England
The evolution of a country & its
language
Influences on Early Britain
Celts: the indigenous peoples
(ancestors of the Irish, Scots, Welsh,
Cornish, and Bretons
 The Romans
 Anglo Saxons
 The Norse
 (know this order)

Migration of the Celts
Celts
vs.
Picts

The original “naked
white people”

The original “naked
blue people”

Often painted
themselves with chalk
before going into
battle

Often painted
themselves with woad
Sometimes fought
naked
Savage people of
lower Scotland

Sometimes fought
naked


A description from the Romans:
Their aspect is terrifying...They are very tall in stature, with
rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond,
but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially,
washing it in lime and combing it back from their
foreheads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick
and shaggy like a horse's mane. . . . [M]ost content
themselves with the weapons nature gave them: they go
naked into battle...Weird, discordant horns were sounded,
[they shouted in chorus with their] deep and harsh voices,
they beat their swords rythmically against their shields.
Celtic Religion--Pantheism

Pagans who worshiped gods of nature—
over 400 different gods! They believed the
spirits were everywhere and in everything.
Celtic Religion--Pantheism

Worshiped in nature—woods, bogs,
mouths of rivers, stone circles, chalk
mounds.

Main gods: earth mother (fertility), horned
gods, tribal father

Annual sacrifice of a human in the stead of
the horned god to shed his blood on the
land to ensure fertility.
Ancient Celtic Religion

Druids:
wise men, healers, teachers, musicians

Keepers of knowledge who memorized all
teachings—ORAL CULTURE

Believed that their souls did not die, but
passed to another body.
Cultural Note

Some believe
that a druidic
figure may be the
inspiration for MERLIN
in the Arthur
legends.

Merlin dictating his
poems, as illustrated
in a French book from
the 13th century
Human Sacrifice

Tacitus, the Roman author, writes about
burning people alive in man-shaped
wicker figures
Cautionary note: Writing horrible things
about one’s enemies helps one’s cause.
Stone Circles & Chalk Hills

Found all over Britain

Used in religious ceremonies
Stonehenge—Used but not built
by the Celts
Avebury Stone Circle
Silbury Hill
Queen Boudicca (Boadicea)
c. 61 A. D.

Celtic warrior queen

Led fight against
Romans after they
flogged & raped
her and her
daughters

Tacitus & other Romans
write about her
The Romans


The Greek author Pytheas called them the
"Pretanic Isles" which derived from the
inhabitants name for them, Pritani.
Romans
Called the Celts Britons
Called the island “Brittania”
@45 B.C. through 449 A.D.
THIS IS LONGER THAN THE UNITED STATES
HAS BEEN SETTLED BY EUROPEANS!
The Romans

The Romans never made it to the
Northern part of the island – the Picts and
Scots were too fierce.

They built Hadrian’s wall to keep these
warrior tribes out. It still stands today.
Roman Amphitheater--Chester
Roman Lighthouse, Dover Castle
The Romans

The Romans integrated their own culture
with Celtic culture. ***

They often intermarried with the Celts and
Celts could become citizens.
Romano-Celtic Religion

Mithras was the sun god.

On December 25th, the Romanized Celts
celebrated Mithras’s victory in the battle
against the night.
Bath

Originally a shrine to Aquae Sulis, a water
goddess

Considered a Holy Place by the Celts

Became a popular resort in the 17th & 18th
century
Bath
The Romans

The Romans left to defend the homeland
from invading Germanic tribes.

This left the Celts defenseless against the
Picts and Scots attacking from the North
and West.
Vortigern’s Invitation @449 A.D.

King Vortigern sent for help from the
Anglo-Saxon tribes across the sea.

They came to help, liked the climate, and
stayed.

The Anglo-Saxons subjugated the native
Celts.
Arturius

Legendary Celtic war chieftain who led his
people to a victory over the Saxons at the
Battle of Badon Hill (early 500’s A.D.)

