What is the significance of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and its manuscripts?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the significance of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and its manuscripts, exploring its historical context, linguistic importance, and the evolution of the English language from Old English to Middle English. Participants also touch on the digitization of Middle English texts and the implications for historical linguistics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express excitement about the digitization of Middle English texts and its potential impact on accessibility.
  • There is a question about the definition of "Middle English," with some participants noting it as an intermediary stage between Old English and Modern English.
  • One participant provides a detailed historical account of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, including its origins, manuscript copies, and the biases present in its accounts.
  • Another participant highlights the significance of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a crucial historical source for the period between the Roman departure and the Norman Conquest.
  • Some contributions discuss the linguistic evolution of English, particularly how the Norman Conquest influenced the vocabulary and structure of the language.
  • Participants mention the diversity of Middle English manuscripts and the implications for understanding regional dialects and scribal practices.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the importance of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a historical source, but there are multiple competing views regarding its biases and the implications of its manuscript variations. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the extent of its influence on the English language.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the varying historical value of the surviving manuscripts and the potential biases in the Chronicle's accounts, which may affect interpretations of the events described.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in historical linguistics, medieval history, the evolution of the English language, and the significance of primary historical sources may find this discussion valuable.

wolram
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923140838.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2008) — After several years of detective work, philologists at the University of Stavanger in Norway have collected a unique collection of texts online. Now they're about to start the most comprehensive analysis of middle English ever.

This is so cool, i can not understand why it was not done years ago.
 
Science news on Phys.org
It will be wonderful to have more texts digitized and hopefully made available online. I have been interested in Middle English since my early teens.
 
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is "middle English"? Is it the talked English, the one one generally uses in everyday life? (Not the one used in litterature I mean).
 
fluidistic said:
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is "middle English"? Is it the talked English, the one one generally uses in everyday life? (Not the one used in litterature I mean).

It's an intermediary stage between proto English and modern English.
 
It's an intermediary stage between proto English and modern English.
Thanks for pointing this out.
 
942 years ago today -
On 28 September 1066 William, after being delayed by a storm in the English Channel, asserted his claim to the English crown by military force, landing unopposed at a marshy, tidal inlet at Bulverhythe, between what are now the modern towns of Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings#Background

and some consequences -

The French-speaking Normans eventually defeated Old English-speaking Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066 — which had a larger and more pronounced effect on the development of the English language than any other event in history. Within the course of a few centuries, English went from being a strictly Germanic language to one infused with a large Latinate vocabulary, which came via French.

The English adapted from their French-speaking Norman invaders many words surrounding elements of war. We send to far away lands, for example, our soldiers, a word that came to us in Middle English from the Old French word soldier from soulde, the Latin word for a "gold coin of the Roman Empire."

Our soldiers are sent off in battalions to do battle, from Old French bataille, based on late Latin battualia describing "military or gladiatorial exercises" — from the Latin root verb "to beat."

In the course of the war, sometimes a sergeant (Old French, sergent) or commander calls for a siege, based on the Old French sege — from asegier, a verb that means "to besiege." Originally, in Middle English, besiege meant to "sit down in front of."

The Old French verb armer means "to supply with weapons" and is the basis of our army, as well as armor and armory. Navy also came into Middle English from Old French, from the Latin word for ship, navis, which also forms the root of navigation.

A traitor is a person guilty of treason, both from Anglo-Norman French treisoun, meaning "handing over."

The word war itself is distinctly Anglo-Norman. The late Old English word werre, which evolved to modern English war, is from an Anglo-Norman French variant of the Old (and Modern) French word guerre.

Werre (Old English war) also shares a Germanic base with the word "worse." The old Germanic werra indicated "confusion, discord." (Modern German developed a different word entirely for war, krieg.) Middle English warrior is from Old Northern French werreior, a variation of guerreior, "to make war."

A war can end after defeat or retreat (Old French retraiter, "to pull back") or after a treaty (Old French traite), and this might lead to everlasting peace, which came to English from Latin pax via the French word pais.
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2008/09/26


A little more background - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethelred_the_Unready#Marriages_and_issue
(Ethelred II (c. 968 – April 23, 1016), Aethelred the Unready) - Ethelred's second marriage was to "Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, duke of Normandy. Emma's grandnephew, William I of England, would later use this relationship as the basis of his claim on the throne."

http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=person&id=EthelredtheUnready
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=978-1016


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English
Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and about 1470, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the 1470s, and slightly later by Richard Pynson. By this time the Northumbrian dialect (prevalent in Northern England) spoken in south east Scotland was developing into the Scots language. The language of England as spoken after this time, up to 1650, is known as Early Modern English.

Unlike Old English, which tended largely to adopt Late West Saxon scribal conventions in the immediate pre-Conquest period, Middle English as a written language displays a wide variety of scribal (and presumably dialectal) forms. However, the diversity of forms in written Middle English signifies neither greater variety of spoken forms of English than could be found in pre-Conquest England, nor a faithful representation of contemporary spoken English (though perhaps greater fidelity to this than may be found in Old English texts). Rather, this diversity suggests the gradual end of the role of Wessex as a focal point and trend-setter for scribal activity, and the emergence of more distinct local scribal styles and written dialects, and a general pattern of transition of activity over the centuries which follow, as Northumbria, East Anglia and London emerge successively as major centres of literary production, with their own generic interests.
It will be interesting to see if one can follow texts and scripts.
 
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An interesting article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In one case, the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.

Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of equal historical value, and none of them is the original version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at the monastery there in 1116. Almost all of the material in the chronicle is in the form of annals, by year; the earliest are dated at 60 BC, and historical material follows up to the year in which the chronicle was written, at which point contemporary records begin. These manuscripts collectively are known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Chronicle is not unbiased: there are occasions when comparison with other medieval sources makes it clear that the scribes who wrote it omitted events or told one-sided versions of stories; there are also places where the different versions contradict each other. However, taken as a whole, the Chronicle is the single most important historical source for the period between the departure of the Romans and the Norman Conquest. Much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere. In addition, the manuscripts are important sources for the history of the English language; in particular, the later Peterborough text is one of the earliest examples of Middle English in existence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Chronicle

http://omacl.org/Anglo/