160-532: The Kingdom of the Kentish ( Old English : Cantwara rīce ; Latin : Regnum Cantuariorum ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent , was an early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England . It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed into the Kingdom of Wessex in the mid-9th century and later into the Kingdom of England in the early 10th century. Under
320-506: A community interest company and currently compete in the Southern Counties East Football League . The previous incarnation of the club folded in 2001. Rugby Canterbury RFC were founded in 1926 and became the first East Kent club to achieve National League status and currently play in the fourth tier, National League 2 South . Tour de France The cycling Tour de France passed through
480-613: A definite article ("the"), a demonstrative adjective ("that"), and demonstrative pronoun . Other demonstratives are þēs ("this"), and ġeon ("that over there"). These words inflect for case, gender, and number. Adjectives have both strong and weak sets of endings, weak ones being used when a definite or possessive determiner is also present. Verbs conjugate for three persons : first, second, and third; two numbers: singular, plural; two tenses : present, and past; three moods : indicative , subjunctive , and imperative ; and are strong (exhibiting ablaut) or weak (exhibiting
640-694: A version of the Latin alphabet . Englisċ , from which the word English is derived, means 'pertaining to the Angles '. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes who settled in many parts of Britain in the 5th century. By the 9th century, all speakers of Old English, including those who claimed Saxon or Jutish ancestry, could be referred to as Englisċ . This name probably either derives from Proto-Germanic *anguz , which referred to narrowness, constriction or anxiety, perhaps referring to shallow waters near
800-447: A 33-metre (108 ft) swimming pool and sports hall for football, basketball, and badminton. Canterbury hosts some 31,000 students and has the highest student to permanent resident ratio in the UK. They attend three universities , and other higher education institutions. The University of Kent 's main campus extends to 600 acres (243 ha) and is situated on Saint Stephen's Hill,
960-463: A Roman road, a navigable river or the coast, and the remaining 15% being close to ancient trackways. Little archaeological evidence of these early settlements exists, but one prominent example is a grubenhaus at Lower Warbank, Keston that was built atop the site of a former Roman villa, adjacent to a Romano-British trackway through the North Downs . Fifth-century ceramics have also been found at
1120-469: A Saxon fort near St Rumwold's church, Bonnington , killing all inside. They moved on and over the next year built a fortress at Appledore . Hearing of this, Danes in East Anglia and elsewhere then rose against Alfred. They raided Kent from Appledore, razing a large settlement, Seleberhtes Cert (present-day Great Chart near Ashford ). They moved further inland and engaged in numerous battles with
1280-398: A back vowel ( /ɑ/ , /o/ , /u/ ) at the time of palatalization, as illustrated by the contrast between fisċ /fiʃ/ ('fish') and its plural fiscas /ˈfis.kɑs/ . But due to changes over time, a knowledge of the history of the word in question is needed to predict the pronunciation with certainty (for details, see palatalization ). In word-final position, the pronunciation of sċ
1440-605: A decade thereafter. This did not last, however, as Offa firmly re-established his authority over Kent in 785. Religious centres of this period, minsters containing a church, were often far larger than lay settlements, with access to many resources and trade links; the Minster-in-Thanet was recorded as possessing three trade ships. The seventh century saw the reintroduction of masonry in Anglo-Saxon England, primarily for churches. The earliest churches in
1600-406: A dental suffix). Verbs have two infinitive forms: bare and bound; and two participles : present and past. The subjunctive has past and present forms. Finite verbs agree with subjects in person and number. The future tense , passive voice , and other aspects are formed with compounds. Adpositions are mostly before but are often after their object. If the object of an adposition is marked in
1760-517: A following ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩ . Modern editions of Old English manuscripts generally introduce some additional conventions. The modern forms of Latin letters are used, including ⟨g⟩ instead of insular G , ⟨s⟩ instead of insular S and long S , and others which may differ considerably from the insular script, notably ⟨e⟩ , ⟨f⟩ and ⟨r⟩ . Macrons are used to indicate long vowels, where usually no distinction
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#17327657376771920-467: A friction that led to the erosion of the complicated inflectional word endings. Simeon Potter notes: No less far-reaching was the influence of Scandinavian upon the inflexional endings of English in hastening that wearing away and leveling of grammatical forms which gradually spread from north to south. It was, after all, a salutary influence. The gain was greater than the loss. There was a gain in directness, in clarity, and in strength. The strength of
2080-497: A major military garrison, its position on Watling Street relative to the major Kentish ports of Rutupiae ( Richborough ), Dubrae ( Dover ), and Lemanae ( Lymne ) gave it considerable strategic importance. In the late 3rd century, to defend against attack from barbarians , the Romans built an earth bank around the city and a wall with seven gates, which enclosed an area of 130 acres (53 ha). Despite being counted as one of
2240-606: A mass migration in which large numbers of Germanic peoples left northern Europe to settle in Britain, pushing the native British population to western Britain or Brittany; others have argued that only a small warrior elite came over, dominating (or even enslaving) the Romano-British population, who then began using the Old English language and material culture of the newcomers. Currently, many scholars accept that there
2400-537: A mile north of Canterbury city centre. As of 2014 , it enrolled around 20,000 students. Canterbury Christ Church University was founded as a teacher training college in 1962 by the Church of England ; in 2005 it became a university. As of 2007 , it had around 15,000 students. The Franciscan International Study Centre is close to the University of Kent campus. King's School is the oldest secondary school in
2560-596: A moderate unemployment rate of 2%. This data considers only people claiming either Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit principally for the reason of being unemployed. It does not include those without access to such benefits. At the time, the national rate was 4.2%. A report in 2023 by the Poverty Working Group of the Canterbury Sustainable Development Goals Forum evidenced increasing poverty in
2720-539: A number of villa sites around Kent, suggesting reoccupation of these locations during this period. In East Kent, fifth century cemeteries mostly comprise solely of inhumation burials, with a distinct Kentish character. Conversely, in West Kent cemeteries such Orpington mix cremations with inhumations, which is more typical of Saxon cemeteries north of the River Thames . This may suggest that West Kent at this point
2880-530: A period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion . While indicating that the establishment of dates is an arbitrary process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections, a synthetic language . Perhaps around 85% of Old English words are no longer in use, but those that survived are
3040-402: A result of a commission that found them impeding to new coach travel. Canterbury Prison opened in 1808 just outside the city boundary. By 1820 the silk weaving in the city had been supplanted by imported Indian muslins and trade carried out was thereafter largely of hops and wheat . The Canterbury & Whitstable Railway (The Crab and Winkle Way), the world's first passenger railway,
3200-529: A settlement which began to grow rapidly with new refugees arriving from Artois and Flanders . This settlement, in June 1575, almost entirely relocated to Canterbury, which had in the previous year gained a small Huguenot population. A number of refugees also arrived around this time from the temporary Huguenot settlements at Rye and Winchelsea . In 1575, the Huguenot population of Canterbury were granted use of
3360-410: A subordinate in the west, perhaps reflecting the earlier divide. Trade with Francia was extensive in the seventh and eighth centuries and appears to have been under control of the kings of Kent , through the ports of Dover , Sarre and Fordwich . This period witnessed the end of furnished burial, marked archaeologically by less regional distinctiveness of grave goods and more artefacts decorated in
