Old English & Middle English Literature

            During the Old English and Middle English periods there were various conquests and invasions by the Vikings, Danes and the Normans. But before the invasions of Britain, Christianity began to appear in Britain and ended up being widespread throughout Britain. It started in the southeast where the Roman cleric Saint Augustine converted King Ethelbert of Kent to Christianity. Soon after this Augustine then decided to set up a monastery at Canterbury in Kent where he then began to preach to other rulers and this in turn helped to unify the English people. After Christianity hit England, the Danish invasion followed and the Danes started by attacking and invading the eastern and southern parts of England. Following the Danes came the Normans who also took England with not much trouble. Before the Normans took Britain the King of England died and Harold II was appointed to be the King. Even though William, the Duke of Normandy claims that King Edward had promised him the throne of Britain. This is when the Duke of Normandy crossed the English Channel and took England by force. Throughout his rule he suppressed the Anglo-Saxons who were the British peoples at this time. He only wanted the Normans to have control of everything from the government to farming. It is very apparent that Britain was invaded over and over again by many different people. This made Britain have many different traditions and cultures being passed down since Britain was really "British" in a sense. This leads me to the statement, "The literature of the Old English Period reflects Pagan beliefs, however it then evolves during the Middle English Period to illustrate novel Christian beliefs and morals over the Pagan ideals.".
             In some of the early stories, the tales form the Old English Period, such as the "Seafarer" can clearly be seen that though the story is primarily Pagan there are Christian morals at the end of the story.