THE ANGLO SAXON PERIOD

Maddie Bishop, Nick Gill, Connor Covington, and Kareen Elrefai

LITERARY HISTORY They had an early writing system called the ‘runic’ alphabet,

which was used for inscriptions on coins and monuments.

All literature was told orally and not written down. In the halls of nobles and kings, scops told stories of heroes in

epic poems (lengthy tales of heroic warriors. Ex. Beowulf) and lyric poems (short poems that are sang rather then said)

There were also Anglo-Saxon riddles that gave descriptions of familiar objects, and people had to guess what the object was.

Other major works at that time include The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood. These are the only major works that survived to this day.

EVENTS IN BRITAIN

597- Christian missionaries land in Kent; Christianity begins to spread among Anglo-Saxons.

793-Vikings begin first of many raids on Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

871- Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex ( to 899).

1016-Canute,a Dane, becomes king of England ( to 1035).

1066- Norman conquest- William the Conqueror defeated Harold at Hastings and becomes king of England.

750: Surviving version of Beowulf probably composed.

975: Anglo-Saxon verse collected in Exeter book

1000: surviving version of Beowulf written out by monks.

1070: The Bayeux tapestry was created to recall the events of the Norman conquest at the battle of Hastings.

EVENTS IN BRITISH LITERATURE EVENTS

EVENTS TAKING PLACE IN THE WORLD DURING THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

527 – Justinian becomes the emperor of the byzantine

622 – Islam is created 800 - Charlemagne is

crowned king of Holy Roman empire

800 – Chinese invent gun powder

1054 - Christian church divides