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#17327657376773520-865: A trade monopoly with the Frankish kingdom. Sixth century Kentish artefacts have been found in continental Europe, in particular in the areas of modern Charente , western Normandy , the Rhineland , Frisia , Thuringia , and southern Scandinavia. They are relatively absent between the Sein and the Somme across the English Channel from the Saxons in Sussex, suggesting that trade was established between particular tribal or ethnic groups rather than by geography. There
3680-629: Is The Shakespeare bar which had been a playhouse in the Tudor period . Theatre companies in Canterbury include The Canterbury Players. In common with many English towns and cities in the Middle Ages , Canterbury employed a band of waits . There are records of payments to the waits from 1402, though they probably existed earlier. The waits were disbanded by the city authorities in 1641 for 'misdemeanors' but reinstated in 1660 when they played for
3840-558: Is also archaeological evidence of Kentish trade links in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and copies or imitations appearing in cemeteries further afield, in areas such as Wiltshire and Cambridgeshire . Archaeological evidence suggests that at some point in the sixth century, East Kent annexed West Kent. To the south lay the Weald , a dense forest of no value to the Kentish elite, leaving
4000-451: Is also operated by Southeastern. There is no direct interchange between Canterbury West and Canterbury East stations because the two railways into the city were built by rival companies. Canterbury Parkway railway station has been proposed as an additional station outside of the city, with links to both lines. Stagecoach run local bus routes in Canterbury, as well as long-distance services. Its bio fuel 'Unibus' service operates between
4160-552: Is also sparse early Northumbrian evidence of a sixth case: the locative . The evidence comes from Northumbrian Runic texts (e.g., ᚩᚾ ᚱᚩᛞᛁ on rodi "on the Cross"). Adjectives agree with nouns in case, gender, and number, and can be either strong or weak. Pronouns and sometimes participles agree in case, gender, and number. First-person and second- person personal pronouns occasionally distinguish dual-number forms. The definite article sē and its inflections serve as
4320-422: Is as follows. The sounds enclosed in parentheses in the chart above are not considered to be phonemes : The above system is largely similar to that of Modern English , except that [ç, x, ɣ, l̥, n̥, r̥] (and [ʍ] for most speakers ) have generally been lost, while the voiced affricate and fricatives (now also including /ʒ/ ) have become independent phonemes, as has /ŋ/ . The open back rounded vowel [ɒ]
4480-415: Is evidence that over the fourth and early fifth centuries, rural villas were abandoned, suggesting that the Romano-British elite were moving to the comparative safety of fortified urban centres. However, urban centres also witnessed decline; Canterbury evidenced a declining population and reduced activity from the late third century onward, while Dover was abandoned by the end of the fourth century. In 407,
4640-621: Is evidenced by the continued variation between their successors in Middle and Modern English. In fact, what would become the standard forms of Middle English and of Modern English are descended from Mercian rather than West Saxon, while Scots developed from the Northumbrian dialect. It was once claimed that, owing to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in
4800-668: Is followed by Middle English (1150 to 1500), Early Modern English (1500 to 1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650), and in Scotland Early Scots (before 1450), Middle Scots ( c. 1450 to 1700) and Modern Scots (after 1700). Just as Modern English is not monolithic, Old English varied according to place. Despite the diversity of language of the Germanic-speaking migrants who established Old English in England and southeastern Scotland, it
4960-481: Is lacking. It is known that both Canterbury and Rochester were the home to major mints in this period, primarily producing silver sceattas . This suggests that from the seventh century onward, kings in Kent were establishing control over the kingdom's economic structure. During the eighth and ninth centuries, a number of fortified earthworks, most notably Wansdyke and Offa's Dyke , were constructed as barriers between
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5120-488: Is limited to the Simon Langton Boys School grounds. From 2007 to 2020 Canterbury was also served by the country's first student led community radio station CSR 97.4FM. CSR means "Canterbury Student Radio" but it was a radio station catering to the students of the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University, other educational establishments and the wider community being a collaboration of
5280-864: Is possible to reconstruct proto-Old English as a fairly unitary language. For the most part, the differences between the attested regional dialects of Old English developed within England and southeastern Scotland, rather than on the Mainland of Europe. Although from the tenth century Old English writing from all regions tended to conform to a written standard based on Late West Saxon, in speech Old English continued to exhibit much local and regional variation, which remained in Middle English and to some extent Modern English dialects . The four main dialectal forms of Old English were Mercian , Northumbrian , Kentish , and West Saxon . Mercian and Northumbrian are together referred to as Anglian . In terms of geography
5440-470: Is published by KOS Media , which also prints Kent on Sunday . Local radio stations are BBC Radio Kent on 104.2FM, Heart South on 102.8FM and KMFM Canterbury on 106FM. KMFM Canterbury was formerly KMFM106, and from foundation in 1997 until KM Group took control CTFM, a reference to Canterbury's CT postcode. KMFM's studio moved from the city to Ashford in 2008. Canterbury Hospital Radio serves Kent and Canterbury Hospital , and SBSLive's coverage
5600-522: Is recorded that Vikings built fortifications on the Kentish north coast, and over-wintered their armies on Thanet in 851–852 and Sheppey in 854–855. At this point, Canterbury and Rochester still had Roman walls that could have been refurbished, but they were nevertheless attacked by the Vikings: Rochester in 842, Canterbury in 851, and Rochester again in 885, when they laid siege until it was liberated by Alfred's army. The Burghal Hidage lists
5760-519: Is relatively little rainfall throughout the year. At the 2001 UK census , the total population of the city itself was 43,432, and 135,278 within the Canterbury district. In 2011, the total district population was counted as 151,200, with an 11.7% increase from 2001, and the population of the city had grown to over 55,000. By 2015, Canterbury's student population, including the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University , and
5920-434: Is replaced by ⟨þ⟩ ). In contrast with Modern English orthography , Old English spelling was reasonably regular , with a mostly predictable correspondence between letters and phonemes . There were not usually any silent letters —in the word cniht , for example, both the ⟨c⟩ and ⟨h⟩ were pronounced ( /knixt ~ kniçt/ ) unlike the ⟨k⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ in
6080-489: Is still being published, claiming to be the country's second oldest surviving newspaper. It is currently produced as a paid-for newspaper by KM Group in Whitstable with a 25,000 circulation across East Kent. Three free weekly newspapers provide local news. The Daily Mail and General Trust 's Canterbury Times has a circulation of 55,000. Similar circulation Canterbury Extra is owned by KM Group . yourcanterbury
6240-470: Is the home of Kent County Cricket Club , with the St Lawrence Ground hosting many of the team's matches. It has also been used for several One Day Internationals , including an England match during the 1999 Cricket World Cup . The St Lawrence Ground is notable for being one of only two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that have had a tree within the boundary, the other being
6400-413: Is very different from Modern English and Modern Scots, and largely incomprehensible for Modern English or Modern Scots speakers without study. Within Old English grammar nouns, adjectives, pronouns and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms, and word order is much freer. The oldest Old English inscriptions were written using a runic system , but from about the 8th century this was replaced by
6560-526: The Angles , Saxons and Jutes . As the Germanic settlers became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain : Common Brittonic , a Celtic language ; and Latin , brought to Britain by the Roman conquest . Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms : Kentish , Mercian , Northumbrian , and West Saxon . It was West Saxon that formed
