The Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Periods 449-1485
Reading notes- pgs. 18-27
1. The Britons had a ___________________ culture.
a. they were skilled in _______________, _____________, and they traded
with Celtics.
b. they had an oral tradition of ______________ and learning preserved
by a priestly class known as _______________.
2. The Romans introduced cities, fine stone roads, __________________,
and eventually Christianity to the island.
Development of the English Language pg. 19
1. Old English was very different from the English we speak today.
Harsher ______________, it was written _________________, with no silent
letters.
2. ______________, it was more complex than modern _______________.
3. The most valuable characteristic of the language was its ability to
___________ and ____________, adopting new words as the need arose.
Literary History pg. 19
1. The Anglo-Saxon’s writing system was called the
_____________________. It was used mainly for ___________________ on coins
and monuments.
2. Their literature was composed and transmitted _____________ rather
than in ____________.
3. The Anglo-Saxons gathered in the mead halls to eat, drink, and
______________.
4. Oral poets= “_____________” celebrated the deeds of heroic __________
in long ___________________.
5. ___________ poems were shorter in length.
6. Brief Anglo-Saxon riddles describe familiar objects like ________
or a ______________, in ways that force the audience to guess their
_________________.
Literary History pg. 21
1. The spread of Christianity in Britain was accompanied by a spread
of __________________ and by the introduction of the _____________________
in place of the runic alphabet.
2. The only books were __________________ that scribes copied by hand;
therefore, only a fraction of Anglo-Saxon poetry has survived.
3. The most famous survivor is the epic ______________, about a
legendary ______________ of the northern European past.
4. Most Old English poems are _______________.
The Medieval Period pg. 22
1. Normans= “_______________”
2. Feudalism= a ______________________________ in which the hierarchy of
power was based on the premise that the king owned all the land in
the kingdom.
3. William kept a fourth of the land for ____________. He granted a
fourth to the ______________. The rest on England was parceled out to
loyal _____________(Norman barons), who either paid him for the land or
supplied him with warriors (“_______________”).
4. The barons swore ____________ to the king, and the knights swore
allegiance to the ______________.
5. Conquered _______________ were at the bottom of the food chain.
Some of them were _____________ (peasants) bound to the land they
could never own.
The Decline of Feudalism pg. 24
1. The growth of the _______________’s power went hand in hand with the
growth of _________________, caused by an increase in trade.
2. Merchants and craftspeople formed _____________ called guilds to
control the flow and price of goods and to set up rules for advancing
from apprentice to master craftsman.
3. The crowding of townspeople in conditions of poor ______________
ensured that diseases like ____________ could spread rapidly.
4. Towns were becoming centers of _______________, and universities
were becoming England’s chief centers of _______________.
Literary History pg. 25
1. Religious faith was a vital element of medieval English __________
and ____________.
2. Romances were tales of _______________, many of which feature King
Arthur and the members of his court.
3. Oral poets of the Britons of Wales celebrated their legendary hero
______________, while Anglo-Saxon scops celebrated ________________.
Literary History pg. 26
1. 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, was extremely important to
the ______________ of English as a language of literature.
2. ______________________ is a collection of tales supposedly narrated
by a group of ___________ traveling from London to Canterbury to visit
the shrine of Thomas a Becket.
3. The pilgrims come from all walks of medieval _____________. {the
castle, the farm, the church, and the town}.
Unit 1: Tests of Courage pg. 27
The Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods were ones of ____________ and
change. It was during such times that people’s courage was
frequently put to the test. Tests of courage could be actual physical
challenges, or emotional or spiritual challenges, such as standing up
for one’s religious beliefs.
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Hero Essay
Tests of Courage
Family Ties
Beowulf Project