British literature

British literature is literature from the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The largest part of this literature is written in the English language, but there are also separate literatures in the Welsh language, Scottish Gaelic, Scots and other languages. Northern Ireland is the only part of Ireland still part of the United Kingdom and it possesses literature in English, Ulster Scots and Irish. Irish writers have also played an important part in the development of English-language literature.

Other medieval literatures

For a comparatively small country, Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches, and especially to the other national literatures of the islands. The Irish literature that is best known outside the country is in English, but the Irish language also has the most significant body of written literature, both ancient and recent, in any Celtic language, in addition to a strong oral tradition of legends and poetry.

Related Topics:
World literature - Irish literature - Irish language - Oral tradition

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In Medieval Welsh literature the period before 1100 is known as the period of Y Cynfeirdd ("The earliest poets") or Yr Hengerdd ("The old poetry"). It roughly dates from the birth of the Welsh language until the arrival of the Normans in Wales towards the end of the eleventh century.

Related Topics:
Medieval Welsh literature - 1100 - Normans

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Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae spread Celtic motifs to a wider audience.

Related Topics:
Geoffrey of Monmouth - Historia Regum Britanniae

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The Jersey poet Wace is considered the founder of Jersey literature and contributed to the development of the Arthurian legend in British literature. His Brut showed the interest of Norman patrons in the mythologising of the new English territories of the Anglo-Norman realm. His Rou placed the Dukes of Normandy within an epic context.

Related Topics:
Jersey - Wace

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Since at least the 14th century, poetry in English has been written in Ireland and by Irish writers abroad. The earliest poem in English by a Welsh poet dates from about 1470.

Related Topics:
14th century - 1470

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Among the earliest Lowland Scots literature is Barbour's Brus (14th century). Whyntoun's Kronykil and Blind Harry's Wallace (15th century) From the 13th century much literature based around the Royal Court in Edinburgh and the University of St. Andrews was produced by writers such as Henrysoun, Dunbar, Douglas and Lyndsay.

Related Topics:
Lowland Scots - Barbour - Blind Harry - Edinburgh - University of St. Andrews - Henrysoun - Dunbar

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In the Cornish language Passhyon agan Arloedh (The Passion of our Lord), a poem of 259 eight-line verses written in 1375, is one of the earliest surviving works of Cornish literature. The most important work of literature surviving from the Middle Cornish period is An Ordinale Kernewek (The Cornish Ordinalia), a 9000-line religious drama composed around the year 1400. The longest single surviving work of Cornish literature is Bywnans Meriasek (The Life of Meriasek), a play dated 1504, but probably copied from an earlier manuscript.

Related Topics:
Cornish language - 1375 - Cornish literature - Drama - 1400 - 1504

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• Mabinogion
• Ulster Cycle
• Early English Jewish literature