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6720-680: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , a "king of the Britons" known as Vortigern invited two Germanic leaders, Hengist and Horsa ("stallion" and "horse"), to Britain to help defend against Pictish raiders. After arriving at Ypwinesfleot (Ebba's Creek, modern Ebbsfleet near Ramsgate) in Kent in 449, Hengist and Horsa led the defeat of the Picts before turning on the British and inviting more Germanic tribes to colonise Britain. Among these were
6880-603: The City Oval in Pietermaritzburg . American Football There have been multiple American football teams based in Canterbury since the game was popularised in the UK. Currently, the city is the home of the East Kent Mavericks , 2023 BAFA National Leagues Southern Football Conference 2 Champions, as well as teams from both universities. Football Canterbury City F.C. reformed in 2007 as
7040-578: The Crab and Winkle line , had a terminus at North Lane station . It ran from 3 May 1830 to 1953 and was the first regular passenger steam railway in the world. Canterbury South railway station was sited on the Elham Valley Railway . The station opened in 1889 and closed, along with the rest of the railway, in 1947. Canterbury West railway station is operated by Southeastern . Canterbury East railway station , (Canterbury's other station)
7200-644: The First World War , barracks and voluntary hospitals were set up around the city. In 1917 a German bomber crash-landed near Broad Oak Road. Mahatma Gandhi visited Canterbury in October 1931. During the Second World War , 10,445 bombs dropped during 135 separate raids destroyed 731 homes and 296 other buildings in the city, including the missionary college and Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School . 119 civilian people died through enemy action in
7360-652: The Latin alphabet was introduced and adapted for the writing of Old English , replacing the earlier runic system. Nonetheless, the largest transfer of Latin-based (mainly Old French ) words into English occurred after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and thus in the Middle English rather than the Old English period. Another source of loanwords was Old Norse , which came into contact with Old English via
7520-510: The Law of Wihtred , did a great deal to restore the kingdom after the devastation and tumult of the preceding years, and in 694 he made peace with the West Saxons by paying compensation for the killing of Mul. Records of Kent following the death of Wihtred in 725 are fragmented and obscure. For forty years, two or even three kings typically ruled simultaneously. This division may have made Kent
7680-713: The Law of Æthelberht , the oldest surviving text in Old English . According to Bede , the Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England began in Kent under Æthelberht's reign when the Benedictine monk Augustine arrived on the Ebbsfleet peninsula in 597, bringing the Gregorian mission with him. Æthelberht's Frankish wife, Bertha , was already a Christian, with Æthelberht himself converting a few years later. Æthelberht 's attempts to convert Rædwald demonstrate
7840-532: The Local Government Act 1888 . In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , the city came under the control of Kent County Council . Canterbury, along with Whitstable and Herne Bay, is now in the City of Canterbury local government district. The city's urban area consists of the six electoral wards of Barton, Blean Forest, Northgate, St Stephens, Westgate, and Wincheap. These wards have eleven of
8000-581: The Marlowe Theatre and Kent County Cricket Club 's St Lawrence Ground . Canterbury Cathedral is known for its architecture, its music, and for being the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury ; it receives a million visitors per year. The Roman settlement of Durovernum Cantiacorum (" Kentish Durovernum") occupied the location of an earlier British town whose ancient British name has been reconstructed as * Durou̯ernon ("stronghold by
8160-599: The Romano-British period, the area of modern Kent that lay east of the River Medway was a civitas known as Cantiaca . Its name had been taken from an older Common Brittonic place-name, Cantium ("corner of land" or "land on the edge") used in the preceding pre-Roman Iron Age, although the extent of this tribal area is unknown. During the late third and fourth centuries, Roman Britain had been raided repeatedly by Franks , Saxons , Picts , and Scots . As
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#17327657376778320-610: The Salin Style II motifs. It also saw the emergence of elite burials with far greater wealth than others; notable Kentish examples have been found at Sarre Anglo-Saxon cemetery and the Kingston Barrow cemetery, while the elite Taplow burial in modern Buckinghamshire also contained Kentish characteristics, suggesting a potential Kentish influence in that region. In the seventh century, Kent's power waned as that of Mercia and Northumbria grew, but it remained
8480-527: The Wantsum Channel and Romney Marsh . The Ebbsfleet watermill near Gravesend in West Kent, dated to circa 700, also reflects new uses of the landscape. Canterbury grew into the economic and political centre of Kent during the seventh century, as evidenced by rubbish pits, metalworking, timber halls, and sunken-feature buildings from the period. Intensive development was also present at Dover, and possibly at Rochester, although archaeological evidence
8640-813: The Whitefriars Shopping Centre underwent major redevelopment. In 2000, during the redevelopment, a major archaeological project was undertaken by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust , known as the Big Dig, which was supported by Channel Four 's Time Team . Canterbury experiences an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ), similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. Canterbury enjoys mild temperatures all year round, being between 1.8 °C (35.2 °F) and 22.8 °C (73 °F). There
8800-769: The alder grove"), although the name is sometimes supposed to have derived from various British names for the Stour . Medieval variants of the Roman name include Dorobernia and Dorovernia . In Sub-Roman Britain , it was known in Old Welsh as Cair Ceint ("stronghold of Kent "). Occupied by the Jutes , it became known in Old English as Cantwareburh ("stronghold of the Kentish men"). The Canterbury area has been inhabited since prehistoric times . Lower Paleolithic axes, and Neolithic and Bronze Age pots have been found in
8960-603: The dialect of Somerset . For details of the sound differences between the dialects, see Phonological history of Old English § Dialects . The language of the Anglo-Saxon settlers appears not to have been significantly affected by the native British Celtic languages which it largely displaced . The number of Celtic loanwords introduced into the language is very small, although dialect and toponymic terms are more often retained in western language contact zones (Cumbria, Devon, Welsh Marches and Borders and so on) than in
9120-609: The kingdom of Northumbria . Other parts of the island continued to use Celtic languages ( Gaelic – and perhaps some Pictish – in most of Scotland, Medieval Cornish all over Cornwall and in adjacent parts of Devon , Cumbric perhaps to the 12th century in parts of Cumbria , and Welsh in Wales and possibly also on the English side of the Anglo-Welsh border ); except in the areas of Scandinavian settlements, where Old Norse
9280-677: The symphonic repertoire. Other local musical groups include the Canterbury Singers, founded in 1953; Cantemus; and the City of Canterbury Chamber Choir. The Canterbury Festival takes place over two weeks in October including musical events ranging from opera and symphony concerts to world music , jazz and folk . From 2006 to 2015 the July Lounge On The Farm music festival presented rock , indie and dance artists near Canterbury. Cricket Canterbury
9440-515: The 10th century it became part of the unified Kingdom of England that was created under the leadership of Wessex. Its name has been carried forward ever since as the county of Kent . Knowledge of Anglo-Saxon Kent comes from scholarly study of Late Anglo-Saxon texts such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Ecclesiastical History of the English People , as well as archaeological evidence such as that left by early medieval cemeteries and settlements, and toponymical (place-name) evidence. In
