Mavzu: British literature

The coming of the Anglo-Saxons: 449–c.1066[edit]

The other languages of early Britain[edit]

Although the Romans withdrew from Britain in the early 5th century, Latin literature, mostly ecclesiastical, continued to be written, including Chronicles by Bede (672/3–735), Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; and Gildas (c. 500–570), De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae.

A facsimile page of Y Gododdin c. 1275

Various Celtic languages were spoken by many British people at that time. Among the most important written works that have survived are Y Gododdin and the Mabinogion. From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colonised parts of what is now modern Scotland. Some Old Norse poetry survives relating to this period, including the Orkneyinga saga an historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands, from their capture by the Norwegian king in the 9th century until about 1200.^[7]