THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
• 55 BC – ROME tries to conquer Britain – Julius Caesar invades
• 43 AD – CLAUDIUS invades and establishes garrisons, integrating facets of Roman life:
meeting hallsamphitheaters
laws & courtspublic baths
templessanitation systems
ROADS
Britain Abandoned
• 410 AD – ROME FALLS and leaves garrisons in Britain on their own –
When the Romans Leave…
• England’s “door” is open to invasion
Germanic Tribes
• The Angle, Saxon, and Jute tribes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries are known as the Anglo-Saxons. They left their homelands in northern Germany, Denmark and northern Holland and rowed across the North Sea in wooden boats.
• Bbc.co.uk
• Historians are not sure why the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. It may have been because their land often flooded and it was difficult to grow crops, so they were looking for new places to settle down and farm. Some sources say that Saxon warriors were invited to come to England.
• Bbc.co.uk
• The Anglo-Saxons took control of most of Britain, although they never conquered Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. They divided the country into kingdoms, each with its own royal family. The stronger kingdoms often took control of the weaker kingdoms.
By around AD 600 the five main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and Anglia.
• Bbc.co.ik
A “British” Culture Begins to Develop
WARRIOR KINGS:
• protect themselves by gathering a retinue of THANES who pledged FEALTY
• take over some of the old Roman towns and governmental procedures, i.e.: taxation, conscription, defensive walls
Mead Hall
• MEAD HALLS were meeting areas, where kings heard cases, passed judgment, held social gatherings (80’ long X 40’ wide, 5” thick boards)
• 597 AD – AUGUSTINE sent to convert England to Christianity- establishes first
archbishopric, at CANTERBURY
• SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY brings: trade, writing, unity & peace
Alfred the Great
• 878 AD – Alfred the Great, a Saxon king from Wessex, takes over much of
England
No Primogeniture
• 1066 AD- English king dies.
• Duke of Normandy proclaims that HE will take the English throne. Defeats Harold II (who HAD been appointed king) at the
BATTLE OF HASTINGS and becomes the first Norman king of England, William I.
French Influences
• Feudalism• Language• Chivalry• Art• Science• Music
IN THE MEANTIME:
Charlemagne
• Charlemagne institutes the Holy Roman Empire
• Mohammad establishes Islam
• Mayans develop calendar, writing, pyramids
• Tang Dynasty prospers in China
Beowulf as an epic poem
• Descriptive
• Ceremonial defines what the Beowulf poet considers the most important values in life:– Honor– Loyalty– Perseverance– Good sense
Epic Poem Epic Hero
• Long narrative poem• Deals with great heroes• Adventures• National, world-wide,or
cosmic setting• Involves supernatural
forces• Deliberately ceremonial
style
• Not born in the setting• Perilous journies• Supernatural influences• Cunning• Warrior • Larger than life• Dies defending or
refusing to give up • Tragic flaw• Has Hubris
Beowulf Vocabulary
• Epithet * Synecdoche
• Formulaic address * Foreshadowing
• Kenning * Hyperbole
• Scop * Allusion
• Alliteration * Characterization
• Caesura
• Personification
Recommended