9600-503: The 28 cities of Sub-Roman Britain , it seems that after the Romans left Britain in 410 Durovernum Cantiacorum was abandoned for around 100 years, except by a few farmers and gradually decayed. Over the next 100 years, an Anglo-Saxon community formed within the city walls , as Jutish refugees arrived, possibly intermarrying with the locals. The town's new importance led to its revival, and trades developed in pottery, textiles, and leather. By 630, gold coins were being struck at
9760-422: The 8th century, the runic system came to be supplanted by a (minuscule) half-uncial script of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries. This was replaced by Insular script , a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the end of the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule (also known as Caroline ) replaced the insular. The Latin alphabet of
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#17327657376779920-586: The Britons at Crecganford (probably Crayford ). The Britons then fled Kent for their London stronghold. A similar account is provided in Bede's Ecclesiastical History : that the people of Kent and Isle of Wight were descended from Jutish settlers, and that Horsa was killed in battle against the Britons, adding that his body was buried in east Kent. The accuracy of these accounts is questioned; S. E. Kelly states that "the legendary details are easy to dismiss". Scholars often view Hengist and Horsa as mythological figures borrowed from folk tradition, to legitimise rulers in
10080-438: The Canterbury mint. In 842 and 851, Canterbury suffered great loss of life during Danish raids. The siege of Canterbury saw a large Viking army besiege Canterbury in 1011, culminating in the city being pillaged. Remembering the destruction caused by the Danes, the inhabitants of Canterbury did not resist William the Conqueror 's invasion in 1066. William immediately ordered a wooden motte-and-bailey castle to be built by
10240-406: The English language; some of them, such as Pope Gregory I 's treatise Pastoral Care , appear to have been translated by Alfred himself. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, but Alfred chiefly inspired the growth of prose. A later literary standard, dating from the late 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester , and
10400-529: The English, but after four years they gave up. Some retreated to East Anglia and others fled to northern France and settled in Normandy . A large Viking army led by Thorkell the Tall besieged Canterbury in 1011, culminating in the pillage of the city and the eventual murder of Archbishop Alphege , on 19 April 1012, despite Thorkell’s attempts to keep him alive to sell him for ransom. Old English language Old English ( Englisċ or Ænglisc , pronounced [ˈeŋɡliʃ] ), or Anglo-Saxon ,
10560-497: The Great . From that time on, the West Saxon dialect (then in the form now known as Early West Saxon) became standardised as the language of government, and as the basis for the many works of literature and religious materials produced or translated from Latin in that period. The later literary standard known as Late West Saxon (see History , above), although centred in the same region of the country, appears not to have been directly descended from Alfred's Early West Saxon. For example,
10720-532: The Mid-to-Late Anglo-Saxon period. The incoming Germanic peoples settled on the prime agricultural land of the Romano-Britons; particularly the foothills to the north of the downs and Holmesdale south of the downs escarpment. It is likely that they complemented agriculture with animal husbandry, but with nearby coasts and rivers it is also likely that they engaged in fishing and trading. The Anglo-Saxons made use of pre-existing prehistoric and Roman road systems, with 85% of cemeteries being located within 1.2 km of
10880-481: The North , National Health , Gilgamesh , Soft Heap , Khan and In Cahoots . Ian Dury , front man of 1970s rock band Ian Dury and the Blockheads , taught Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art and early incarnations of his band Kilburn and the High Roads performed in the city. Canterbury Choral Society give regular concerts in Canterbury Cathedral, typically large-scale classical choral works. The Canterbury Orchestra, founded in 1953, perform major works from
11040-410: The Northumbrian dialect retained /i(ː)o̯/ , which had merged with /e(ː)o̯/ in West Saxon. For more on dialectal differences, see Phonological history of Old English (dialects) . Some of the principal sound changes occurring in the pre-history and history of Old English were the following: For more details of these processes, see the main article, linked above. For sound changes before and after
11200-607: The Northumbrian region lay north of the Humber River; the Mercian lay north of the Thames and south of the Humber River; West Saxon lay south and southwest of the Thames; and the smallest, Kentish region lay southeast of the Thames, a small corner of England. The Kentish region, settled by the Jutes from Jutland, has the scantest literary remains. The term West Saxon actually is represented by two different dialects: Early West Saxon and Late West Saxon. Hogg has suggested that these two dialects would be more appropriately named Alfredian Saxon and Æthelwoldian Saxon, respectively, so that
11360-412: The Old English period is also often attributed to Norse influence. The influence of Old Norse certainly helped move English from a synthetic language along the continuum to a more analytic word order , and Old Norse most likely made a greater impact on the English language than any other language. The eagerness of Vikings in the Danelaw to communicate with their Anglo-Saxon neighbours produced
11520-478: The Old English period, see Phonological history of English . Nouns decline for five cases : nominative , accusative , genitive , dative , instrumental ; three genders : masculine, feminine, neuter; and two numbers : singular, and plural; and are strong or weak. The instrumental is vestigial and only used with the masculine and neuter singular and often replaced by the dative . Only pronouns and strong adjectives retain separate instrumental forms. There
11680-736: The Old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes; the latter settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight, establishing the peoples known as the Cantware and Wihtware . According to the Chronicle , in 455 Hengist and Horsa fought Vortigern at Ægelesthrep (probably Aylesford in Kent), in which battle Horsa was killed. Hengist succeeded him as king, followed in turn by his son Æsc . In 456 Hengest and Æsc battled
11840-479: The Roman city wall. In the early 12th century, the castle was rebuilt with stone. Canterbury Castle was captured by the French Prince Louis during his 1215 invasion of England, before the death of John caused his English supporters to desert his cause and support the young Henry III . Black Death reached Canterbury in 1348. At 10,000, Canterbury had the 10th largest population in England; by
12000-647: The Roman legions left Britain in order to deal with incursions into the Empire's continental heartlands. In 410, the Roman Emperor Honorius sent a letter to his British subjects announcing that they must thenceforth look after their own defence and could no longer rely on the imperial military to protect them. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , produced in late Anglo-Saxon England and not considered an accurate record of events in
12160-526: The Scandinavian rulers and settlers in the Danelaw from the late 9th century, and during the rule of Cnut and other Danish kings in the early 11th century. Many place names in eastern and northern England are of Scandinavian origin. Norse borrowings are relatively rare in Old English literature, being mostly terms relating to government and administration. The literary standard, however,
12320-611: The Second World War Baedeker Blitz . Survivors include the Huguenot "Old Weaver's House". St Martin's Mill is the only surviving mill out of the six known to have stood in Canterbury. It was built in 1817 and worked until 1890 but is now a residence. The Marlowe Theatre is named after Christopher Marlowe , who was born in the city. It was formerly located in St Margaret's Street but moved to
12480-653: The Thames, eroding its economic influence. According to Bede's later account, in 676 the Mercian king Æthelred I led an attack that destroyed many Kentish churches. Mercia's control of Kent increased in the following decades; by 689–690 East Saxon kings under Mercian overlordship were active in West Kent, and there are records attesting that Æthelred arbitrated on the income of the Christian communities at Minster-in-Thanet and Reculver , indicating strong Mercian control over
12640-609: The United Kingdom. St. Augustine established it shortly after his 597 arrival in Canterbury though documented history of it only began after dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, when it took the present name in honour of Henry VIII . The city's secondary grammar schools are Barton Court Grammar School , Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys and Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School , all of which in 2008 had over 93% of their pupils gain five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and maths. The pioneering Canterbury & Whitstable Railway , known locally as
