Anglo-Saxon Period449-1066

Names and Terms to Know

1. Angle land: name given to England by some Europeans after the Anglo-Saxon tribes settled there.

2. Alfred the Great: The greatest Anglo-Saxon king; fought the Danes.

3. The Magna Carta: Contract signed by King John giving some power to English nobles.

Names and Terms to Know

4. Bede: Monk and scholar who wrote a history of England.

5. William the Conqueror: The Duke of Normandy in France who invaded and conquered England in 1066.

6. Henry VII: First Tudor king, his accession ended the Wars of the Roses.

1. Christianity Comes to England

43 AD Emperor Claudius invaded Britain; marking the coming of ChristianitySubsequently introducing Latin learning, Christian theology, and a new moral system that replaced the pagan, tribal Anglo-Saxon religion.

Roman Helmet

2. The Norman ConquestThe Norman Conquest changed the English language, introducing many French words; French nobles replaced the Saxon lords. The Normans brought the feudal property system to England.

3. England during the1300s & 1400s

The Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster created an on going civil war in England, until Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and restored order.

The Plague struck England killing many people.

What is the relationship between place and literature?

1. Responding to an Island Environment

a. The early English regarded the sea as both a protective barrier and a dangerous, threatening place.

b. Christian monks changed “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer” by translating them and editing them to add Christian themes.

c. In Beowulf the “sea-road” led to fame and honor.

d. The mead-hall setting represented the center of human society-warmth, food, community.

2. Making a Nation of an Island

a. Bede portrayed England as a beginning nation.

b. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales helped draw together a national identity by portraying all the layers of his contemporary English society.

How does literature shape or reflect society?

1. Capturing a Vanishing Tribal World

a. Beowulf showed that to become a leader, he had to suffer various trials and prove himself.

b. What world was passing away in Beowulf? The tribal, seafaring world Anglo-Saxon world.

2. Chaucer and Society

a. What social types did The Canterbury Tales represent? All social types: clergy, nobility, the middle classes, and businesspeople.

b. What were some of the problems in the Catholic Church during Chaucer’s time? The discontent and corruption that led to the Protestant Reformation.

c. Chaucer portrayed his society without preaching about it.

d. What was a source of political turbulence in the medieval period? Class conflict in the Peasants’ Revolt.

e. Chaucer reflects the rising middle class by creating memorable characters like the Wife of Bath.

f. In dealing with social change, writers do not act like sociologist; rather they show how conflict and change affect people’s feelings and behavior.

What is the relationship of the writer to tradition?

1. Writers and Traditiona. “Tradition” means well-established ways of doing things, or

patterns from the past.

b. What did Sir Gawain and the Green Knight express through the use of old legends? The attraction to the past.

c. In Morte D’Arthur Sir Thomas Malory reworked the story of Arthur in order to write a farewell to the age of knighthood.

d. What are three possible ways in which different tellers changed the story of Beowulf? Having Beowulf fight Grendel’s mother, showing Beowulf as an old king fighting his last enemy the dragon; adding Christian elements in the monks’ translation.

a. Chaucer modeled the structure of The Canterbury Tales on the earlier Decameron by Boccaccio.

b. How did Chaucer depart from this model? He changed the story to reflect all levels of society and have them go on a pilgrimage, rather than take refuge in a castle.

c. Describe the new poetic rhythm that Chaucer developed. The new poetic rhythm was iambic pentameter: a poetic line of 10 syllables, with an alternating rhythm.

d. Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and the medieval retellings of the King Arthur stories show how traditions reach both back to the past and to the future.

2. Chaucer’s Handling of Tradition

Characteristics of Epic Hero

1. Is significant and glorified2. Is on a quest3. Has superior or superhuman strength, intelligence,

and/or courage4. Is ethical5. Risks death for glory or for the greater good of

society6. Performs brave deeds7. Is a strong and responsible leader8. Reflects the ideals of a particular society