Anglo-Saxon History and Old English Language and Literature

1. Anglo-Saxon History and Old English Language and Literature Pre-Historical – 1066 A.D.

2. Overview of Periods of Early English HistoryPre-History—1066 A. D. • Pre-Roman/Celtic up to 55 B. C. • RomanOccupation  55 B. C. – 409 A. D. • Anglo-SaxonPeriod  409 – 787 A. D. • Viking(Dane) Invasions  787 – 1066 A. D. • NormanConquest begins in 1066

3. QUESTION: • What four peoples invaded Britain in the period the time line covers? • the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and the Normans

4. QUESTION: • What effects might a series of invasions—one every three hundred to five hundred years—have on a culture? • Such a history might make a culture adaptable; • people would learn to live with and absorb the influences of those who spoke a different language or practiced a different religion; • a history of invasion would make a culture become militaristic.

5. The Celts in BritainBefore and during the 4th century B.C. • The island we know as England was once occupied by a race of tall, blond people called the Celts. • One of the tribes was called the Brythons or Britons (where we get the term Britain)

6. The Celts in BritainBefore and during the 4th century B.C. • The Celts were Pagans and their religion was known as “animism” a Latin word for “spirit.” • Animism is a belief that gods live in all things – trees, stones, water, air … Celts saw spirits everywhere.

7. The Celts in BritainBefore and during the 4th century B.C. • Celtic priests were called Druids; their role was to go between the gods and the people. • Druids are known to have existed since the 3rd century B.C. • The word druid means “knowing the oak tree.” • Celtic priests performed ceremonies in oak groves and considered the oak trees, as well as the mistletoe that grows on oaks, sacred.

8. The Celts in BritainBefore and during the 4th century B.C. Stonehenge

9. Roman Occupation Roman ruins

10. Important Events During Roman Occupation • Julius Caesar begins invasion/occupation in 55 B.C. • Occupation completed by Claudius in 1st century A.D. • Hadrian’s Wall built about 122 A.D.

11. Roman Occupation Hadrian’s Wall The defensive wall, Hadrian’s Wall, linked the North Sea and the Atlantic near the present-day border between England and Scotland. Hadrian’s Wall held back the marauding Picts and Scots for 250 years.

12. Roman Occupation The five thousand miles of stone roads built by the Romans linked tribal capitals and towns, especially London, York, and Winchester.

13. Important Events During Roman Occupation • Romans “leave” in 410 A.D. because Visigoths attack Rome, and the Vandals attacked in 455 A.D. • The last western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 A.D. by the German chief Odovacar. • St. Augustine lands in Kent in 597 A.D. and converts King Aethelbert (king of Kent, the oldest Saxon settlement) to Christianity; becomes first Archbishop of Canterbury

14. Important Cultural and Historical Results of the Roman Occupation • Military—strong armed forces (“legions”) • Pushed Celts into Wales and Ireland • Prevented Vikings from raiding for several hundred years: C. Warren Hollister writes, “Rome’s greatest gift to Britain was peace” (15). • Infrastructure • Government (fell apart when they left) • Walls, villas, public baths (some remains still exist)

15. Important Cultural and Historical Results of the Roman Occupation • Language and Writing • Latin was official language • Practice of recording history led to earliest English “literature” being documentary • Religion • Christianity beginning to take hold, especially after St. Augustine converts King Aethelbert

16. The Most Important Results of the Roman Occupation • Latin heavily influenced the English language • Relative Peace • Christianity begins to take hold in England (but does not fully displace Paganism for several hundred years)

17. QUESTION: • At the beginning of the 5th century, the Roman Empire was attacked by barbarian tribes, and in A.D. 410 the Visigoths sacked Rome itself. Given this information, why do you think the Romans evacuated their troops in A.D. 409? • Roman generals and troops were needed to help out at home. Rome was constantly under barbarian attack.

18. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion Jutes Angles Celts Saxons A.D. 449 The Anglo-Saxons push the Celts into the far west of the country.

19. The Anglo-Saxon Period 410-787Important Events in the Anglo-Saxon Period • 410- 450 A.D. Angles and Saxons invade by crossing the North Sea in wooden boats from Northern Germany & Northern Holland (Netherlands) • And the Jutes invade from the Jutland peninsula in Denmark • The Geats are a tribe from Jutland • Nine Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms eventually became the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy (England not unified), or “Seven Sovereign Kingdoms”

20. Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy • Heptarchy = Seven Kingdoms • Kent • Essex (East Saxon) • Sussex (South Saxon) • East Anglia • Northumbria • Mercia • Wessex (West Saxon)

21. QUESTION: • Which three tribes are known as the Anglo-Saxons? • Angles, Saxons, and Jutes

22. QUESTION: • Where did the Anglo-Saxon tribes come from? • Northern Germany, Denmark, and Northern Holland

23. Anglo-Saxon Society

24. Anglo-Saxon Society • People farmed, established local governments, and produced fine craftwork • Kinship groups were led by strong warrior chief/king. • Anglo-Saxon king was an absolute ruler and mighty warrior. • The Anglo-Saxons had a two-class society: the thanes, or earls, who ruled and were related to the leader of the tribe; and the churls, or bondservants, whose ancestors had been captured by the tribe.

25. Anglo-Saxon Society King consulted with the witan (“wise men”)-- an assembly of respected earls. Churls provided hard labor and were bound to the earls’ service unless they could earn possessions and special royal favor to become freemen (independent landholders). Warriors were admired. Social organization based on strict laws and a sense of obligation to others.

26. Anglo-Saxon Society *Anglo-Saxon harp Anglo-Saxon bards were called scops, who strummed a harp as they sang of the heroic deeds of great warriors. The literature of the Anglo-Saxons was handed down orally by scops who sang in the lords’ mead halls, where warriors gathered to celebrate the events of the day. These scops, like the Greek poets before them, remembered their stories by using accentual meter and many stock phrases called kennings. Scops, themselves, were often warriors.

27. Anglo-Saxon Society The word wyrdwas used by the Anglo-Saxons to represent one’s fate in life. The early Anglo-Saxons did not believe strongly in an afterlife; they believed that immortality, or lof—fame that survives death—could be earned through heroic action. Therefore, the Anglo-Saxons believed they gained immortality through songs passed down about their heroic deeds.

28. Norse god Anglo-Saxon god Day of week Odin *Woden Thor *Thunor Anglo-Saxon Society Wednesday Thursday • The Anglo-Saxon religion offered no hope of afterlife … • Therefore, they valued the earthly virtues of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship. • They worshipped gods similar to what we know as Scandinavian Norse mythology.

29. Anglo-Saxon Society • English emerged as a written language • Old English was the language of the Anglo-Saxons. It is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Modern English is directly descended from Old English. • During the Anglo-Saxon period, people spoke what we call Old English, but the language of study was Latin until the time of King Alfred.

30. Anglo-Saxon HeptarchyWessex King Alfred the Great came from Wessex. By the middle of the tenth century, the Wessex kings had become the kings of all England. During his reign, King Alfred instituted the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a lengthy running history of England that covered the earliest days and continued until 1154. Partly because of King Alfred’s efforts, English began to gain respect as a language of culture. An electronic copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is available on the Internet.

31. Anglo-Saxon Society Page from Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Old English

32. Anglo-Saxon HeptarchyNorthumbria Northumbria was known as a center of learning and the arts. The religious art mixed Celtic and Anglo-Saxon influences. The Monastery of Lindisfarne (from which come the Lindisfarne Gospels) is located on Holy Island, off the northwest coast of Northumbria. The main text of the Lindisfarne Gospels (7th century) is written in Latin, the designs are influenced by Celtic art, and the marginal notes are written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English).