12800-606: The Viking influence on Old English appears from the fact that the indispensable elements of the language – pronouns , modals , comparatives , pronominal adverbs (like hence and together ), conjunctions and prepositions – show the most marked Danish influence; the best evidence of Scandinavian influence appears in the extensive word borrowings because, as Jespersen indicates, no texts exist in either Scandinavia or Northern England from this time to give certain evidence of an influence on syntax. The effect of Old Norse on Old English
12960-638: The archbishop of Canterbury Jænberht refused to crown his son Ecgfrith . Jænberht resigned a part of his bishopric and the pro-Mercian Hygeberht was chosen by King Offa to replace him "through enmity conceived against the venerable Jænberht and the Kentish people", according to Offa's eventual successor Coenwulf . In 796 Offa died, and in this moment of Mercian weakness a Kentish rebellion under Eadbert Praen temporarily succeeded. Offa's eventual successor, Coenwulf, reconquered Kent in 798, however, and installed his brother Cuthred as king. After Cuthred's death in 807, Coenwulf ruled Kent directly. Mercian authority
13120-554: The area appears to have been the Jutes : they established their Kingdom in East Kent and may initially have been under the dominion of the Kingdom of Francia . It has been argued that an East Saxon or Middle Saxon community initially settled in West Kent and merged with the expanding kingdom of East Kent in the sixth century, but this is uncertain. The earliest recorded king of Kent was Æthelberht , who, as bretwalda , wielded significant influence over other Anglo-Saxon kings in
13280-433: The area consists mainly of brickearth overlying chalk. Tertiary sands overlain by London clay form St. Thomas's Hill and St. Stephen's Hill about a mile northwest of the city centre. Canterbury is a medieval city, with Canterbury Cathedral inside the ring of the city walls, forming the historic centre. Of the defensive structures, a section of the medieval walls remains to the south, near Canterbury Castle , while to
13440-561: The area. Canterbury was first recorded as the main settlement of the Celtic tribe of the Cantiaci , which inhabited most of modern-day Kent . In the 1st century AD, the Romans captured the settlement and named it Durovernum Cantiacorum . The Romans rebuilt the city, with new streets in a grid pattern , a theatre , a temple , a forum , and public baths . Although they did not maintain
13600-452: The basic elements of Modern English vocabulary. Old English is a West Germanic language , and developed out of Ingvaeonic (also known as North Sea Germanic) dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England . This included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland , which for several centuries belonged to
13760-577: The basis for the literary standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle and Modern English would develop mainly from Mercian, and Scots from Northumbrian. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule and settlement beginning in the 9th century. Old English is one of the West Germanic languages , and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon . Like other old Germanic languages, it
13920-559: The beginnings of the compound tenses of Modern English . Old English verbs include strong verbs , which form the past tense by altering the root vowel, and weak verbs , which use a suffix such as -de . As in Modern English, and peculiar to the Germanic languages, the verbs formed two great classes: weak (regular), and strong (irregular). Like today, Old English had fewer strong verbs, and many of these have over time decayed into weak forms. Then, as now, dental suffixes indicated
14080-522: The borough. The most devastating raid was on 1 June 1942 during the Baedeker Blitz . Before the end of the war, the architect Charles Holden drew up plans to redevelop the city centre, but locals were so opposed that the Citizens' Defence Association was formed; it swept to power in the 1945 municipal elections. Rebuilding of the city centre eventually began 10 years after the war. A ring road
14240-494: The borrowing of individual Latin words based on which patterns of sound change they have undergone. Some Latin words had already been borrowed into the Germanic languages before the ancestral Angles and Saxons left continental Europe for Britain. More entered the language when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity and Latin-speaking priests became influential. It was also through Irish Christian missionaries that
14400-468: The church of St Alphedge but in the following year had begun to use the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral as their church. The Church of the Crypt swiftly became the nucleus of the Huguenot community in Canterbury. By the 17th century, French-speaking Huguenots comprised two-fifths of Canterbury's population. The Huguenots had a large influence on the economy of Canterbury, and introduced silk weaving into
14560-546: The city centre and University of Kent . Canterbury has two operational park and ride sites at Wincheap and New Dover Road, both intended for visitors arriving from the south by road. National Cycle Routes 1 runs through Canterbury from Dover and Sandwich to Whitstable . National Cycle Route 18 runs from Canterbury to Ashford . Canterbury's first newspaper was the Kentish Post , founded in 1717. It merged with newly founded Kentish Gazette in 1768 which
14720-700: The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci and Jute Kingdom of Kent . Many historical structures fill the area, including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century, the Westgate Towers museum, the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey , the Norman Canterbury Castle , and the oldest extant school in the world , the King's School . Modern additions include
14880-449: The city in 1994, and again in 2007 when it hosted the finish for Stage 1. Hockey Canterbury Hockey Club is one of the largest in the country; it enters teams in both the Men's and Women's England Hockey Leagues . Former Olympic gold medal winner Sean Kerly has been a member. Public Facilities Public sporting facilities are provided at Kingsmead Leisure Centre, including
15040-481: The city using, for example, life expectancy figures and the number of meals provided by the city food banks , as well as interviews with organisations and individuals attempting to help those in danger of and in poverty. This supports earlier findings on poverty in the city. The 17th century, double jettied , half-timbered Crooked House bookshop operated by the Catching Lives homelessness charity at
15200-474: The city which had outstripped wool weaving by 1676. Canterbury remained an important city in the 17th century. Charles I and Henrietta Maria visited in 1625; musicians played whilst the couple entered the city under a velvet canopy supported by six men holding poles. In 1647, during the English Civil War , riots broke out. The riots became known as the "Plum Pudding Riots". The rioters' trial
15360-614: The closest part of Britain to mainland Europe, it is likely that Kent would have experienced many attacks from seafaring raiders, resulting in the construction of four Saxon Shore Forts along the Kentish coast: Regulbium , Rutupiae , Dubris , and Portus Lemanis . It is also likely that Germanic-speaking mercenaries from northern Gaul , known as foederati , would have been hired to supplement official Roman troops during this period, with land in Kent as payment. These foederati would have assimilated into Romano-British culture, making it difficult to distinguish them archaeologically. There
15520-499: The cluster ending in the palatal affricate is sometimes written ⟨nċġ⟩ (or ⟨nġċ⟩ ) by modern editors. Between vowels in the middle of a word, the pronunciation can be either a palatalized geminate /ʃː/ , as in fisċere /ˈfiʃ.ʃe.re/ ('fisherman') and wȳsċan , /ˈwyːʃ.ʃɑn 'to wish'), or an unpalatalized consonant sequence /sk/ , as in āscian /ˈɑːs.ki.ɑn/ ('to ask'). The pronunciation /sk/ occurs when ⟨sc⟩ had been followed by
15680-408: The coast, or else it may derive from a related word *angô which could refer to curve or hook shapes including fishing hooks. Concerning the second option, it has been hypothesised that the Angles acquired their name either because they lived on a curved promontory of land shaped like a fishhook , or else because they were fishermen (anglers). Old English was not static, and its usage covered
