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Beowulf and the Anglo- Saxons

Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

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Page 1: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons

Page 2: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The Anglo-Saxon Period

449-1066

Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Page 3: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Anglo-Saxons

• The king's power. One of these customs was fighting everyone in sight. A king's power was not hereditary; it depended solely on his ability to win battles and so gain land, treasure, and slaves to give his supporters. He was obliged to fight and keep fighting. If not, he would find himself out of a job or deprived of his life, or both. Succession from father to son was never a forgone conclusion. Any relative of the old king who could muster enough support could make a bid for the throne. This helps to explain why the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came and went so quickly. The power of any kingdom over its neighbors was only as solid as the strength of its king in battle.

Page 4: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)
Page 5: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

You Think High School Cliques Are Bad!

• Society was divided into several social classes, which might vary from place to place. At the top was the king. He was essentially a war leader. He was expected to provide opportunities for plunder and glory for his followers. The king who did not provide land, slaves, or plunder might wake up dead one fine morning.

Below the king there were two levels of freemen, the upper class thanes and the lower class ceorls (churls). The division between the two was strictly in terms of land owned. A man could only be a thane if he owned at least five hides of land (a hide was defined as the amount of land necessary to provide a living for one family). Below the thanes and ceorls were the slaves.

Page 6: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

I’d Rather Be a Slave to Love…(or

shoes!)

• How did one become a slave? You could have the bad luck to be born a slave, of course. Beyond that, war was the most frequent source of slaves. Many conquered Celtic Britons would have become slaves. People could also become slaves if they were unable to pay a fine. In some cases a family would sell a child into slavery in time of famine to ensure the child's survival.

• Slavery was not necessarily a lifetime sentence, however. A slave could be ransomed by his or her relatives or granted freedom in an owner's will. If a person became a slave because they were unable to pay a debt, they might be freed when the value of their labor reached the value of the original debt.

Page 7: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Got Slaves? • Slavery was one of the biggest commercial enterprises during this

period.• Much depended on this involuntary labor, including building

churches.

Page 8: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Life and Religion

• It is difficult to generalize about an era as lengthy as the Dark Ages, but we'll do it anyway. The Anglo-Saxons were pagans when they came to Britain. They worshipped gods of nature and held springs, wells, rocks, and trees in reverence. Religion was not a source of spiritual revelation, it was a means of ensuring success in material things. For example, you might pray to a particular goddess for a successful harvest, or for victory in battle.

• Religious observance consisted of invocations and charms to ensure the gods' help in securing a desired outcome in the material world, though the presence of grave goods indicates a belief in an afterlife.

Page 9: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The Coming of Christianity

• In 432, the whole of Celtic Ireland was converted by Patrick, a Romanized Briton.

• In 563, a group of Irish monks led by a soldier and abbot named Columba established a monastery on the island of Iona off the West coast of Scotland.

• Later, the Roman church began to send missionaries throughout Europe.

• In 597, Saint Augustine converted the King of England and establish a monastery at Canterbury.

• By 650, most of England was Christian in name, if not in fact.

Page 10: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)
Page 11: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Christianity and Literature

• The church brought education and written literature to England.

• Monks established churches, monasteries, and libraries.

• Monks recorded and duplicated illuminated manuscripts, at first only written in Latin.

• Oral literature was transcribed into written form.

• Monks preserved not only Latin and Greek classics but also popular literature (Beowulf).

Page 12: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

This Dude Puts the “B” in Bravery

• Beowulf is both the first English literary masterpiece and one of the earliest European epics written in the vernacular, or native language, instead of literary Latin. The story survives in one fragile manuscript copied by two scribes near the end of the 10th or the first quarter of the 11th century. The Anglo-Saxon word-element Beo means "bright" or "noble," and the word-element wulf means (surprise!) "wolf." So Beowulf means "bright wolf" or "noble wolf" -- both of which apply to our hero.

Page 13: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

What we don’t know:

who wrote it

when exactly it was written

how much, exactly, is based on historical truth

Page 14: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The 411Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language, so everything written since Beowulf stems from it in some way

There are many Christian references in the poem, but the characters and setting are Pagan which means a monk probably translated it.The only copy of the manuscript was written sometime around the 11th century A.D. (1000’s), but the poem had been around for hundreds of years before that.

Page 15: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The Poetry in BeowulfA few things to watch

out forAlliteration=repetition of initial sounds of words (occurs in every line)

A caesura, or pause, between beats two and four

No rhyme

Page 16: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The Poetry in BeowulfA few things to watch

out for2. Kennings

a. Compound metaphor (usually two words)

b. Most were probably used over and over

For instance: hronade literally means “whale-road,” but can be translated as “sea”

Page 17: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

epic

Beowulf is an epic poem.

This means it has a larger-than life hero and the conflict is of universal importance. There’s a certain serious that accompanies most epics.

Some terms you’ll want to know

Page 18: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

Themes and Important Aspects Good vs. Evil

Religion: Christian and Pagan influences

The importance of wealth and treasure

Loyalty and allegiance

Fate

Heroism and heroic deeds

Page 19: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

And you think it is hard to

communicate with your parents….• Beowulf is written in Old English. See if

you can recognize any of the following words.

http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/Beowulf.Readings/Beowulf.Readings.html

Page 20: Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 Stonehenge (c. 2000 BC)

The End

Go Vols!