered as one of the greatest Britain's heroines and even has a commemorative statue in the centre of London.

Early History

The Romans remained in Britain for close to 400 years. Although they faced rebellions in some regions, they established cities, villas and a network of roads that can still be seen today in some areas. They also imported the language, the religion and the culture. One of the main achievements took place in 122 A.D., when Emperor Hadrian, during his visit to Britain, commanded the construction of a wall on the Scottish Border.

Old English

The Old English period began when three Germanic tribes came to the British Isles. These tribes were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes (that's probably why we still refer to the English-speaking countries as Anglo-Saxons nowadays).

Old English

The Anglo-Saxons were warrior farmers. They came to Britain invited by King Vortigern to help him fight with the enemies of the North. Instead, they decided to stay in the territory and invade it, treasoning the king.

Old English

The language that Anglo-Saxons had was what we call Old English. It was very different from what the Britons had been speaking until this moment. At the same time, it was a hard language to learn for them for some reasons:

• The first one was the existence of inflections (the place where you use a word within a sentence can change the meaning of the whole sentence).
• The second one was that they had an specific alphabet made of runes called futhorc. The word "futhorc", as it happens with the word "alphabet" (α β), comes from the sound of its first six letters (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ).

Old English

The Anglo-Saxon’s language was considered as a pagan language, and it was so different from the Latin that Romans used. But in 596, Pope Gregory sent Augustine of Canterbury to the island with the intention of changing the pagan customs of the king Aethelbertand. This movement was was called “The Gregorian Mission”.

The "mission" was completed successfully and Augustine automatically became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, which made him also the head of the Catholic Church in the territory.

Old English

Although the Christian religion has nothing to do with the pagan customs, for the christianisation of the people from the villages they had to use runes, since they didn’t know any Latin (Latin was only for the cultured classes). This ended up being a mixture of religion, language, culture, poetry and literary works, myths, etc. In the end, there was a merging of cultures: the legacy of the Romans, the remains of Celtic Briton’s culture and also the Anglo-Saxon culture converted to Christianity thanks to Pope Gregory.

Old English

Beowulf was written during this period. It's one of the most important epic poems in the world and a good representation of what Old English was at the moment.

Old English

In Old English narrations, as well as in most of the later English literature works, reality is constantly mixed with fantasy (in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they even wrote about dragons flying across the firmament as something that was supposedly true). This is a fairly common trend in Anglo-Saxon countries. If we compare the literary creations of these countries with those of Spain (both in ancient times and today), we can see that in our country there is a tendency more towards realism, while in those countries more is written about fantastic elements. In part, this explains why most of the products from Anglo-Saxon countries that are currently successful are related in some way to fantasy (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead...), while the Spanish ones are much more realistic (Money Heist, Elite, Cuéntame, Paquita Salas...).

Old English

Around the year 800, sporadic Viking raids took place. They even got their own kingdom in the North of England. They usually tend to attack churches and monateries due to the riches that were inside (and the lack of defense capacity, of course). They also trade with slaves. It is believed that one of those slaves was Saint Patrick, which now is the primary patron saint of Ireland.

Old English

The Vikings spoke Old Norse, which is the ancestor of the Scandinavian languages (Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish). Old Norse was also an influence on English at that time, mostly on vocabulary. Words like sky, law, bag and hit come from Old Norse.

Middle English

In 1066, King William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings. This marked the beginning of a new era: the era of Middle English. This era lasted until 1750 aproximately. Whis the invasion of the Normans, it also started one of the most important periods in history: the Medieval era.

One of the consequences of the beginning of the Medieval era was the development of large buildings in Britain. Before the Normans arrived, settlements were made of fragile elements such as clay or wood. However, since the arrival of the Normans, stone castles and enormous cathedrals began to be built, which even today remain as true architectural symbols of Great Britain.

Middle English

As King William's language was French, when he took over Britain, he tried to impose French as the official language of the territory. Although French was effectively used among the elites, Latin was still being used among the clergy and Old English did not stop being the language of most of the population. This led to various contacts between three different languages in the same territory, which explains why the roots of Modern English are so complex.

Middle English

In this period, one of the most famous accounts of English Literature and Britain's national mythology were born: The Arthurian Legends. These stories had to do with King Arthur, who may have been based on a real person from history or not, although the legends themselves are more mythical than historical. They blend Celtic mythology with medieval romance and include elements such as the magic sword Excalibur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the search for the Holy Grail. Arthur's court is called Camelot, and it is commonly idealised as a perfect society with a wise king.

Many films and other audiovisual products have been made about these legends. Some of the most famous are Disney's "The Sword in the Stone", Jerry Zucker's "First Knight" and the most recent one, Guy Ritchie's "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword".