15840-560: The congregation. With the accession of Mary I , the Huguenot residents of Canterbury were compelled to flee in 1553–4 alongside the English Marian exiles to Emden , Wesel , Zürich , Strasbourg, Frankfurt , and later Basel , Geneva , and Aarau . After the accession of Elizabeth I , a small number of Huguenots returned to London, including Jan Utenhove in 1559. In 1561, a number of Huguenots in London were sent to Sandwich ,
16000-778: The construction of the Eorpenburnam fort, possibly Castle Toll . Hoards have been found, particularly around the West Kent coast, that might have been wealth hidden from the Vikings. In 892, when southern England was united under Alfred the Great , Kent was on the brink of disaster. Alfred had defeated Guthrum the Old and allowed Vikings by treaty to settle in East Anglia and the North East. However, other Danes were still on
16160-421: The dative case, an adposition may conceivably be located anywhere in the sentence. Remnants of the Old English case system in Modern English are in the forms of a few pronouns (such as I/me/mine , she/her , who/whom/whose ) and in the possessive ending -'s , which derives from the masculine and neuter genitive ending -es . The modern English plural ending -(e)s derives from the Old English -as , but
16320-531: The earliest reliably attested Anglo-Saxon monarch. Bede states that Æthelberht was a bretwalda who controlled everything south of the River Humber , including other kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to wars in sixth-century Britain, but most were in the west and did not affect Kent; the one exception was a battle between the Kentish and West Saxons in 568, during which Æthelberht's forces were pushed back into Kent. Æthelberht's reign also produced
16480-489: The early 16th century, the population had fallen to 3,000. In 1363, during the Hundred Years' War , a Commission of Inquiry found disrepair, stone-robbing and ditch-filling had led to the Roman wall becoming eroded. Between 1378 and 1402, the wall was virtually rebuilt, and new wall towers were added. In 1381, during Wat Tyler 's Peasants' Revolt , the castle and Archbishop's Palace were sacked, and Archbishop Sudbury
16640-419: The east of the kingdom too. In 686 Kent was conquered by Cædwalla of Wessex ; within a year, Cædwalla's brother Mul was killed in a Kentish revolt, and Cædwalla returned to devastate the kingdom again. After this, Kent fell into a state of disorder. The Mercians backed a client king named Oswine , but he seems to have reigned for only about two years, after which Wihtred became king. Wihtred, famous for
16800-431: The east. However, various suggestions have been made concerning possible influence that Celtic may have had on developments in English syntax in the post–Old English period, such as the regular progressive construction and analytic word order , as well as the eventual development of the periphrastic auxiliary verb do . These ideas have generally not received widespread support from linguists, particularly as many of
16960-470: The end of Palace Street, opposite Kings School is frequently photographed for its quirky, slanted appearance. Canterbury Roman Museum houses an in situ mosaic pavement dating from around 300 AD . Other surviving Roman structures in the city include Queningate, a blocked gate in the city wall, and the Dane John Mound , once part of a Roman cemetery . The Dane John Gardens were built beside
17120-682: The fertile area west of the kingdom attractive for conquest, particularly the Darenth Valley and the dip slopes of the North Downs to the west of the Medway. During the sixth century, while the archaeological record in Kent includes items from Jutland , the dominant influence became Frankish . Firmly in the control of an elite class, Kent is the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to appear in the historical record in 597. The monk Bede refers to Kent as ruled by Æthelberht at this period, making him
17280-482: The fifth century, in 418 many Romans left Britain via Kent, taking much of their wealth with them. This may represent a memory of a genuine exodus of the Roman aristocracy. According to archaeologist Martin Welch, the fifth century witnessed "a radical transformation of what became Kent, politically, socially and in terms of physical landscape". There has been much debate as to the scale of Jutish migration; some see it as
17440-859: The fifty seats on the Canterbury City Council , which governs the city. The former Holy Cross Church building was officially re-opened by the Prince of Wales as the new Canterbury Guildhall and meeting place of the City Council on 9 November 1978. The Member of Parliament for the Canterbury constituency, which includes Whitstable, is Rosie Duffield formerly of the Labour Party but now sits as an independent. Canterbury district retained approximately 4,761 businesses, up to 60,000 full and part-time employees and
17600-500: The first half of their evening. After an interval, the members sang catches and glees from the club's extensive music library which is now deposited at Canterbury Cathedral's archives. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Canterbury Scene emerged comprising progressive rock , avant-garde and jazz musicians established within the city. Members included Soft Machine , Caravan , Matching Mole , Egg , Hatfield and
17760-460: The first target of the rising power of Offa of Mercia : in 764, he gained supremacy over Kent and ruled it through client kings . By the early 770s, it appears that Offa was attempting to rule Kent directly, and a rebellion followed. A battle was fought at Otford in 776, and although the outcome is unknown, records of following years suggest that the rebels prevailed; Egbert II and later Ealhmund seem to have ruled independently of Offa for nearly
17920-513: The following year led to a Kent revolt against Parliamentarian forces, contributing to the start of the second phase of the war. However, Canterbury surrendered peacefully to Parliamentarians at the Battle of Maidstone . By 1770, the castle had fallen into disrepair, and many parts of it were demolished during the late 18th century and early 19th century. In 1787 all the gates in the city wall, except for Westgate —the city jail—were demolished as
18080-645: The former diphthong /iy/ tended to become monophthongised to /i/ in EWS, but to /y/ in LWS. Due to the centralisation of power and the destruction wrought by Viking invasions, there is relatively little written record of the non-West Saxon dialects after Alfred's unification. Some Mercian texts continued to be written, however, and the influence of Mercian is apparent in some of the translations produced under Alfred's programme, many of which were produced by Mercian scholars. Other dialects certainly continued to be spoken, as
18240-481: The fourth wealthiest kingdom in England, according to the Tribal Hidage with 15,000 hides of land recorded in the seventh or eighth century. However the period was tumultuous for the Kentish royal family; Kent was ruled by Ecgberht from 664 to 673, but between 664 and 667 two royal cousins, Æthelred and Æthelberht , were killed at Eastry royal hall, perhaps because they were a threat to Ecgberht. Ecgberht
18400-531: The futhorc. A few letter pairs were used as digraphs , representing a single sound. Also used was the Tironian note ⟨⁊⟩ (a character similar to the digit 7) for the conjunction and . A common scribal abbreviation was a thorn with a stroke ⟨ꝥ⟩ , which was used for the pronoun þæt ( that ). Macrons over vowels were originally used not to mark long vowels (as in modern editions), but to indicate stress, or as abbreviations for
18560-603: The inscriptions on the Franks Casket ) date to the early 8th century. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 8th century. With the unification of several of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (outside the Danelaw ) by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect (Early West Saxon). Alfred advocated education in English alongside Latin, and had many works translated into
18720-483: The language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as
18880-429: The late sixth century. The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons began in Kent during Æthelberht's reign with the arrival of the monk Augustine of Canterbury and his Gregorian mission in 597. Kent was one of the seven kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon heptarchy , but it lost its independence in the 8th century when it became a sub-kingdom of Mercia . In the 9th century it became a sub-kingdom of Wessex , and in
19040-449: The latter applied only to "strong" masculine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases; different plural endings were used in other instances. Old English nouns had grammatical gender , while modern English has only natural gender. Pronoun usage could reflect either natural or grammatical gender when those conflicted, as in the case of ƿīf , a neuter noun referring to a female person. In Old English's verbal compound constructions are
