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
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
Germanic Tribes
• 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 AngloSaxons 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
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Feudalism
Language
Chivalry
Art
Science
Music
IN THE MEANTIME:
Charlemagne
• Charlemagne
institutes the Holy
Roman Empire
• Mohammad
establishes Islam
• Mayans develop
calendar, writing,
pyramids
• Tang Dynasty
prospers in China
• Vikings go a’viking
Beowulf as an epic poem
• Descriptive
• Ceremonial defines what the Beowulf poet
considers the most important values in life:
– Honor
– Loyalty
– Perseverance
– Good sense
Epic Poem
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Long narrative poem
Deals with great heroes
Adventures
National, world-wide,or
cosmic setting
• Involves supernatural
forces
• Deliberately ceremonial
style
Epic Hero
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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
Beowulf Vocabulary
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Epithet
Formulaic address
Kenning
Scop
Alliteration
Caesura
Personification
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Synecdoche
Foreshadowing
Hyperbole
Allusion
Characterization