Influences on British Literature

1. Greek and Roman: pagan, rustic, rude "stupid country people".
2. Anglos, Saxons, Jutes: Northern European; Celtic or Germanic mythology
3. Christianity: introduced by Roman missionary St. Augustine (non-heroic influence)

• English developed from Anglo-Saxon/German dialect.
• 1066 French invaded and became language of court/law/literature.
• Chaucer was first to write in English.
• Latin had been universal language. Then, national literatures began to appear between 1200-1400’s.