19200-401: The links between the Kingdom of Kent and Kingdom of East Anglia , with shared North Sea interests. During this period, Anglo-Saxon kings moved around their kingdoms continually, subsisting on goods from the local populations and reciprocating with gifts. Various seventh and eighth century documents attest to the fact that Kent was governed by two kings, possibly a dominant one in the east and
19360-456: The modern knight ( /naɪt/ ). The following table lists the Old English letters and digraphs together with the phonemes they represent, using the same notation as in the Phonology section above. After /n/ , /j/ was realized as [dʒ] and /ɣ/ was realized as [ɡ] . The spellings ⟨ncg⟩ , ⟨ngc⟩ and even ⟨ncgg⟩ were occasionally used instead of
19520-515: The mound in the 18th century, and a memorial placed on the mound's summit. Westgate Towers is a museum narrating its earlier use as a jail . The medieval church of St Alphege is as of 2022 used by the King's School . The Old Synagogue , now the King's School Music Room, is one of only two Egyptian Revival synagogues still standing. The city centre contains many timber-framed 16th and 17th century houses but others were destroyed, particularly in
19680-485: The move. Haesten , a highly experienced warrior-leader, had mustered huge forces in northern France having besieged Paris and taken Brittany . As many as 350 Viking ships sailed from Boulogne to the south coast of Kent in 892. Between 5000 and 10,000 men, with their families and horses, came up Limen estuary (the east-west route of the Royal Military Canal in reclaimed Romney Marsh ) and attacked
19840-450: The naive reader would not assume that they are chronologically related. Each of these four dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the islands. Of these, Northumbria south of the Tyne , and most of Mercia , were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia that was successfully defended, and all of Kent , were then integrated into Wessex under Alfred
20000-539: The new Jutish kingdom, the Cantware ("dwellers of Kent"). The Germanic migration to Britain is noted in textual sources from the late Anglo-Saxon period, most notably Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ; both rely on oral histories from the fifth century, and were attempts to establish origin myths that would justify the politics of the time. According to
20160-662: The northwest, the Westgate survives as the Westgate Towers museum . Immediately outside the Westgate is the River Stour which crosses the city from southwest to northeast. A road runs straight across the city from the Westgate, forming the High Street (including St George's Street) and part of the North Downs Way. St Augustine's Abbey lies just outside the city walls. The city became a county borough under
20320-580: The nuns of Lyminge were granted refuge in Canterbury to escape the attackers, while in 811 Kentish forces gathered to repel a Viking army based on the Isle of Sheppey . Further recorded attacks occurred on Sheppey in 835, through Romney Marsh in 841, in Rochester in 842, Canterbury ( Battle of Aclea ) and Sandwich ( Battle of Sandwich ) in 851, Thanet in 853, and across Kent in 865. Kent was also attractive for its easy access to major land and sea routes. By 811, it
20480-512: The past tense of the weak verbs, as in work and worked . Old English syntax is similar to that of modern English . Some differences are consequences of the greater level of nominal and verbal inflection, allowing freer word order . Old English was first written in runes , using the futhorc —a rune set derived from the Germanic 24-character elder futhark , extended by five more runes used to represent Anglo-Saxon vowel sounds and sometimes by several more additional characters. From around
20640-477: The preceding Romano-British administration the area of Kent faced repeated attacks from seafaring raiders during the fourth century AD. It is likely that Germanic-speaking foederati were invited to settle in the area as mercenaries. Following the end of Roman administration in 410, further linguistically Germanic tribal groups moved into the area, as testified by both archaeological evidence and Late Anglo-Saxon textual sources. The primary ethnic group to settle in
20800-434: The present location in 1984. It was completely rebuilt in 2011 with a main 1,200-seat auditorium and secondary performance space. Its modern structure is a landmark across the city. The University of Kent 's Gulbenkian Theatre serves the city, and incorporates a cinema and café. Other theatrical performances take place at Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey . The oldest surviving theatre building in Canterbury
20960-453: The previous year. The two universities provided an even greater benefit. In 2014/2015, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University were worth £909m to city's economy and accounted for 16% of all jobs. Unemployment in the city dropped 0.6 percentage points to 1.7% from 2001 to 2007. The registered unemployment rate as of September 2011 stood at 5.7%. By May 2018, the rate had dropped to 1.8%; in fact, Kent in general had
21120-561: The region have been termed the "Kentish Group" and reflect both Italian and Frankish influences in their design; early examples include St Pancras, St Mary, and St Peter and St Paul, all part of St. Augustine's monastery in Canterbury, as well as St. Andrews in Rochester and St Mary in Lyminge . In the late seventh century, the earliest charters appear, giving estate boundaries, and showing reclamation of land, for use by livestock, from
21280-419: The richest and most significant bodies of literature preserved among the early Germanic peoples. In his supplementary article to the 1935 posthumous edition of Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader , Dr. James Hulbert writes: Canterbury Canterbury ( / ˈ k æ n t ər b ( ə ) r i / , /- b ɛ r i / ) is a city and UNESCO World Heritage Site , in the county of Kent , England; it
21440-472: The river. After King Ealhmund presumably died shortly after witnessing a charter in 784, his son Egbert was driven out of Kent and into exile by Offa of Mercia. It is clear from charters that Offa was in control of Kent by 785. Rather than just acting as overlord of his new possession, he attempted to annex it or at least reduce its importance by creating a new diocese in Mercia at Lichfield , possibly because
21600-553: The smaller University for the Creative Arts , was almost 40,000. Canterbury is in east Kent, about 55 miles (89 km) east-southeast of London. The coastal towns of Herne Bay and Whitstable are 6 miles (10 km) to the north, and Faversham is 8 miles (13 km) to the northwest. The city is on the River Stour or Great Stour . The river is navigable on the tidal section to Fordwich, although above this point canoes and other small craft can be used. The geology of
21760-409: The theorized Brittonicisms do not become widespread until the late Middle English and Early Modern English periods, in addition to the fact that similar forms exist in other modern Germanic languages. Old English contained a certain number of loanwords from Latin , which was the scholarly and diplomatic lingua franca of Western Europe. It is sometimes possible to give approximate dates for
21920-564: The time still lacked the letters ⟨j⟩ and ⟨w⟩ , and there was no ⟨v⟩ as distinct from ⟨u⟩ ; moreover native Old English spellings did not use ⟨k⟩ , ⟨q⟩ or ⟨z⟩ . The remaining 20 Latin letters were supplemented by four more: ⟨ æ ⟩ ( æsc , modern ash ) and ⟨ð⟩ ( ðæt , now called eth or edh), which were modified Latin letters, and thorn ⟨þ⟩ and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ , which are borrowings from
22080-526: The two university's and broadcasting from studios at both. It replaced the student radio stations that served both university's being UKCR and C4 Radio respectively. In 2020 due to the COVID pandemic the station management decided to hand back the FM licence to OFCOM due to rising costs and has been broadcasting online since. There are plans for CSR to go on the recently awarded digital radio multiplex when it launches in
22240-404: The usual ⟨ng⟩ . The addition of ⟨c⟩ to ⟨g⟩ in spellings such as ⟨cynincg⟩ and ⟨cyningc⟩ for ⟨cyning⟩ may have been a means of showing that the word was pronounced with a stop rather than a fricative; spellings with just ⟨nc⟩ such as ⟨cyninc⟩ are also found. To disambiguate,
22400-516: The visit of King Charles II on his return from exile. Civic waits were ultimately abolished nationally by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 but a modern, early music group called The Canterbury Waits has revived the name. Canterbury's Catch Club was a musical and social club which met in the city between 1779 and 1865. Its male club members met weekly in the winter and employed an orchestra to assist in performances for
