I don’t recall having heard of J.R.R. Tolkien before receiving a ZX Spectrum and this game as a Christmas present in 1983, and I suspect that many like myself found the book more engrossing in the long term than the game itself.

Even to an uncouth teenager the maps, runes, and the strange story itself all suggested a bigger picture both in fiction and in reality. Following The Hobbit I read The Lord of the Rings in 1984 but didn’t return to Tolkien for many years until I had started to become interested in the Anglo-Saxons and the Old English language. Even then, with neither little research or understanding, it was apparent to me that much of Tolkien’s work was rooted in Anglo-Saxon (and wider Germanic) history and mythology and the more Tolkien I read and the more I learnt about the Anglo-Saxons the clearer that became.

There has of course been much written about this subject and I probably have little to add other than the observation that when rereading, in particular, The Lord of the Rings, passages that reflect Tolkien’s own love and affection for the Anglo-Saxons, their language, and the landscape of northwestern Europe often jump of the page.

A good example from chapter VI of book three, “The King of the Golden Hall”, is shown below. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have arrived at Edoras where Théoden King of Rohan resides in his great hall named Meduseld.

‘Look!’ said Gandalf. ‘How fair are the bright eyes in the grass! Evermind they are called, simbelmynë in this land of Men, for they blossom in all the seasons of the year, and grow where dead men rest. Behold! we are come to the great barrows where the sires of Théoden sleep.’

‘Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right,’ said Aragorn. ‘Many long lives of men it is since the golden hall was built.’

‘Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then,’ said Legolas, ‘and but a little while does that seem to us.’

‘But to the Riders of the Mark it seems so long ago,’ said Aragorn, ‘that the raising of this house is but a memory of song, and the years before are lost in the mist of time. Now they call this land their home, their own, and their speech is sundered from their northern kin.’ Then he began to chant softly in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and Dwarf; yet they listened, for there was a strong music in it.

‘That, I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim,’ said Legolas; ‘for it is like to this land itself; rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains. But I cannot guess what it means, save that it is laden with the sadness of Mortal Men.’

‘It runs thus in the Common Speech,’ said Aragorn, ‘as near as I can make it.

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?

Thus spoke a forgotten poet long ago in Rohan, recalling how tall and fair was Eorl the Young, who rode down out of the North; and there were wings upon the feet of his steed, Felaróf, father of horses. So men still sing in the evening.’

Marvellous stuff I’ll hope you agree. It is well known that Rohan is explicitly modelled on the Anglo-Saxons, and a couple of obvious correspondences in the passage above are:

• The Old English words simbel (always or ever) and myne (mind) are used by Tolkien for the flower simbelmynë (evermind) which grows on the burial mounds of the dead kings.

• When Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings it was thought there were also sixteen burial mounds at Sutton Hoo, and a short distance away at Rendelsham there was a great hall complex overlooking the river Deben (and descriptions of great halls are found in Beowulf and elsewhere in Old English verse and prose).

The Wikipedia page for Rohan1 has many more examples.

However, due to my long and slow journey to learn Old English2, a couple more things really made me sit up and take note (emphasis mine):

• When Tolkien says of Aragorn “Then he began to chant softly in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and Dwarf; yet they listened, for there was a strong music in it.”

• When Legolas says “That, I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim for it is like to this land itself; rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains.”

The poem spoken above by Aragorn is adapted from lines 92 to 96 of the Old English poem The Wanderer:

‘Hwǣr cwōm mearg, hwær cwōm mago?                               Hwǣr cwōm mǣþþumgyfa?
Hwǣr cwōm symbla gesetu?                                                     Hwǣr sindon seledrēamas?
Ēalā beorht būne,                                                                                                ēalā byrnwiga,
ēalā þēodnes þrym.                                                                                     Hū sēo þrāg gewāt,
genāp under nihthelm                                                                                 swā hēo nō wǣre.’

My favourite translation of that is the one found in A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse3, edited by Richard Hamer:

‘Where is the horse now? Where the hero gone?
Where is the bounteous lord, and where the benches
For feasting? Where are all the joys of hall?
Alas for the bright cup, the armoured warrior,
The glory of the prince. That time is gone,
Passed into night as if it had not been.’

I can’t think of a better description of what Old English sounds and feels like than the one that Tolkien gives. It’s a language with a strong music in it which is rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains. And for that reason alone I think it’s worth the effort to learn at least a little Old English, and to read The Hobbit to your small children or grandchildren.