May be start of King Arthur legends
The SaxonTribes

Angles

Saxons

Jutes

Frisians
Migration Routes of Germanic
Tribes
Anglo-Saxons

Angla-land

became England
Anglo-Saxons

Saxons are responsible for the British
traits of :
Melancholy
Nostalgia
Love of Ritual
Stoicism
Structure of Anglo-Saxon
society**

Eorls (earls)
--noble classes
(warriors, kings)

Cheorls (churls)
--farmers, craftsmen
Wergild – The “Man price”

“Heirs are under the obligation to take up
both the feuds and the friendship of a
father or kinsman. But feuds do not
continue forever unreconciled. Even
homicide can be atoned for by a fixed
number of cattle or sheep.”

The price was determined by rank in
society.
Anglo-Saxon Culture

Warrior society

Thane and his followers
Bond between them was paramount
COMITATUS PRINCIPLE***

Consequences of deserting your lord on
battlefield—exile.
The Germania

Retainers expect things in return
“They are always making demands on the
generosity of their chief, asking for a
coveted war-horse or a spear stained with
the blood of a defeated enemy.”
The Germania, Tacitus

Kings chosen for noble birth—power not
absolute or arbitrary.

Leaders chosen for valour—lead by
example rather than authority of rank.

Followers usually men of one clan—united
by blood as well as battle.

A polemic aimed at improving the moral standards of imperial Rome. Second or
third-hand account. Sadly, where Germans got ideas about their superiority.
The Boar-Ferocious fighter
Symbol of hospitality,
protective symbol on shields,
charging boar=royalty or
extreme military prowess,
put on graves of nobles for
strength in the afterlife.
Anglo-Saxon belief system:****

Importance of physical and moral courage

Loyalty above all

Power of fate—”wyrd”
Believed that you could not control what
happened to you. The measure of a man
was HOW he responded to his destiny.
The Germania – Cultural
Connections
Baritus:

Battle chant to kindle courage by terrifying
their foes.

“a unison of valour”
The Germania – Women

“[A]rmies already wavering on the point of
collapse have been rallied by the women,
pleading heroically with their men,
thrusting forward their bared bosoms, and
making them realize the imminent
prospect of enslavement.”
The Germania

“They bring back the bodies of the fallen
even when a battle hangs in the balance.”

“To throw away one’s shield is the
supreme disgrace, and the man [who does
this] is debarred from attendance at
sacrifice or assembly.”
The Germania

“Traitors and deserters are hanged on
trees; cowards, shirkers. . . are pressed
down under a wicker hurdle into the slimy
mud of a bog.”
Tollund Man
Uncle/Nephew Relationship

“The sons of sisters are as highly
honoured by their uncles as by their own
fathers. Some tribes even consider the
former tie the closer and more sacred of
the two.”
Other Germanic values:

Hospitality is paramount—always hospitable to
strangers and visitors.

The more family connections and allegiances a
man can command, the higher his status.
(Epithets: Hygelac’s thane, or Hrothgar’s son)

Better to die in battle than to grow old and weak.
Anglo-Saxons

Known for—
Feasts
Telling long-heroic tales
Fascination with the sea
Important people in Anglo-Saxon
Culture

Witan—king’s advisor**

Scop (shop)—professional bard, held in
high esteem**

(Monks later recorded poetry that had
been passed down orally)
Moot

Courts on local, district, & regional levels

Rulings based on tradition, past decisions

FYI: a moot point is one that could be
argued as before a court, but everybody
already knows the answer, so there’s no
point in debating.
The Moot Hall, Keswick
Witanagemot or Witan

The king’s council of wise men, including
earls, major landholders, and high
religious authorities

Spoofed in Harry Potter books as the
Wizengamot tribunal
The Germania–Religious
Practices—Similar to Norse
beliefs

Seek information from the cries and flights
of birds.

Try to obtain omens and warnings from
horses.
Gods similar to Norse Gods

Thunor=God of Thunder

Freya=fertility

Tew=war
Anglo-Saxon Funereal Customs

Buried with weapons, wealth for the
afterlife

The wealthy got a full set of armor

Sometimes, great thanes were buried with
fully equipped boats.

