What was the first literature in English language?

Answer 1

The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye was his first printed book, and the first book printed anywhere in English. It was produced in 1473 on the Continent, in either Bruges or Ghent.

Answer 2

The oldest story in the English language is widely believed to be Beowulf. The oldest poem in English is Caedmon's Hymn, written by Caedmon in Old English. Not far behind Caedmon is Piers the Plowman.

Answer 3

This question can't really be answered for a couple of reasons.

First, English didn't suddenly exist in its current form on one particular day. Modern English descended gradually from Middle English, which descended gradually in part from Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English, itself an amalgamation of Saxon, Jutish, and Anglian dialects from the European continent), in part from Old Danish, and in part from Middle French.

The second problem is how you define "publish." Publishing by modern mechanized process? Publishing by printing press? Publishing by manuscript recopying? Publishing of a single edition of a hand-made/handwritten manuscript? Publishing as a stone engraving or as a wood carving?

All that said, most people consider the first published English text to have been "The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy" (which was written in what we now call Middle English), actually a translation that William Caxton did from a French text. The title means "The Account of the Histories of Troy" (in Greece). The translation was started actually in the Netherlands around 1469 and completed in Cologne in 1471.

Answer 4

The earliest known work of literature in English is "Beowulf," which dates back to the early 8th century. It is an epic poem that tells the story of a legendary hero named Beowulf who battles monsters and dragons.

Answer 5

The first newspaper in English language was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler around 1620. See related link to Wikipedia for more details.

Answer 6

Beowulf, from the early 8th Century, is the earliest surviving work of any length in English (or in all of Teutonic literature).

Answer 7

The first printer to publish a book in English was William Caxton

Answer 8

The Canterbury Tales

Answer 9

The Canterbury Tales