Middle English

During the Middle English period, some bestiaries appeared. The bestiaries were books that described different animals and beasts. The descriptions were sometimes mixed with paranormal or fantastic stories that often came with an implicit or explicit moral lesson.

They were an effective way to teach morals and Christianise the population; a population that in most cases didn't know how to read or write. The most popular ones are The Aberdeen Bestiary and The Rochester Bestiary.

Middle English

The rise of English as the main language in Britain occurred as a result of the loss of a war. The ruling dynasty, given their French background, decided that it was a good idea to try to conquer some French territories, as they thought they had the right to do so. The result was a war with their French relatives that lasted more than a hundred years and which they lost.

After the loss of the war, the British Kings decided to take a step back regarding the use of French in their territory and encouraged the use of the English language in every single aspect of life (including law and justice institutions and so forth). It took many years to left French behind.

Joan of Arc was a very important figure in this war, since she raised the morale of the troops by refering to some "visions of God" that she had and, therefore, contributed to a revival of the French spirit.

Middle English

William Caxton was the first person to introduce the printing press in Britain, after having observed the printing industry in Cologne (Germany). This was a very important movement for the success of English language, since having more books available to read could lead to an increase in literacy in the general population.

It is said that the first printed book was Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales". The narrative is framed in the context of a pilgrimage in which various stories are told that deal with romances, religious legends, fables, sermons, tales about beasts, etc. The great success of this account meant that the English dialect used in it was taken as a reference. That is the exact moment when the English language began to have a norm.

Early Modern English

Influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, the British Renaissance began in the late 15th century and produced great works of literature, art, and science; William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Sir Thomas More, Sir Philip Sidney, John Milton, and Francis Bacon are some of the most important figures of this period.

In 1485, Henry Tudor won the Battle of Bosworth against Richard III, becoming the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The House of Tudor will be ruling Britain for more than 100 years, until the death of the last Tudor, Elizabeth I, in 1603.

vs.

House of Lancaster

House of Tudor

Early Modern English

Elizabeth I ruled England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603 as the last Tudor. She was a successful and beloved queen who made the Church of England a middle way between Catholicism and Protestantism. She fought off external enemies, especially Spain, and supported exploration, trade, and culture.

She was the Virgin Queen who never married and left the throne to her cousin James VI of Scotland, who merged England and Scotland.

Early Modern English

During the Tudor dynasty, the relations with the Church were unstable and tense, since each of them had a different opinion regards the religion "movement" that Britain should follow.

Early Modern English

Britain wanted to colonise America in the 16th and 17th centuries to compete with Spain and to find new resources and markets. Queen Elizabeth I gave permission to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh to establish colonies in America. Raleigh named the land "Virginia" after the Virgin Queen. The first lasting English settlement was Jamestown, founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company.

The Pilgrims, who wanted religious freedom and self-government, founded the second lasting colony at Plymouth in 1620. The 13 colonies were founded by different groups for different reasons. They developed their own systems and eventually fought against Britain in the American Revolution.

Early Modern English

William Shakespeare is considered the most important representative of Early Modern English. Like Chaucer, his writings were so popular and widespread that his writing was considered again the norm.

He changed drama. He made realistic and human-like characters and his works are still popular and influential today.

Early Modern English

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, was created in 1660, as the national academy of sciences of the UK and the Commonwealth. It supported science and its advantages. One of the presidents was Sir Isaac Newton, who led the society from 1703 to 1727. The society also had a big impact on the language, as many scientific words and terms were created by its members in English.

Modern English

Samuel Johnson's dictionary was the first to include illustrative quotations, providing real-life examples of word usage. This feature made the dictionary more comprehensive and useful for understanding the meanings of words in context. He influenced the development of English lexicography.

Around this time, English masterpieces like Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" or Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" were published.

Modern English

The American Revolution was the rebellion of 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies against British rule, leading to the creation of the United States of America. The rebellion was triggered by the colonists’ opposition to taxation and political interference from London, and was inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment and other revolutions. The rebellion involved several European powers, such as France, Spain, and the Netherlands, who sided with the colonists against Britain.

The rebellion ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which acknowledged the independence of the United States of America and its borders. The rebellion also had important effects for Britain, such as the loss of its most populous and profitable colonies, the increase of its national debt, and the emergence of new political and social movements.

Modern English

The Industrial Revolution was a period of fast economic and social change, led by the development of new technologies, energy sources, and factory systems, introducing steam engines, which transformed agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and living standards, and made Britain the world’s first industrialised nation.

This also came with a counterpart: the rich benefited more from the new technologies and trade opportunities, while the poor faced difficult working and living conditions in the factories and cities. The gap between the capitalists on one side, and the unskilled labourers on the other, widened. It also brought the rise of middle class and was the starting point of the "addiction" to shopping that paved the way for modern capitalism.

