A history of English
Literature 1
-The Anglo-Saxon Period
( also called The Old English Period)
–c. 450-1066
1
Early Inhabitants of Britain:The Celts
2
The
Beakerfolk
The earliest Britons were celtic
tribes of which not much is
known.They were also called“The
Beakerfolk”, who probably came
from the Low Countries and the
middle Rhine .They arrived in
Britain in the Bronze Age (after
2,300 BC). Their name comes
from the fact that they buried
their dead together with a
particular kind of pottery
They are also responsible for
continuing the construction of
Stonehenge (an original
megalithic monument in Salisbury
Plain in Wiltshire completed
about 1,500 BC).
3
Religion of the Celts
•Animism – the Celts saw spirits everywhere, in
rivers, trees, stones, ponds, fire, and thunder.
These spirits were all around and needed to
satisfied constantly.
•Priests, called Druids, acted as intermediaries
between the gods and the people.
•Ritualistic dances, human sacrifices and religious
rites having to do with the lunar and solar cycles
were performed.
Druids (left) and
Halloween
(above).
4
Celtic stories
•Their legends focus on and are full of strong
women (very different from Anglo-Saxon
legends that focus on strong men and women
faded into background).
Queen
Boadicea
•Celtic stories leap into sunlight after battle,
No matter how much blood was spilled.
•Full of fantastic animals, passionate love
affairs, and fabulous adventures
5
Roman Britain
Until 450 A.D.
The Romans brought Christianity to England and many of their army bases are now
important cities: Gloucester, Worcester, Doncaster, etc. All these names are formed
from the Roman word castra, which means armed or fortified camp.
6
•The first person to ever have written
about England may have been the
Roman General Julius Caesar, who is
55 B.C. attempted to conquer the
British Isles.
•Put off by the Celtic warriors, he
quickly claimed a victory and
returned to Rome.
•Thus leaving the Celts (and their
neighbors to the north and west the
Picts and Geats) in peace.
7
Most of the roads led to London, where they built a walled trading city. The Romans came
to govern and to trade, not to settle, They were too few to change the language and the
customs of the people. Most of today’s roads still run along the old Roman roads
8
One other still visible remnant of the Romans is Hadrian’s Wall running
from Carlyle in the west to Wallsend on the east coast. It was built to
protect England from the Scots and the Picts, old Celtic tribes.
This is how Blackadder saw the romans and their wall
9
Religion of
the Romans
•Rome brought
Christianity, and soon
the old Celtic religion
began to vanish.
•Christianity became a
unifying force
10
The Old English Period
c.450-1066
11
Help From
Abroad
In 410 the Roman legions were
called back to defend The
Roman Empire against the
Goths. They left behind a
leaderless and defenceless
people who were no match for
the Germanic tribes: The
Angles, the Saxons and the
Jutes. These tribes were called
in from the north of Germany,
Friesland and Denmark, to help
the Celtic leader Vortigern
against the invading Celtic
tribes, the Picts. They defeated
these tribes and settled
permanently. They drove the
Britons back as far as the
mountains in the north and the
west
12
Anglo-Saxon
Settlement
of
Britian
13
Listen to a piece of Anglo Saxon and a bit of history
14
Sutton Hoo
• Located in Woodbridge, Suffolk,
England
• Discovered in 1939
• Burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king
• Burial site contained 41 items of solid gold and
37 gold coins
15
The beginning of Christianity in Britain
The country was now divided into small kingdoms. Christianity started to gain a
stronger and stronger foothold on English ground and spread throughout the
country, establishing monasteries as centres of power and learning.
16
Assignment
You are going to do a short
assignment about the Anglo Saxons.
Visit the website below.
1. The language of the Anglo-Saxons
is very different from the English
language we speak today. Visit this
Anglo-Saxon Online Dictionary and
write 3-4 sentences in Anglo-Saxon
about your day (don't worry about
articles). Neatly write out your
sentences in Anglo-Saxon and
translated in Modern English.
(source: http://www.reshs.org/site/indexer/307/content.htm)
17
The Viking Raids (700-900 AD)
18
In 793 the monastery of Lindisfarne was destroyed by Scandinavian pirates, which was the start of
the Viking raids along most of the British and Irish coastline. Later some of the Vikings settled and
started trading towns and took over a great part of England, which is known as the Danelaw.
The Danelaw
The Vikings came in ships
Runic Writing:Write your own
name in runes. Click here
19
Want to know more about the Vikings? Click here
or do the Viking webquest and raid a monastery
20
Alfred the Great, King of
Wessex (871-899)
One Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the
Great, prevented England from
becoming taken over completely by
the Scandinavian hordes when
defeating the Danish army in 871. In
the period until 1044, however, several
Danish kings ruled England again until
Edward the Confessor became king of
England.
King Alfred was also known for
encouraging the writing of a history of
England, The Anglo Saxon Chronicles,
which were written by different monks
in different monasteries. The writing
continued until well into the 12th
century and tells of many events in the
history of the British people.
21
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
The Monk Eadwin Writing a Text
The Peterborough Chronicle
22
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
•
(A.D. 910 . This year the army of the Angles and of the Danes
fought at Tootenhall. And Ethelred, ealdor of the Mercians,
died; and King Edward took possession of London, and of Oxford,
and of all the lands which owed obedience thereto. And a great
fleet came hither from the south, from the Lidwiccas (Brittany),
and greatly ravaged by the Severn; but they were, afterwards,
almost all perished.))