Other times, the boats were burned at
sea.
The Sutton Hoo burial
Sutton Hoo
Treasure
Sutton Hoo
Treasure
Sutton Hoo
Treasure
Other important Germanic
influences

Eostre (estrogen, estrus cycles)
(--goddess of the dawn, spring, and new
life, feast day in Spring
--Symbols are the hare and the egg!

Winter feasts (used to served boar’s
head), New Year’s resolution
By the end of the 6th Century
Augustine and his followers begin to
convert England to Christianity.
King Ethelbert baptized by Augustine c. 597
A.D.
Conversion of the Saxons

Pagan and Judeo-Christian beliefs are
intertwined in the literature as it is written
down (often by monks).

Tension “between faith in an omnipotent
Christian God and a trust in blind,
inexorable fate [wyrd].”

Saxon Church at Dover Castle
The Norse
Viking Invasions –
Beginning @ 900 A.D.
10th Century defeated English in
the Battle of Maldon
Wanted British technology,
raw goods
Norse Mythology
Adumla
(cosmic
cow)
|
licked the first beings out of ice, eventually begat
the Aesir (Guardians of man)
|
(w)odin—----Vili—----Ve

(spirit of life)
(wits & heart) (hearing & sight)
Norse Mythology
Adumla (cow)
|
Buri
|
Bor—Bestla
(frost giant’s daughter)
|
(w)odin—----Vili—----Ve

(spirit of life)

(wits & heart) (hearing & sight)
Kill all the frost giants but one—all the blood
flooded the world
Norse Mythology

Ymir – Frost Giant that survived
1) skull=sky
2) flesh=Earth
3) bones=Mountains
4) blood=Oceans, lakes, rivers

Dwarves: North, South, East, West
Runes
Norse Mythology

Ygdrasil **–The living tree, the suffering
tree, the life-giver
--Regenerates itself, eternal (was, and is,
and will be)

Odin hung on a tree for nine days to gain
boons for mankind – Runes (magical
alphabet) and Skaldic Mead (poetic
inspiration)
Ratatosk


Nibbles roots of
Yggdrasil
Carries insults and
gossip between the
dragon Nidhogg and
an eagle in the top
branches
Where the gods lived

Asgard (Settled by Odin, Vili, Ve – Aesir,
guardians of men)

linked to Midgard by the flaming rainbow
bridge, Bifrost
Yggdrasil
the living
ash tree
Bifrost and the Norse Gods
An older image in stone
Odin with his 8 legged horse
Slepnir—remind you of anyone?
Odin—The All Father with his
ravens Thought & Memory
Images of the three
Norns at the Well of
Urd--Weird (Urd),
Verdandi, Skuld
Other things to know

Unlike Greek gods, gods were not
invincible

Living in the Gotterdamerung, or “Twilight
of the gods”

Would eventually be defeated at
Ragnarok, the “day of doom”
The Wild Hunt

Souls of dead warriors who joined Odin in
Valhalla waiting to join against the forces
of destruction at Ragnarok

Brought to Valhalla by the Valkyrie
Flight of the Valkyrie, 1909, John Charles
Dollman
The Wild Hunt, 1892, Peter Nicolai Arbo
The Fenris Wolf
Son of Loki
Kills Odin
Gotterdammerung & Ragnarok

Midgard serpent—will flood the world by
overflowing the ocean & spew deadly
venom.

Killed by Thor before he succumbs to
death from the poison.
Gotterdammerung & Ragnarok

Horns of Heimdall will ring to warn other gods of
the danger.

By the end, Yggdrasill and all the worlds
become a blazing inferno and the gods of the
Aesir & Vanir die as well as all the inhabitants of
Middle Earth.

The sky falls into a pit of flame and the earth
sinks into the sea.
Other Influences--The Days of the
Week






Sunday
Monday
Teusday (Tiu—warrior god, symbol=boar)
Wednesday (Wodin)
Thursday (Thor—thunder god, very
popular)
Friday (Freya—fertility god)
Old English/Anglo-Saxon
The emergence of a written
language.
The Vikings & Saxons

Constantly battled for control of England

Languages in England merged to become
Old English

Battle of Maldon—recorded in poem
Battle of Maldon, Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles c. 991 A.D.

