The Anglo-Saxons
449-1066
English 12 Honors
Mr. Raber
Geography #1:
GREAT BRITIAN,
or simply Britain,
is an island comprising
1. England
2. Scotland
3. Wales.
Geography #2:
The modern
nation known as the
UNITED KINGDOM
(The entire light brown region)
includes:
1. Great Britain
2. Northern Ireland,
3. Several smaller islands.
Geography #3:
Collectively,
this group of large
and small islands is
also known as the
BRITISH ISLES.
Invaders/Settlers:
The island of Great Britain has been invaded
and settled by numerous groups of people:
Iberians
Celts
Romans
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
(Anglo-Saxons)
Danes/Vikings
Normans
The Iberians
 The earliest settlers in Britain were
called IBERIANS because it is
thought they originally came from
the Iberian Peninsula.
*this is the
peninsula
of present-day
Portugal
and
Spain
The Celts (K)
 Among the Celts was a group called the
BRYTHONS…sometimes called
Britons.
Brython
flag
Their name was later adopted for the land
name as BRITAIN.
The Celts
The religion of the Celts was a
form of ANIMISM
ANIMISM = the Latin word for “Spirit”
ANIMISM = belief in the existence of spirits
separable from bodies
The Celts
The Celts saw SPIRITS
everywhere, and these spirits,
or gods, controlled all aspects
of existence.
The Celts
The Celts believed these
spirits/gods had to be
constantly satisfied…
sometimes this even made
human sacrifice necessary :(
The Celts
Priests, called DRUIDS, acted
as intermediaries between the
gods and the people.
Some think Stonehenge was
used by the Druids for certain
religious functions
Celtic Myths
 The Celtic myths influenced many British and
Irish writers such as
Sir Thomas Malory and William Butler Yeats.
These myths were unlike later Anglo-Saxon
stories in various ways.
- For example, unlike the male-dominated Anglo-Saxon
stories, the Celtic legends are full of strong women.
The Romans
Beginning in 55 B.C., under the
leadership of Julius Caesar, the
Romans began to invade.
Julius
Caesar
The Romans
Nearly 100 years later, under Emperor
Claudius, the Celts were finally
conquered.
Emperor
Claudius
The Romans
The Romans provided the armies and
organization that prevented further
serious invasions of Britain for several
hundred years.
The Romans
were strong
and SMART!
Thus…
Mr. Raber must be a Roman
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The Romans
They built a network of roads
(some still used today)
** They also built a defensive wall 73 miles long
The Romans
 During Roman rule, CHRISTIANITY
took hold under the leadership of European
missionaries.
 Christianity later became a UNIFYING
force among the people.
 The old Celtic religion began to vanish.
The Roman Downfall
Despite the strong leadership and
government of the Romans, due to
‘troubles at home,’ they evacuated
all of their troupes out of Britain
by A.D. 409.
Romans
The Separated Britain
Without Roman control, Britain
was a country full of separate
clans.
Unity was gone
The Weak Britain
The resulting weakness made the
island prime for a series of
SUCCESSFUL INVASIONS by
non-Christian peoples from the
Germanic regions of continental
Europe.
WEAK
THE INVADERS
The ANGLES and SAXONS from
Germany and JUTES from Denmark
invaded across the North Sea.
They drove out the old Britons and
settled the greater part of Britain.
CHANGE
The LANGUAGE of the Anglo-Saxons
became the dominant language
The Angles also changed the name of the
land from Britain to….
Engla land… and eventually ENGLAND
Anglo-Saxon England
Was not any more unified than Celtic
Britain had been until King Alfred of
Wessex, ALFRED THE GREAT, led
the Anglo-Saxons against the invading
DANES, one of the Viking invaders
from the cold North.
Viking
Invaders
Alfred
the
Great
The Danes
Eventually, the Danes, plundering
and destroying anything in their
path…
Took over and settled in parts of
northeast and central England
Christianity = Unity
 It is possible even King Alfred would
not have been able to unify the AngloSaxons without the
REEMERGENCE
OF
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity

1)
Christianity provided:
a COMMON FAITH
2) COMMON
SYSTEM
OF MORALITY
and PROPER CONDUCT.
Christianity
• Christianity also LINKED England to
Europe.
• “Under Christianity and Alfred, the
Anglo-Saxons fought to protect their
people, their culture, and their church
from the ravages of the Danes.”
Later…
Both the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes
were DEFEATED in 1066 by William,
duke of Normandy (The NORMANS).
Battle
of
Hastings
Transition…
OK…so we know the succession of
differing peoples/groups leading up to,
and after, the Anglo-Saxons:
Iberians
Celts
Romans
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
(Anglo-Saxons)
Danes/Vikings
Normans
Now…
Let us focus our attention back on the
ANGLO-SAXONS since that is the time
period we are studying, and the time
period that Beowulf was often recited
in.
Different
depictions
of Beowulf
Side Note:
The new Beowulf movie is not exactly
the same as the epic we will be
reading…
Sorry guys…no Angelina Jolie
Sorry girls…no bulging abs
Censor
Box
Censor
Box
Sutton Hoo &
The Anglo-Saxons
• In 1939 a treasure laden ship-grave was
found in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England
• This Sutton Hoo treasure ship is said to
have been buried for 1300 yrs.