A.D. 911 . This year the army in Northumberland broke the truce,
and despised every right that Edward and his son demanded of
them; and plundered the land of the Mercians. The king had
gathered together about a hundred ships, and was then in Kent
while the ships were sailing along sea by the south-east to meet
him. The army therefore supposed that the greatest part of his
force was in the ships, and that they might go, without being
attacked, where that ever they would. When the king learned on
enquiry that they were gone out on plunder, he sent his army both
from Wessex and Mercia; and they came up with the rear of the
enemy as he was on his way homeward, and there fought with him
and put him to flight, and slew many thousands of his men. There
fell King Eowils, and King Healfden; Earls Ohter and Scurf;
Governors Agmund, Othulf, and Benesing; Anlaf the Swarthy, and
Governor Thunferth; Osferth the collector, and Governor
Guthferth.
23
Another Text: The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells is a beautifully illuminated (=illustrated) text, kept in Trinity
College in Dublin. Every day a new page is turned for the general public to see.
24
Anglo Saxon Poetry
25
Anglo Saxon
Poetry
Wulf & Eadwacer is an Anglo Saxon poem
composed between 960 and 990 AD. Of famously
difficult interpretation, it has been variously
characterised,) as an elegy, (historically) as a
riddle, and (in speculation on the poem's prehistory) as a song or ballad with refrain. The
only extant copy is found in the Exeter Book.
Old English text:
Leodum is minum swylce him mon lac gife;
willað hy hine aþecgan, gif he on þreat
cymeð. Ungelic is us. Wulf is on iege, ic on
oþerre. Fæst is þæt eglond, fenne
biworpen. Sindon wælreowe weras þær on
ige; willað hy hine aþecgan, gif he on þreat
cymeð. Ungelice is us. Wulfes ic mines
widlastum wenum dogode; þonne hit wæs
renig weder ond ic reotugu sæt, þonne mec
se beaducafa bogum bilegde, wæs me wyn
to þon, wæs me hwæþre eac lað. Wulf, min
Wulf, wena me þine seoce gedydon, þine
seldcymas, murnende mod, nales meteliste.
Gehyrest þu, Eadwacer? Uncerne earne
hwelp bireð Wulf to wuda. þæt mon eaþe
tosliteð þætte næfre gesomnad wæs, uncer
giedd gead
26
Old English poetry was meant to be sung or
recited from memory. Poetry could be
about Christian themes such as the lives of
Saints, which the poet Cynewulf wrote
aboutor .The monk Caedmon wrote about
the Bible in Anglo Saxon. However, most
poets were not known by name.
The most important poem from this era is
the pagan epic Beowulf (around 700). It
tells the story of the hero Beowulf the
warrior who twice saves a people in great
danger and ultimately loses his life fighting a
dragon. The work is of Scandinavian origin.
The scene is not set in England but in
Sweden and Denmark.
Most poems were alliterative verse without
rhyme. Take for instance the following line
from Beowulf:
Gréndél gónga/ gódes ýrre baer
(came Grendel, he bore god’s anger)
Now listen to the prologue and watch
the trailer for the 2007 film
27
Beowulf
Your’re going to do a webquest about Beowulf. Click on this following link
and follow the instructions.
Mind you, step number four is what is called a dead link and doesn’t work.
28
Background Information
• Written c. 700 C.E.
• Author unknown
• Often called the beginning
of English literature
• Written in what is now
called Old English
• Only one complete
original copy remains
29
The
The story of Beowulf opens by telling us the career of Scyld
Scefing, a king sent by God to the Danes. After Scyld's death
Story: the Danes do very well under his descendants. One of those
descendants, Hrothgar, builds the Danes a great hall called
Heorot. Heorot is soon invaded by Grendel, a half-human
monster. The Danes are helpless against these attacks until
the hero Beowulf arrives to aid them. He battles Grendel in
hand to hand combat in Heorot and kills the monster by
tearing off its arm. Grendel's mother then comes to avenge
her son. Beowulf and Hrothgar follow her to her lair in a
lake, where Beowulf fights Grendel's mother in her hall at
the bottom of the lake. Beowulf almost loses, but with the
aid of God is eventually victorious. He is lavishly rewarded
and returns to his own land where he tells his adventures to
his uncle, King Hygelac. The poem then jumps fifty years
into the future when Beowulf is in old age and king of the
Geats. He then fights his last battle against a dragon that is
guardian of a cursed treasure. He tries to fight the dragon
alone, but can only defeat it with the help of a younger
relative, Wiglaf. The dragon is killed, but mortally wounds
Beowulf in the battle, and the old king passes away while
gazing on the cursed treasure. The death of Beowulf marks
the decline of the Geats, who are now surrounded by
enemies made in previous campaigns. Consequently, the
poem ends in mourning for both Beowulf and his nation.
30
•An epic is a long narrative poem which
follows a hero’s struggle against universal
issues.
• The epic contains 3 elements:
A larger-than life hero
The Supernatural
Elevated language style
31
Characteristics
Kennings
(two-word phrase for
a common word)
ex: world-candle for
sun or whale-road for
ocean
Symbolism
Highly descriptive
passages
32
Beowulf ’s Descendants:
There are many more superheroes today and
they all have one or more characteristics of the
Anglo-Saxon superhero Beowulf
33
Some stories that were influenced by Beowulf:
Finally, a good
site on Beowulf,
for the interested,
is this one.
34
The end of the Old English Period: 1066- The
Battle of Hastings
In 1066 William the Conquerer invaded England from Normandy and defeated
King Harold at Hastings. This was the end of the old English Period and the
beginning of The Middle English Period.
Ron Visser 2010
35