22560-754: The warring kingdoms; the Faestendic passing through the Cray Valley and the routeway that has since become the A25 were likely Kentish earthworks of this period designed to protect the kingdom. Evidence for such militarisation might also be seen in the Rochester Bridge burdens, documented from the 790s, which lay out the obligation for the Roman bridge across the River Medway to be maintained, which would be vital for allowing Kentish troops to cross
22720-478: The word was so nearly the same in the two languages that only the endings would put obstacles in the way of mutual understanding. In the mixed population which existed in the Danelaw, these endings must have led to much confusion, tending gradually to become obscured and finally lost. This blending of peoples and languages resulted in "simplifying English grammar". The inventory of Early West Saxon surface phones
22880-421: Was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour . The city has a mild oceanic climate. Canterbury is a popular tourist destination, with the city's economy heavily reliant upon tourism, alongside higher education and retail. As of 2011, the city's population was over 55,000, including a substantial number of students and one of the highest student-to-permanent-resident ratios in Britain. The site of
23040-443: Was an allophone of short /ɑ/ which occurred in stressed syllables before nasal consonants (/m/ and /n/). It was variously spelled either ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩. The Anglian dialects also had the mid front rounded vowel /ø(ː)/ , spelled ⟨œ⟩, which had emerged from i-umlaut of /o(ː)/ . In West Saxon and Kentish, it had already merged with /e(ː)/ before the first written prose. Other dialects had different systems of diphthongs. For example,
23200-439: Was based on the West Saxon dialect , away from the main area of Scandinavian influence; the impact of Norse may have been greater in the eastern and northern dialects. Certainly in Middle English texts, which are more often based on eastern dialects, a strong Norse influence becomes apparent. Modern English contains many, often everyday, words that were borrowed from Old Norse, and the grammatical simplification that occurred after
23360-545: Was beheaded in London. In 1413, Henry IV became the only sovereign to be buried at the cathedral. In 1448 Canterbury was granted a City Charter , which gave it a mayor and a high sheriff ; the city still has a Lord Mayor and Sheriff. In 1519 a public cage for talkative women and other wrongdoers was set up next to the town's pillory at the Bullstake, now the Buttermarket. In 1522 a stone cross with gilt lead stars
23520-413: Was constructed in stages outside the city walls to alleviate growing traffic problems in the city centre, which was later pedestrianised. The biggest expansion of the city occurred in the 1960s, with the arrival of the University of Kent at Canterbury and Christ Church College . The 1980s saw visits from Queen Elizabeth II , and the beginning of the annual Canterbury Festival . Between 1999 and 2005,
23680-481: Was either /ʃ/ or possibly /ʃː/ when the preceding vowel was short. Doubled consonants are geminated ; the geminate fricatives ⟨ff⟩ , ⟨ss⟩ and ⟨ðð⟩ / ⟨þþ⟩ / ⟨ðþ⟩ / ⟨þð⟩ are always voiceless [ff] , [ss] , [θθ] . The corpus of Old English literature is small but still significant, with some 400 surviving manuscripts. The pagan and Christian streams mingle in Old English, one of
23840-732: Was erected at the same place, and painted with bice and gilded by Florence the painter. In the mid-16th century many Huguenots , experiencing persecution and conflict in the Low Countries , fled and resettled in Reformed regions such as England. Canterbury hosted the first congregation of so-called 'refugee strangers' in the country. This first Huguenot church in Canterbury was founded around 1548, in part by Jan Utenhove who relocated from Strasbourg , alongside Valérand Poullain and François de la Rivière . When Utenhove travelled to London in 1549, Francois de la Rivière remained to lead
24000-616: Was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham ("the Grammarian"). This form of the language is known as the " Winchester standard", or more commonly as Late West Saxon. It is considered to represent the "classical" form of Old English. It retained its position of prestige until the time of the Norman Conquest, after which English ceased for a time to be of importance as a literary language. The history of Old English can be subdivided into: The Old English period
24160-716: Was independent of East Kent, and part of the Kingdom of the East Saxons north of the Thames Estuary . In the sixth century the Kingdom of Kent had some relationship with the Merovingian -governed Kingdom of Francia , which was then extending its influence in northwestern Europe. Textual sources suggest that Kent may have been under Merovingian control for part of this century. Archeological evidence of Frankish material culture from this period has been found in Kent, but not in other areas of lowland Britain, suggesting
24320-562: Was made between long and short vowels in the originals. (In some older editions an acute accent mark was used for consistency with Old Norse conventions.) Additionally, modern editions often distinguish between velar and palatal ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ by placing dots above the palatals: ⟨ċ⟩ , ⟨ġ⟩ . The letter wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ is usually replaced with ⟨w⟩ , but ⟨æ⟩ , ⟨ð⟩ and ⟨þ⟩ are normally retained (except when ⟨ð⟩
24480-414: Was opened in 1830; bankrupt by 1844, it was purchased by the South Eastern Railway , which connected the city to its larger network in 1846. The London, Chatham & Dover Railway arrived in 1860; the competition and cost-cutting between the lines was resolved by merging them as the South Eastern & Chatham in 1899. Between 1830 and 1900, the city's population grew from 15,000 to 24,000. During
24640-418: Was replaced by that of Wessex in 825, following the latter's victory at the Battle of Ellendun , and the Mercian client king Baldred was expelled. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Kent was first attacked by Viking raiders in the late eighth century. Kent and southeast England would have been an attractive target because of its wealthy minsters, often located on exposed coastal locations. In 804,
24800-402: Was significant regional variation, with the former view being more applicable in the south and east and the latter in the north and west. In Kent, archaeological and historical evidence suggests that a large-scale immigration of Germanic peoples did indeed take place. However, some of the Romano-British population likely remained, as the Roman name for the area, Cantiaca , influenced the name of
24960-411: Was spoken and Danish law applied. Old English literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century. The oldest surviving work of Old English literature is Cædmon's Hymn , which was composed between 658 and 680 but not written down until the early 8th century. There is a limited corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries, but the oldest coherent runic texts (notably
25120-425: Was substantive, pervasive, and of a democratic character. Old Norse and Old English resembled each other closely like cousins, and with some words in common, speakers roughly understood each other; in time the inflections melted away and the analytic pattern emerged. It is most important to recognize that in many words the English and Scandinavian language differed chiefly in their inflectional elements. The body of
25280-510: Was succeeded by his brother, Hlothere , who ruled from 674 to 686 before being overthrown and killed by one of Ecgberht's sons, Eadric , who had allied with the South Saxons; Eadric then ruled until 687. In the late seventh century, Kent gradually came to be dominated by Mercia. There had been a Kentish royal hall and reeve in Lundenwic until at least the 680s, but the city then passed into Mercian hands. The loss of Lundenwic probably broke Kent's monopoly on cross-Channel trade and its control of
25440-448: Was the earliest recorded form of the English language , spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages . It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman (a type of French ) as
25600-413: Was worth £1.3 billion in 2001. This made the district the second largest economy in Kent. Today, the three primary sectors are tourism, higher education and retail. In 2015, the value of tourism to the city of Canterbury was over £450 million; 7.2 million people visited that year, making it one of the most-visited cities in England. A full 9,378 jobs were supported by tourism, an increase of 6% over
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