Modern English

Romanticism was a late 18th and early 19th century movement in Europe that challenged the Enlightenment and the neoclassical era by celebrating the individual, the imagination, the emotions, the sublime, the exotic, and the visionary in diverse literary, artistic, and philosophical works, influenced by the revolutions in America and France, the Industrial Revolution, and the social and political changes of the time.

Modern English

The Victorian period was a time of big changes in all areas of the society, heavily influenced by the Industrial Revolution, the consolidation as an Empire, and the rise of the middle class. A great improvement in railway systems and a very important population growth were also key events of this time span.

Queen Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch. She gave another meaning to the monarchy by "increasing" its democratic power, promoting social reforms, and expanding the empire. She also set an example of moral and family values, and influenced the culture and fashion of the Victorian era. This was in part because of the invention of photography (she had to behave properly because she could get "photographed and published".

Modern English

Two of the many good examples of the literature movement during the Victorian period (Realism) were Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde.

Charles Dickens was a British novelist, who wrote realistic and popular works, such as "Oliver Twist", "A Christmas Carol", and "Great Expectations", that reflected the very difficult social and economic conditions of the Victorian era. He was influenced by his childhood experiences of poverty.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and dramatist, who wrote "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". He was a spokesman for aestheticism, a movement that valued beauty over morality.

Modern English

The Modernism began in the late 19th century and lasted until the mid 20th century. It was a literary movement that rejected the traditional modes and values of art and society, specially influenced by the big events and changes of the time, such as the World War I, the Industrial Revolution, the mass literacy, the psychoanalysis, and the new media.

The Modernist writers experimented with new forms and techniques, such as the stream of consciousness, to express the sense of alienation, fragmentation, and loss of faith that marked the modern condition.

Modern English

During Modernism, the literature had several stages, from experimentation, to social realism and postcolonialism. George Orwell, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce are three of the main authors of this literary period.

George Orwell was a British writer and journalist, who exposed the injustices and totalitarianism of his time in novels such as "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Virginia Woolf was a British novelist and critic, who pioneered the use of "stream of consciousness" and explored the themes of feminism, psychology, and art in works such as "Mrs Dalloway", "To the Lighthouse", and "A Room of One’s Own". James Joyce was an Irish writer and innovator, who revolutionised the form and language of fiction in works such as "Dubliners", "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", "Ulysses", and "Finnegans Wake".

This is the only recording that remains of Virginia Woolf.

Modern English

The concept of WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) emerged as a way of defining the identity and supremacy of the British people over other races and cultures. The English have historically believed that they were the chosen people of God and that they had a divine right and duty to spread their civilisation and religion to the rest of the world.

This belief justified their violent and oppressive invasion of other lands, but also their cultural domination through the imposition of their language, customs, religion, industry, trade, and values. The colonised peoples were often seen as inferior, savage, and in need of "enlightenment" by the British colonisers. For this reason, in many of their artistic works they often work with actors and actresses who do not belong to the original race (and sometimes not even the age) of the real protagonists of the story being told.

Modern English

But the colonisation of other civilisations has not only taken place physically. One of the reasons English has remained the lingua franca throughout the world over the years has been the ability of the United States to have cultural and economic hegemony. Through influence in strategic geopolitical sectors and the impact of Hollywood on the cultural industry, they have been able to maintain their position as the world's leading power.

Their influence has been such that they have even been able to change the narrative of real historical events whose development, should have no room for doubt. A good example of this can be found in the perception over time that French citizens have had over the years of which country had the greatest influence on the defeat of Germany during the Second World War, clearly influenced by the Hollywood narrative.

Modern English

Fortunately, things are now changing. Although the predominant cultural framework is still that of the United States (and that is far from changing, even though it is likely to cease to be the world's leading power in the coming decades), American culture itself is being influenced by many other cultures that enrich it, as happened in the beginning when Germanic tribes mixed with Celtic culture.

With the rise of cross-cultural communication through social media and the internet, and the emergence of global cultural content creation platforms such as Netflix, the hegemonic framework is changing and giving way to showcasing many other realities and cultures. So, although English is still the lingua franca of the world and will remain so in the future, its culture is no longer just "American" because it has been influenced by that of other countries. And, hopefully in the future the single and hegemonic view of those that still advocate for the survival of the WASP mentality will become just a memory.

References

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References

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References

• Oxford University Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Settlers: Genetics, geography, and the peopling of Britain. http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/settlers
• Traynor, K. (2018). Sir James Douglas. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/8950/sir-james-douglas
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• Wikipedia. (n.d.). Futhorc. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futhorc

Sir James Douglas

In the illustration you can see Sir James Douglas ("Black Douglas"), a Scottish knight who fought for Scotland's independence from England, along with his battle companions Robert Bruce and William Wallace (the latter is the protagonist of the famous film of 1995 starring Mel Gibson, "Braveheart").

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/8950/sir-james-douglas