page_title: British literature
section_title: The other languages of early Britain
hierarchical_section_title: British literature / The coming of the Anglo-Saxons: 449–c.1066 / The other languages of early Britain
context_page_description: British literature is literature from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. Anglo-Saxon literature is included, and there is some discussion of Latin and Anglo-Norman literature, where literature in these languages relate to the early development of the English language and literature. There is also some brief discussion of major figures who wrote in Scots, but the main discussion is in the various Scottish literature articles.
  The article Literature in the other languages of Britain focuses on the literatures written in the other languages that are, and have been, used in Britain. There are also articles on these various literatures: Latin literature in Britain, Anglo-Norman, Cornish, Guernésiais, Jèrriais, Latin, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, etc.
  Irish writers have played an important part in the development of literature in England and Scotland, but though the whole of Ireland was politically part of the United Kingdom between January 1801 and December 1922, it can be controversial to describe Irish literature as British. For some this includes works by authors from Northern Ireland.
context_section_description: 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. 
  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.
caption: A facsimile page of Y Gododdin c. 1275
exif: {}