There are several burial mounds at Sutton Hoo2 and when mound 1 was excavated in 1939 many magnificent finds were unearthed, many of which are on display in room 41 (“Sutton Hoo and Europe”) at the British Museum (a great day out in its own right).

Famously the excavation revealed the outlined shape of an 89-foot longship, and that outline was carefully recorded and photographed. You can see many of these in the National Trust’s photographic collection of Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff.

The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company was formed in 2016 with the objective of reconstructing the longship based on what was documented in 1939, and in the subsequent excavation between 1965 and 1971.

The reconstruction is taking in place at The Longshed in Woodbridge, a short distance over the river Deben from Sutton Hoo itself. There’s a great Time Team documentary about the project here:

The team provides regular updates via their YouTube channel and on X. They also issue a great monthly newsletter which is definitely worth a sign-up. And best of all, you can visit The Longshed yourself!

The majority of European languages belong to the Indo-European family and one of its main branches is the Germanic languages. Somewhat confusingly Germanic doesn't mean "German" and English is the most widely spoken Germanic language, and the most widely spoken language in the world (2 billion people by some estimates). The West Germanic branch includes, amongst several others, the English, German, and Dutch languages.

Old English is a part of the West Germanic branch and was the language used by the Anglo-Saxons, though of course they wouldn't have called it that. Old English grew out of dialects of the North Sea Germanic languages that settlers, invaders, and traders started to bring to Britain in the 5th century. Old English used to be referred to as "Anglo-Saxon" and older dictionaries etc. will use that term.

In the 11th century, after the Norman Conquest, Old English began its transformation into Middle English. In the 15th century it began to transform again into Early Modern English which by the 17th century had become Modern English, sometimes called New English.

So, people in England spoke Old English for some six hundred years. Nearly twice as long as they've been speaking what we now commonly refer to as English.

When learning to speak and read English as a child most of the words you learn are Old English in origin, meaning that many of the words you use today are Old English. Really? Yes! Here’s a small selection from the Swadesh list1 for Old English:

That extract shows that many words in Old English are immediately recognisable, especially when you’ve gained a basic grasp of Old English pronunciation, but many more are mysterious and inscrutable.

And it’s not just the vocabulary that is different, the grammar is more complex than English and this is where most people (unless they’re linguists!) run into trouble when attempting to learn Old English. I am most firmly in this group, but more on that in another post where I’ll explain how and Ōsweald the talking bear are helping out…

A good example of the very different vocabulary and grammar of Old English can be found in the the Wessex Gospels2, first produced around 990, in its version of the The Lord’s Prayer from chapter 6 verses 9 to 13 of Matthew’s gospel:

Faeder ūre, þu þe eart on heofenum, Si þin nama gehalgod. To-becume þin rīce. Geweorðe þin willa on eorþan, swa swa on heofenum. Urne dæghwamlican hlaf syle us to-dæg. And forgyf ūs ūre gyltas, swa swa we forgifað ūrum gyltendum. And ne gelǣde þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfle : Soðlice.

Over 600 years later, in 1611, the same passage in the King James Version reads:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Whilst it’s fairly easy to spot that heofenum is heaven, would you guess that rīce means kingdom or that costnunge means temptation?

The Norman Conquest in 1066 and the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s led to the loss of a great number Old English manuscripts, but still many hundreds survived and have been the subject of centuries of study by historians and linguists which means its vocabulary, grammar, and much else is very well understood.

We even have a pretty good idea of what Old English actually sounded like as explained below in brief by Simon Roper:

I’m not going to tell anyone they should learn Old English (I’m finding that hard enough myself) but I do think it’s a worthwhile exercise for many reasons.

Firstly, you’ll learn a lot about English and it will probably improve your written and spoken English. Secondly, being able to read even a fragment of a one thousand year old manuscript is quite thrilling, and being able to speak it however haltingly adds to the thrill. Thirdly, you’ll start to glimpse your history around you from understanding why as children we sing “four and twenty” blackbirds or why Wētwang is an apt place name for a village in Yorkshire 😀.

One of the things I will try to do with this publication is write about what I’ve found hard when learning Old English, partly to help me understand them and hopefully to help others trying to do the same.

On 25th September, only 19 days before the defeat at Hastings, Harold had won a resounding victory at Stamford Bridge (Gefeoht æt Stanfordbrycge), near York, over a Norwegian invasion force led by King Harald Hardrada and Harold's brother Tostig Godwinson (that's a whole other story!). That victory had been preceded on 20 September by the defeat of the English (led by the northern earls Edwin and Morcar) at the Battle of Fulford, just outside York, which had led to Harold marching from London to York to face Harald and Tostig.

