Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars. The dialect was spoken from the Humber, now within England, to the Firth of Forth, now within Scotland. In the Danelaw after the Viking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the Norse language. The earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian: these are Caedmon's Hymn (7th century) and Bede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Caedmon's poetry, have been lost. Other examples of this dialect are the Runes on the Ruthwell Cross from the Dream of the Rood. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century Leiden Riddle and the mid-10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Viking invasion forced a division of the dialect into two distinct subdialects. South of the River Tees, southern Northumbrian was influenced by Norse, while northern Northumbrian retained many Old English words lost to the southern subdialect and influenced the development of the dialects of modern North East England (the modern Northumbrian dialect) and Scotland. Today, the Scots language (including Ulster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect, as are modern Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Yorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the North Lancashire dialect. History Historical linguists recognise four distinct dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon. The Northumbrian dialect was spoken in the Kingdom of Northumbria from the Humber to the River Mersey (mersey meaning border river) in northern England to the Firth of Forth in the Scottish Lowlands. Today, Modern Scots, Northumbrian, Cumbrian and north/east riding dialects originate purely from Northumbrian, as well as forming the basis for the since Mercian-influenced West Riding and Lancashire dialects. It was significantly different from the dialects spoken by other Kingdoms, especially that of West-Saxon (the primary dialect). Modern Standard English, on the other hand, has its origins in the Mercian dialect. The Angles brought their language (Englisc) to Northumbria in the 6th century AD, where it reached the modern-day Scottish Lowlands. This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded in poetic; e.g. Cædmon's Hymn ), writings of the Venerable Bede () and the Leiden Riddle. The language is also attested in the Lindisfarne Gospels , in modern Scotland as a carved runic text,