Extant in a fragment (beginning & end missing)

Byrhtnoth (Saxon) fights the Vikings

Byrhtnoth is 6’6” to 6’9” in a world where people
are on average 5’ tall.

He is also 65 in a time when people lived to @
40.
Awesome desplay of wealth—owned land in
Essex & 8 other counties

Battle of Maldon, Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles c. 991 A.D.

When he falls, poet reproaches the cowardice of the
thane Godric who gallops away

Aelfwine, in contrast, upholds comitatus

He boasts (beot) that no one can “reproach him with
fleeing while his lord lies dead”
“Heart must be hardier courage the keener
Mood must be the bolder as our band lessens.”
Where people lived

Midgard (middle earth)
-made from Ymir’s eyebrows)
-safely away from the stone giants
-protected part of Manheim (the place
where people lived)
Three classes of people**

Jarl (fair, sharp, skilled, strong)
Heimdall teaches him the runes of Odin
Class of kings (koniger) and warriors

Karl (ruddy, bright-eyed, well formed)
farmers, skilled laborers, peasants

Thrall (ugly, twisted, dull)
race of unskilled laborers
i.e. to “hold in thrall”
Battle of Maldon, Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles c. 991 A.D.

Glorious defeat

BUT moral victory, affirmation of comitatus
King Alfred the Great




“Great” because he kept united tribes to repel
the Danes
King when Vikings sacked the monastery at
Lindesfarne
Saxons kept London & Wessex; Vikings kept the
Danelaw
(North and East England)
Commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles** of
Britain from the time of Caesar’s invasion—
WRITTEN IN ENGLISH!!!
Lindesfarne
Lindesfarne Castle
Alfred Jewel

"AELFRED MEC
HEHT GEWYRCAN",
"Alfred ordered
me to be made"

In the
Ashmolean
in Oxford
The Vikings Win, sort of . . .


Ethelred the Unready
-weak king
-took throne at age 11
King Canute crowned King of all England,
1016
King Harold Godwinsson


The grandson of a Viking
Defeated at the Battle of Hastings, 1066 by
William the Conquer of Normandy
(and Norman means Northman—in other words,
Viking!)
“Nobody has ever invaded or conquered England
since.” (Horrible Histories: The Vicious Vikings)
Old English/Anglo-Saxon &
other influences on Modern
English
The emergence of a written
language.
Anglo-Saxon/Old English

Language spoken and written from about the 5th
to 11th centuries around the time of the Battle of
Hastings (1066).

Standardized in 10th century through influence of
dominant kingdom of Wessex.

Based on runic script.
Lindesfarne
Gospels

English
translations
written in above the Latin

Illuminated pages

Monastery kept
learning alive in
the “Dark Ages”
Of Viking invasion
Anglo-Saxon/Old English

Language spoken and written from about the 5th
to 11th centuries around the time of the Battle of
Hastings (1066).

Standardized in 10th century through influence of
dominant kingdom of Wessex.

Based on runic script.

½ of all English words have AS origins
Old English Words &
Modern Equivalents








Old English
Wicu
Cyning (c-k)
Scort (sc=sh)
Gærs
Eorþ (þ & ð= th)
deor
cniht








Modern English
Week
King
Short
Grass
Earth
Deer (orig. wild beast)
Knight (orig. youth)
Celtic Language

Survives in Irish, Gaelic, Welsh languages
(Where the Saxons did not conquer)

Very few words survive except in place names
Others mostly topographic
EX. avon-river, combe=valley, torr=rock
outcropping


Ancor=anchorite=hermit
Welsh Language

Roman alphabet with different sound
values & consonant doubling (ll, ff, ww,
dd)

Gwynnedd = Guyneth

Siobhan = Shevan
Longest Word in Welsh

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrob
wllllantysiliogogogoch
Book of Kells

Written in Latin

Illuminated by
monks at
the monastery
of Kells
Latin





Added a rune for “L”
“Wynn” rune for “W”
The Thorn for “TH”
The Ash for “Q” and “ETH”
@450 words, mostly nouns