INTKODUCTION. IX 



Their rough language superseded the Romano-Celtic, and ' 

 during the four hundred years of the Anglo-Saxon domina- 

 tion became the common speech of the country, having 

 assimilated many words left by its predecessors. 



Thus the Teutonic or old Saxon speech supphed the bulk 

 of the edifice of the English language, the foundations of 

 which had been laid by Celt and Roman, and furnished the 

 largest share of the place-names of Upper Teesdale. 



After the Teutons came their cousins the Scandinavians — 

 the Dane, the Norwegian or Norseman, and the Swede.* 



During the prevalence of their power over the greater part 

 of England, that is from about the end of the ninth to the 

 beginning of the eleventh century, it has been said that 

 there was only one speech throughout England, Denmark, 

 and Norway, t 



* It has been said that the Swedes took little or no part in the conquest of England, 

 It is, however, maintained by others that the Swedes, although they sent colonies to 

 Germany and eastward along the Danube, did also take part with their neighbours the 

 Danes and Norwegians in the invasion of England, Normandy, and other places, 

 though they might be in a minority. 



At the time when the Scandinavian conquest of England was being effected, the 

 southern and western provinces of the present Sweden, viz: Scania, Bleklng, and 

 Halland belonged to Denmark, so that it can hardly be fairly contended that the 

 inhabitants of these provinces would be strangers to the expeditions and raids of the 

 Danes or even of the Norwegians (Halland, bordering on Norway and the great Vik), 

 and especially as they were originally of the same race and partook largely of the 

 same adventurous and warlike spirit. 



The Eev. A. H. Johnson, in his "Normans in Europe," says, "it must be remem- 

 bered that the northern countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all joined in the 

 general movement, and that the expeditions were often joined indiscriminately by 

 Dane, Swede, and Norseman." 



t In " The Edda Songs and Sagas of Iceland," 2nd edition, page 40, a lecture delivered 

 in St. George's Hall, London, Feb., 1S76, by Mr. George Browning, is the following 

 passage: — "In Gunlang's Saga Ormstiinga we get enlightened as to how far the old 

 Northern language of the tenth and eleventh centuries was the language of the British 

 Isles. Before William of Normandy came to our shores and brought about a change 

 in the language of England by the introduction of the Valska, the Saga says— 

 ' There was one tongue in England as in Denmark and Norway.' " 



" Ein var thx<i tiinga d England sem i Danmorkse ok Noregi." 



This refers to a time when Ethelred was king over England, and it was in the winter 

 of the year 1006 that Gunlang, having composed a poem in the king's honour, came to 

 the Anglo-Saxon court, and craved permission in the royal presence to recite his 

 poem." 