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Helmet
Ship Dig
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Thus…
• The treasures of Sutton Hoo’s ship
showed that the Anglo-Saxons were
NOT barbarians
Sutton Hoo
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Ship Treasures
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Anglo-Saxon Life
• Even though the treasures proved them
not barbarians…
• The Anglo-Saxons did not lead a life of
luxury
• Nor were their lives dominated by
learning or the arts
Anglo-Saxon Life
• Instead, WARFARE was the order of the
day
• As displayed in Beowulf, for the AngloSaxons, law and order were the
responsibility of the leader of any given
group
• Groups: Family, Clan, Tribe, or Kingdom
Anglo-Saxon Life
• Fame and success, even survival,
were gained only through loyalty to
the leader
• Success was measured in gifts from
the leader
• This WILL be seen in Beowulf
Anglo-Saxon Life
• This pattern of loyal dependency was
basic to Anglo-Saxon life
• Such loyalty grew out of a need to
protect the group from the terrors of an
enemy infested wilderness… (Grendel)
• A wilderness that became particularly
frightening during the long, bonechilling nights of winter
Anglo-Saxon Life
• Anglo-Saxons tended to live…
• close to their animals in single-family
homesteads
• these homesteads were wooden buildings that
surrounded a communal court or warm, firelit chieftain’s hall.
• This cluster of buildings was protected by a
wooden stockade fence
Anglo-Saxon Life
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Reconstructed AngloSaxon Buildings
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Anglo-Saxon Life
• This arrangement, which WILL be seen
in Beowulf, contributed to a sense of
security and to the close relationship
between leader and followers
• It also encouraged community
discussion and rule by consensus
More on Religion #1
• Despite the influence of Christianity, some of
the old Anglo-Saxon religion, with its
warrior gods, persisted
• The Anglo-Saxon religion that remained was
a dark, fatalistic religion, that had been
brought from Germany and is believed to
have much in common with Norse or
Scandinavian mythology
More on Religion #2
• Norse Gods:
• Odin: the god of death, poetry, and magic
• The Anglo-Saxon name for Odin
was “Woden” (Woden’s day=Wednesday)
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Odin/Woden
More on Religion #3
• Norse Gods:
• Thunor: the god of thunder and lightning
• The Anglo-Saxon name for Thunor
was “Thor” (Thor’s day=Thursday)
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Thunor/Thor
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Also…
• Another significant figure in AngloSaxon mythology is the dragon
• The dragon is the personification of
“death and devourer”
• The dragon is also the guardian of
the grave mound in which a
warrior’s ashes and treasure lay
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Overall…
• The Anglo-Saxon religion seems to
have been more concerned with ethics
than mysticism
• More specifically, they were concerned
with the earthly virtues of bravery,
loyalty, generosity, and friendship
The Singing of Gods
and Heroes
• Not only did the Anglo-Saxon
communal hall
provide a place
for shelter
and council
meetings…
• But also, it provided spaces for
storytellers and their audiences
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The Singing of Gods and
Heroes
• These skilled storytellers/bards (such as
the storytellers in Homeric Greece more than
1,000 years earlier) sang of gods and
heroes
• The Anglo-Saxons called these
storytellers scops
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The Singing of Gods and
Heroes
• These scops were held in the
same
superiority as warriors
• The Anglo-Saxons felt creating poetry
was as important as fighting,
hunting, farming, or loving
Death & Poetry
• For the non-Christian Anglo-Saxon, life is
hard, ends only in death, and there is no
hope of an afterlife
• Thus, only fame, and its commemoration
in poetry could provide a defense against
death and a sense of lasting immortality.
• Hence, why bards were considered so
important
Also…
• Unlike England and the rest of Europe in
the 5th century…
• Ireland was not overrun by Germanic
invaders
• Then, in 432, the whole of Celtic Ireland
was converted to Christianity
Ireland Continued…
• From 432-750 while England sank into
constant warefare, confusion, and
ignorance…
• Ireland experienced a golden
age
• Winston Churchill stated that is was in Ireland
“burned and gleamed
through the darkness”
that Christianity
Ireland Continued…
• Christian Irish monks founded monasteries that
became sanctuaries of learning for refugee scholars
from Europe and England
• These monasteries existed right alongside the
older Anglo-Saxon religion
Remember, printing was still
800 yrs. away in England
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The Link…
• In fact, the Christian monks in the
monasteries preserved not only the
Latin and Greek classics but also
some of the great Anglo-Saxon
literature/ stories, such as
Beowulf, that were being told by
the scops
The Rise of the English
Language
• Latin alone remained the language of
serious study in England until the time
of King Alfred
• Alfred instituted the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle
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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• This was a lengthy running history
of England
• Partly because of King Alfred’s efforts,
English began to gain respect as a
language of culture
• Thus, the chronicle displayed some
use of English/Old English (Old
English: The language Beowulf was composed in)
Finally…
Any
Questions?