The Anglo-Saxon Period449 A.D. – 1066 A.D.

The Anglo-Saxon PeriodQuiz Time

1.What are the three periods (or maybe four) of the English language?

2.Who are the Angles and Saxons?3.What type of religion did the Anglo-

Saxons practice?

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? ??

How good is

your

geography??

??

?

Language Families

Languages can be classified by their genealogy.

Below: a simplified map of the English

language’s genealogy.

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/language.html

Prot

o-In

do-

Euro

pean

Ethnologue! This is a fantastic resource!

http://www.ethnologue.com/ Language Family Trees Indo-European

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2-16

“It turns out that 389 (or nearly 6%) of the world’s languages have at least one million speakers and account for 94% of the world’s population. By contrast, the remaining 94% of languages are spoken by only 6% of the world’s people.” http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=size

Languages of the United States (Note national or official languages) http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=US

Ages of English Timeline

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_ages_english.shtml

Before the Anglo-Saxons Come to the

British IslesIn 55 B.C. Julius Caesar asserts Roman rule over the British Isles and the peoples who live there, the Britons, Picts, and the Gaels who had an oral tradition of literature where they passed on history, stories, and beliefs by word of mouth.  When Britain became a province c. 45 A.D., the Roman’s introduced cities, fine stone roads, written scholarship, and Christianity. In the early 400s Rome came under attack though, so the Romans abandoned Britain.

You read a boring play about me. I

am a Roman, and I shall bring great things to Britain!

Umm…Thanks for all the cool stuff that you brought us! Too bad you

couldn’t stay longer! (sarcasm)

The Anglo Saxon Period

449 A.D. – 1066 A.D.Around 449 A.D. the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians invaded the British Isles. 

Anglo-Saxon is the term used to describe the people and culture of the British Isles from 449-1066. Angle-land = England. 

Early Anglo-Saxon invaders were seafaring warriors. They practiced a pagan religion marked by a strong belief in wyrd, or fate. Anglo-Saxons believed that their heroes were fated to prevail in battle. With the introduction of Christianity in the sixth century, the Anglo-Saxons became more “civilized.”

We’re Germanic tribes, and that island over there looks pretty

nice to us. We’re thinking about heading over there. We’re

gonna take our pagan beliefs with us. Go ahead and try to

stop us. We’re warriors, and we have wyrd on our side!

Development of the English Language and

Literary HistoryThe Germanic dialects of the Anglo-Saxons grew into the English language. This language spoken between 450 and 1100 is known as Old English. It is different from the English we speak today. It is:• harsher in sound.•written phonetically, with no silent letters.•grammatically more complex.•written in the runic alphabet. Runic Script

Literature was generally passed down orally rather than being written down. Scops, or oral poets, sang the poetry of the day to crowds of Anglo-Saxons gathered in mead halls. They would perform epic poetry, long narrative poems on serious subjects that traced adventures of a great hero, and lyric poetry, short poems in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings.

The Growth of Christianity and Literary

History

In 597 Augustine, a Roman missionary, established a monastery in Canterbury and Christianity spread quickly. The Roman alphabet started to replace the runic alphabet.  Before printing scribes copied manuscripts by hand. Christian monks may have written down Beowulf, an epic tale of a legendary hero of the northern European past.

I’m a monk. Because I’m a member of the religious sect,

I’m educated. Since there isn’t such a thing as a

printing press yet, I get to copy down manuscripts. I

probably wrote down Beowulf. I didn’t come up

with the story myself though. Sometimes I doodle on the manuscripts when I write

things down. Today you call those illuminated

manuscripts.

The Danish Invasions

In the 790s, the Danes or Vikings came to Britain. The Danes’ rule ended with the Norman Conquest in 1066 when William the Conqueror from Normandy was crowned king of England.

It’s nothing personal, but Mrs. K. doesn’t really care much about the

Danish Invasions. She actually only wanted you to read that

section because it talks about the Norman Conquest. That’s when the Normans (people from what today is France) came to Britain.

That’s why we have French influences in our language.

What is an Epic?An epic is a long narrative poem that celebrates a hero’s deeds. Other epics you might know would be The Odyssey, The Iliad, Don Quixote. Kennings are poetic synonyms found in Germanic poems, such as Beowulf. A kenning is a descriptive phrase that takes the place of a noun. For instance in Beowulf, the phrase “sin-stained demon” is used in place of Grendel’s name.

Another great kenning is whale-road which refers to the sea.

Preparing to Read

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. The Anglo-Saxons used it a lot. It’s kind of like how you think poetry should rhyme; they thought poetry should have alliteration. Why do poets use it?1. Emphasize particular words or

images2. Heighten moods3. Create musical effects Slimy salamanders

slide silently over the sandy shore.

Build BackgroundBeowulf is a Geat warrior who crosses the sea to help the Danes. The action of Beowulf probably took place shortly after the year 525. The written version of Beowulf that has survived is probably from between the eighth and tenth centuries, after Christianity spread to the Anglo-Saxons. It was written in Old English.

55 B.C.

Julius Caesar comes to Britain

449 A.D.

Germanic tribes come to Britain

c. 525 A.D.

Action in Beowulf probably occurred

597 A.D.

Christianity comes to Britain

700-900 A.D.

Beowulf is written down.

1066 A.D.

The Normans (French) come to Britain

Old Englis

h450-1100

AD Beowulf

Middle Englis

h1100-1500

ADCanterbur

y TalesModer

n Englis

h1500-

PresentShakespea

re, Us

55 B.C.449 A.D.

c. 525 A.D.597 A.D.700-900 A.D.1066 A.D.

Old Englis

hMiddle Englis

hModern

English

This is a great site with info of the Old English of Beowulf. http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/engol-1.html