Timeline (made by Cano Sanchez Lizbeth Jaqueline, Chan Cámara Alejandría, Escalante Salvatierra Yency Nathaly, Iuit Euan Luis Angel)

Old English

Period: 500 to 1100

Old English literature consists of poetry, prose, charms, riddles, maxims, proverbs, and various other wisdom sayings. It is a mixture of pagan traditions, loyalty to the lord, desperate courage in defeat, noble and heroic deeds, thoughts about life, the universe and nature, as well as Christian thought andmoral values. Old English poetry included long epic heroic poems. Lament and melancholy are frequently present in describing man's struggles, life's difficulties, and the passage of time.

The Anglosaxos accept Christianity

597

St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory to convert Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, introducing new religious words borrowed from Latin and Greek. Latin speakers begin referring to the country as Anglia and later as Englaland.

7th century - Caedmon

601

Father of Anglo.saxon poetry. First Old English Christian poet, whose fragmentary hymn to the creation remains a symbol of the adaptation of the aristocratic-heroic Anglo-Saxon verse tradition to the expression of Christian themes ("Exodus", "Daniel", "Hymn of creation").

The Vickings

701

The Vickings invaded Britain, easily overcame the local inhabitants and plundered their States

Late 9th century - Alfred the Great

801

Alfred the Great leaded the Anglo-Saxons to victory over the Vikings, translated Latin works into English and established the writing of prose in English. The first translated works included "The pastor's book" "Baede's church history". He used the English language to foster a sense of national identity.

9th century - Cynewulf

801

Wrote about historical events connected to Christianity. His work is clear ans technically elegant. Cynewulf is recognized as the second Anglo-Saxon poet to write Old English Christian verse.

9th century - Ælfric & Wulfstan

801

Ælfric was an abbot and a second-generation reformer who wrote a Latin grammar and many other works of prose. He continued King Alfred's idea that that fundamentals of theological and ethical training should be available in the vernacular. Wulfstan, Archbishop of York is another important writer of the period. His Instituts of Polity and Civil and Ecclestial describe the structure of society and social groups; he attempted to lay the ethical foundations of society

Old English Drama

801

The origin of drama goes back to brief scenes that monks acted out inchurches to illustrate Bible stories. These later developed into full-length plays.Sources of drama were primarily Catholic traditions and ceremonies thatwere gradually becoming more worldly.
Folk plays based onancient natureculls and pagan traditions; and classic Greek and Latin drama which were preserved throughout the Dark Ages.
Easter and Christmas ceremonies developed intomajor dramas in the 9th and 10th centuries

10th century - Beowulf

901

Approximate date of the only surviving manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, composed by an anonymous poet. Its main topic is the conflict between Good and Evil - Christian and pagan ideas. Beowulf shows characteristics of an epic hero; noble, strenght and courage, honor and glory, admired for great achievements and affected by grand events.

The Battle of Maldon

991

There was an heroic stand by the Anglo-Saxons against the Vicking invasion which ended in utter defeat for Byrhtnoth and his men. The batttle's progress in related in a famous Anglo-saxon poem. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost.

Battle of Hastings

1066

The Norman Invasion: King Harold is killed at the Battle of Hastings, and William of Normandy is crowned King of England. Over succeeding decades, Norman French becomes the language of the courts and of the upper classes; English remains the language of the majority. Latin is used in churches and schools. For the next century, English, for all practical purposes, is no longer a written language.

Middle English

Period: 1100 to 1500

Characterised by: a growing audience, a panorama of most diverse folk of many social classes (castle,barnyard, town); the appearance of leasure class and an audience of women.
New type of secular entertainment: code continued but became chivalric, related to the knights who fought in the middle ages.

14th century

1301

The Hundred Years War between England and France leads to the loss of almost all of England's French possessions. English becomes the official language of the law courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction at most schools.
In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English.

The Canterbury Tales

1387

Written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. Comprised of 24 tales related to a number of literary genres and touching on subjects ranging from fate to God’s will to love, marriage, pride, and death.
The Canterbury Tales was written during a turbulent time in English history. The Catholic Church was in the midst of the Western Schism and, although it was still the only Christian authority in Western Europe, it was the subject of heavy controversy.

Le Morte d'Arthur

1485

Originally spelled Le Morte Darthur, ungrammatical Middle French for "The Death of Arthur" is a Middle English prose by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table—along with their respective folklore. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death. Today, this is one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature.