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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 halls amphitheaters laws & courts public baths temples sanitation systems ROADS.
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55 BC – ROME tries to conquer Britain – Julius Caesar invades
43 AD – CLAUDIUS invades and establishes garrisons, integrating facets of Roman life: meeting halls amphitheaters laws & courts public baths temples sanitation 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
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
Charlemagne • Charlemagne institutes the Holy Roman Empire
Beowulf as an epic poem • Descriptive • Ceremonial defines what the Beowulf poet considers the most important values in life: • Honor • Loyalty • Perseverance • Good sense
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 Epic Poem Epic Hero
Beowulf Vocabulary • Epithet * Synecdoche • Formulaic address * Foreshadowing • Kenning * Hyperbole • Scop * Allusion • Alliteration * Characterization • Caesura • Personification