The Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Periods

The Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Periods Language Arts IV Sheryl Walker

Timeline of Invasions • Celts • Romans 55 B.C.-407 A.D. • Anglo-Saxons 449 A.D • Vikings 793 • Normans 1066 (know this date)

Celts • Consisted of two groups: • Brytons (“Britons”) • Gaels • Farmers and hunters • Druid religion • Old King Cole and King Arthur are Celtic figures

Celts, part 2 • Tried to fight off the Romans • In areas of Scotland, they painted themselves blue and ran naked into battle

Romans • Built roads, waterways • Many towns ending in “castor” or “chester” are sites of Roman outposts • Introduced Christianity • Period of stability for more than 300 years

Angles, Saxons, Jutes • Deep-sea fisherman and farmers • Society organized into tribes, or “witans” • Worshipped pagan gods • Spoke Cornish, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic • Society portrayed in “The Wanderer” and Beowulf

“Taming” of the Anglo-Saxons • 597 St. Augustine arrives • Converts King Ethelbert • By 650, most of England converted • Schools at monasteries established • Scribes complete elaborate manuscripts • The Venerable Bede writes A History of the English Church and People

Vikings • Late 700s • Danish invasion strikes terror; “From the fury of the Northmen, O Lord, deliver us.” • Danelaw is established by mid 800s in north, east, and central England

Alfred the Great • In 871, Saxon king Alfred the Great takes Wessex throne and signs treaty with the Norse • Encourages learning—has Bede’s History translated from Latin • Begins keeping written records in Old English

End of the period-1066 • Edward the Confessor dies; William and Harold fight Battle of Hastings for throne. • William the Conqueror, a Norman, wins, concluding the Anglo-Saxon period

Literary terms and traditions • Oral tradition • Scops & Gleemen-professional minstrels & assistants • Alliteration and caesuras--mid-line pauses used to aid memory • Runes-primitive letters brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxons, used until Latin superseded them

More literary terms & traditions • Caedmon & Cynewulf-only known poets from this time period • Beowulf (author unknown)-major piece of literature from time period • Modern translation of Beowulf by Irish poet Seamus Heaney won major English literary award recently

Anglo-Saxon beliefs • Wyrd— ever-present sense of ominous fate • Weregild (“man-price”)—tradition of compensating a family of someone killed • Mead hall—vital gathering place for witans; represents heart of community • Strength, generosity, bravery, and arrogance were valued leadership qualities (think professional wrestling)

Sutton Hoo is a group of low grassy burial mounds in SE Suffolk, England. In 1939 excavations brought to light the richest burial ever discovered in Britain, an Anglo-Saxon ship containing the treasure of one of the earliest English Kings, Rædwald, King of East Anglia. Sutton Hoo

Drinking horns for mead

Prow of ship excavated at Sutton Hoo

These rings have rune engravings.

Anglo-Saxon weaponry

Who were the earliest known inhabitants of Britain? Which society is portrayed in Beowulf and ‘The Wanderer”?

Which was not valued by Anglo-Saxons? Which date brings the Anglo-Saxon period to an end?

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The Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Periods