Scottish literature in the Middle Ages Scottish literature in the Middle Ages Scottish literature in the Middle Ages is literature written in Scotland, or by Scottish writers, between the departure of the Romans from Britain in the fifth century, until the establishment of the Renaissance in the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. It includes literature written in Brythonic, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, French and Latin. Much of the earliest Welsh literature was actually composed in or near the country now called Scotland, in the Brythonic speech, from which Welsh would be derived. This includes the epic poem "The Gododdin", considered the earliest surviving verse from
England in the Late Middle Ages The Warm Period was followed by several centuries of much cooler temperatures, termed the Little Ice Age; by the fourteenth century spring temperatures had dropped considerably, reaching their coldest in the 1340s and 1350s. This cold end to the Middle Ages impacted significantly on English agriculture and living conditions. England's environment continued to be shaped throughout the period, through the building of dykes to drain marshes, tree clearance and the large scale extraction of peat. Managed parks for hunting game, including deer and boars, were built as status symbols by the nobility from the twelfth century. The English economy was