Following the victory at Stamford Bridge, the Norman army led by William landed in Pevensey, in Sussex, on 28th September. This meant that Harold had to march his remaining troops south again, some 260 miles, to face a much more difficult foe.

It's almost impossible to imagine what Harold and his followers had just gone through, and the enormous effort of will that must have been needed to face (for some) a third battle within a month. Battles at which the future of England was at stake.

The annals of Florence of Worcester contain this account of how Harold reacted when learning of the Norman landing:

Therefore the king at once, and in great haste, marched with his army to London. Although he well knew that some of the bravest Englishmen had fallen in the two former battles, and that one-half of his army had not yet arrived, he did not hesitate to advance with all speed into Sussex against his enemies. On Saturday, 22 October1, before a third of his army was in order for fighting, he joined battle with them nine miles from Hastings, where his foes had erected a castle. But inasmuch as the English were drawn up in a narrow place, many retired from the ranks, and very few remained true to him. Nevertheless from the third hour of the day until dusk he bravely withstood the enemy, and fought so valiantly and stubbornly in his own defence that the enemy's forces could make hardly an impression. At last, after great slaughter on both sides, about twilight the king, alas, fell. There were slain also Earl Gyrth, and his brother, Earl Leofwine, and nearly all the magnates of England.

Writing in The Deeds of William, duke of the Normans and king of the English William of Poitiers describes the start of battle and how the outcome could, initially at least, have been very different:

From all the provinces of the English a vast host had gathered together. Some were moved by their zeal for Harold, but all were inspired by the love of their country which they desired, however unjustly, to defend against foreigners. The land of the Danes who were allied to them had also sent copious reinforcements. But fearing William more than the king of Norway and not daring to fight with him on equal terms, they took up their position on higher ground, on a hill abutting the forest through which they had just come. There, at once dismounting from their horses, they drew themselves up on foot and in very close order. The duke and his men in no way dismayed by the difficulty of the ground came slowly up the hill, and the terrible sound of trumpets on both sides signalled the beginning of the battle. The eager boldness of the Normans gave them the advantage of attack, even as in a trial for theft it is the prosecuting counsel who speaks first. In such wise the Norman foot drawing nearer provoked the English by raining death and wounds upon them with their missiles. But the English resisted valiantly, each man according to his strength, and they hurled back spears and javelins and weapons of all kinds together with axes and stones fastened to pieces of wood. You would have thought to see our men overwhelmed by this death-dealing weight of projectiles. The knights came after the chief, being in the rearmost rank, and all disdaining to fight at long range were eager to use their swords. The shouts both of the Normans and of the barbarians were drowned in the clash of arms and by the cries of the dying, and for a long time the battle raged with the utmost fury. The English, however, had the advantage of the ground and profited by remaining within their position in close order. They gained further superiority from their numbers, from the impregnable front which they preserved, and most of all from the manner in which their weapons found easy passage through the shields and armour of their enemies. Thus they bravely withstood and successfully repulsed those who were engaging them at close quarters, and inflicted loss upon the men who were shooting missiles at them from a distance. Then the foot-soldiers and the Breton knights, panic-stricken by the violence of the assault, broke in flight before the English and also the auxiliary troops on the left wing, and the whole army of the duke was in danger of retreat.

But, it was not to be so and the 'D' version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle pithily summarises the battle and its catastrophic outcome for the English:

Then Count William came from Normandy to Pevensey on Michaelmas Eve, and as soon as they were able to move on they built a castle at Hastings. King Harold was informed of this and he assembled a large army and came against him at the hoary apple-tree, and William came against him by surprise before his army was drawn up in battle array. But the king nevertheless fought hard against him, with the men who were willing to support him, and there were heavy casualties on both sides. There King Harold was killed and Earl Leofwine his brother, and Earl Gyrth his brother, and many good men, and the French remained masters of the field, even as God granted it to them because of the sins of the people.

The Bayeux Tapestry famously illustrates, from a Norman perspective, the events leading up to the battle and the battle itself. Scene 57 shows the fateful moment where Harold, fighting to the end with his battle-axe, is cut down by a Norman knight.

Following further resistance from the English, William was eventually crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on 25th December. There were further failed rebellions across England in following years, but by 1070 England's fate was sealed and the Anglo-Saxon era finally gave way to the Anglo-Norman era.