33. Image of the Lindisfarne Gospels: Gospel of St John the Evangelist, initial page. Lindisfarne, late 7th or early 8th century

34. QUESTION: • The Lindisfarne Gospels contain Latin, Celtic, and Old English. What does that tell us about early Christianity? • The spread of Christianity encouraged cross-cultural exchange.

35. Anglo-Saxon SocietyThe Spread of Christianity • Around A.D. 400 Christian monks settle in Britain • Christianity and Anglo-Saxon culture co-exist • By A.D. 699 British pagan religions are replaced by Christianity

36. Anglo-Saxon SocietyThe Spread of Christianity • Monasteries in England served as centers of learning just as they would in the Middle Ages. • The monks preserved not only the Greek classics but also some of the great works of popular literature such as Beowulf, which was firstwritten down around 700 A.D. • Due to the Christian elements in the epic, scholars believe the poet who wrote down the version of Beowulf we have today was a monk.

37. Anglo-Saxon HeptarchyEast Anglia In Sutton Hoo, East Anglia, a burial mound of an Anglo-Saxon king was discovered in 1939.

38. Viking Invasions 787-1066

39. Viking Invasions • By definition, Vikings were sea-faring (explorers, traders, and warriors) Scandinavians during the 8th through 11th centuries. • Oddly enough, the Anglo-Saxon (and Jute) heritage was not much different from the Vikings’: they, too, were Scandinavian invaders. • In fact, some Vikings were also called “Northmen.” • However, when the Viking raids began around 787 A.D., the Anglo-Saxons were different culturally from the Viking invaders.

40. Viking Invasions Norse dragon-prowed ship, 10th Century, Anglo-Saxon manuscript The Danes were one of the fierce Viking peoples who crossed the North Sea in dragon-prowed ships. The Danes plundered and destroyed all in their path, eventually settling in northeast and central England.

41. Unification of the Kingdom King Alfred (849–899) truly deserves the appellation “the great.” 878 A.D. -- King Alfred unifies Anglo-Saxons against the Danes. Not only did he help save Wessex and other kingdoms in England from the Danes, but he also helped create a cohesive English society from a collection of small, fractious kingdoms.

42. Unification of the Kingdom • In addition, he restored cities destroyed during invasions and revived interest in learning and in the English language. • Because of King Alfred, England becomes a nation. • King Alfred is the only British monarch who is called “the great.”

43. The Alfred jewel is a gold and enamel jewel (9th century) thought to have belonged to King Alfred and is possibly the handle to a pointer used for following manuscript text.

44. QUESTION: • The Alfred jewel shows an enameled figure of a man holding two scepters. The inscription around the edge reads: “Alfred ordered me to be made.” What symbolic significance do the two scepters have? • They symbolize the political unity Alfred was trying to achieve.

45. Norman Invasion • In 1066, William of Normandy crosses the English Channel. • William defeats Harold Godwinson (the last Anglo-Saxon King) and Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Normans (powerful Northern Frenchmen) start a centuries-long conquest of England.

46. Norman Conquest • Two Most Important Effects: • Frenchreplaces English as the language of the ruling class and becomes the official language of politics and power and exerts enormous influence on Old English • England begins unifyingunder a French political system, much of which is still with us (even in the U.S.) today

47. The Norman Invasion, Bayeux Tapestry Although tapestry usually involves the weaving of thread, this tapestry is actually an embroidered band of linen, 231 feet long and 19 ½ inches wide. Of particular value to historians are the details of battle tactics and equipment depicted in the work.

48. QUESTION: • In what country is Normandy located? • France

49. QUESTION: • How did the Norman Invasion (also called the Conquest) affect the English language? • Many English words are of French origin.

50. Early England Created by Three Invasions 2. Anglo-Saxon and Viking Invasions 410 – 1066 A.D. 1. Roman Occupation 55 B.C.-410 A.D. GERMAN(IC) 3. The Norman Invasion (The Battle of Hastings) in 1066 A.D. LATIN FRENCH