Editing English folklore (section)

== History ==
[[File:A Chronicle of England - Page 052 - Baptism of King Guthorm.jpg|thumb|King Guthrum being appointed as a Christian by King Alfred before becoming the ruler of East Anglia]]
Before England was founded in the year 927, [[Wessex]] and its surrounding areas' cultures were transformed by the [[Viking activity in the British Isles|invasion]] of the Danish King [[Guthrum]] between 865 and 878.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Atherton |first=Mark |title=The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-00-300753-1 |pages=59–75}}</ref> The king of [[Wessex]], [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred]], prevailed against King Guthrum's troops in 878 and King Guthrum was [[Baptism|baptised]] and became the ruler of [[East Anglia]]. This continued the process of the assimilation of Norse words into the English language. Eventually English folklore melded with [[Norse mythology|Norse]] traditions such as in their [[iconography]], which became more Greek, and in their clothing and folktales which adopted more Nordic elements.<ref name="Atherton">{{Cite book |last=Atherton |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Atherton |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/975999502 |title=The making of England: a new history of the Anglo-Saxon world |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-78672-154-9 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |location=London |pages=53–58 |oclc=975999502}}</ref> The folklore of the people of England continued to be passed down through [[oral tradition]].{{r|McDowall}}

During the [[Renaissance]], artists captured these customs in the written word; such as [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] plays' reflections of English folklore through their witches, fairies, folk medicine, marriage and funeral customs, superstitions, and religious beliefs.{{r|McDowall}}

The Grimm brothers' publications such as ''[[Deutsche Sagen|German Legends]]'' and ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales]]'' were translated from their original German and distributed across Europe in 1816. Their stories inspired publishers such as [[William Thoms]] to compile legends from within English folklore and without to compose an English identity. The stories that the Grimm brothers collected were integrated into the English school curriculum throughout the 19th century as educators of morality.{{r|Cheeseman & Hart}}