Anglo-Saxon Study Guide
1.
The British Isles, just off the west coast of continental Europe, enters recorded history in
the writing of which Roman general?
Julius Caesar
2.
In 55 B.C., this general, fresh from his conquest of Celtic peoples known as Gauls, sailed
from what is now France to Britain, largest of the British Isles. Who were the inhabitants of
Britain (they were a Celtic people from whom the island is named)?
Britons
3.
Identify at least two ways in which the Britons had a thriving culture by most standards
of the day.
Skilled in agriculture, metalwork, traded with Celtic neighbors overseas, had an oral tradition of
literature and learning.
4.
Name the priestly class of Celtics in Britain who preserved the oral tradition of literature
and learning there.
Druids
5.
About a century after the general’s visit, Roman armies returned to and conquered
Britain.
What religion did they introduce?
Christianity
6.
Early in the fifth century, why did the Roman armies abandon Britain?
To defend Rome from invaders.
7.
What happened to Britain after it was abandoned?
It too became a target for invaders.
---------------The Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066 A.D. (pages 19 and 20)------------------8.
During this period, several groups of Germanic people left their northern European
homelands and began settling on Britain’s eastern and southern shores. Name four of these
groups.
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians
9.
What is the term used to refer to the people and culture of this period of English history?
Anglo-Saxon
10.
Over time, the Anglo-Saxon lifestyle changed from that of seafaring wanderers to what?
Agricultural peoples
11.
Originally, what religion did the Anglo-Saxons bring with them, and what religion did
many Anglo-Saxons later accept?
Paganism. Christianity
-------------------------------The Growth of Christianity (pg 20)---------------------------------12.
Despite the collapse of Roman power in the British Isles, Christianity had never
completely
died out there. By 690, what had occurred in Britain?
All of Britain was at least nominally Christian
13.
Define the word wyrd.
Fate
-----------------------------The Danish Invasions (pg. 21)---------------------------------------14.
In the 790’s, a group of northern European invaders began to devastate part of Britain.
These invaders were known by two names, one being Danes. What was the other?
Vikings
15.
William, King of England, is best known by what title in history?
William the Conqueror
--------------The Medieval Period: 1066-1485 A.D. (pages 22-24)----------------------------16.
William introduced feudalism to Britain. Define feudalism.
A political and economic system in which the hierarchy of power was based on the premise that
the king owned all the land in the kingdom.
17.
William kept a fourth of the land in Britain for himself. To whom (or what) did he grant
the remainder?
1/4 for the church and the remaining 1/2 for the nobles.
18.
William parceled out the rest of the land to loyal nobles. What did the nobles do in
return?
Either paid him or supplied him with warriors called Knights.
19.
Who was at the bottom of the feudalism ladder?
Serfs (peasants bound to land they could not own)
20.
In 1215, King John (Richard-the-Lion-Hearted’s brother) was forced to sign the
Magna Carta (Great Charter). What did it limit?
Royal authority
21.
The Magna Carta was a step towards what type of government?
Democracy
----------------------The Decline of Feudalism (pages 24 and 25)---------------------------22.
What did the growth of commoners’ power go hand in hand with?
The growth of medieval towns
23.
What were the names of the organizations formed by merchants and craftsmen in the
towns?
Guilds
24.
What did the guilds do?
Control the flow and price of goods and set up rules for advancing from apprentice to master
craftsman.
25.
Why did the growth of towns mean the decline of feudalism?
Wealth was no longer based exclusively on land ownership.
26.
How did diseases spread rapidly in the towns?
Crowded conditions and poor sanitation. Rats and fleas.
27.
Who led an effort to end widespread church corruption?
John Wycliffe
---------------------The Hundred Year’s War (page 25 and 26)-------------------------------28.
What two countries were involved in this long struggle?
England and France
29.
What was the Black Death?
A great epidemic of plague which killed a third of England's population.
aka Bubonic plague
30.
The War of the Roses involved the house of York, whose symbol was a white rose,
and the house of Lancaster, whose symbol was a red rose. What were the two houses fighting
about?
England's Throne
31.
The War of the Roses ended in 1485, when the Lancastrian Henry Tudor killed the
Yorkish King Richard III at Bosworth Field and took the throne as Henry VII. This event is
generally accepted as the end of what period in England?
The Middle Ages
------------------------------------Literary History (pg 19)----------------------------------------32.
The early Anglo-Saxons did have a system of writing used mainly for inscriptions on
coins.
What was it called?
Runic Alphabet
33.
In the mead halls of kings and nobles, where Anglo-Saxons gathered to eat, drink, and
socialize, oral poets called Scops celebrated the deeds of heroic warriors in what two types of
poems? Epic and Lyric
34.
What are the characteristics of an Anglo-Saxon riddle?
They described a familiar object, like a ship or a bird, in ways that forced the audience to guess
their identity.
35.
What two things accompanied the spread of Christianity in Britain? (pg. 21)
A spread of literacy and the introduction of the Roman alphabet in place of the runic alphabet.
36.
What is the most famous surviving Anglo-Saxon poem?
Beowulf
37.
What is a folk ballad? (pg. 23)
Brief narrative poem sung to musical accompaniment.
What are mystery and miracle plays?
Plays which dramatize episodes from the Bible and from saint's lives.
38.
39.
40.
What are morality plays?
Plays which teach moral lessons
What are romances (from the Middle Ages)? (pg. 25)
Tales of chivalric knights, many of which feature King Arthur and members of his court.
41.
Who is the most important poet in the rebirth of English as a language of literature, and
what is his masterpiece? (pg. 26)
Geoffrey Chaucer--The Canterbury Tales