Anglo-Saxon Period

450-1066

Great Britain (British Literature)

• England• Scotland • Wales

United Kingdom also includes North Ireland

Invaders to Britain

• Iberians• Celts• Romans• Angles• Saxons• Normans

What do we get from England

• English Common Law

• Language

• Literature

• Culture

Celts

Celts and Their Religion

• Animism

• Druids– Stonehenge

• Mother Goddess– Harmony is controlled

by MG and Great Father

Romans: Great Administrators

• From Julius Caesar (55 BC) to Emperor Claudius (1st Century AD)– Organization that protected Britain several hundred

years– Pushed war-like tribes to the north and west

• CHRISTIANITY—European Missionaries

• 410 AD: Problems in Rome and they just left (an infrastructure but no central

government)

When the Romans left

• Angles• Saxons• Jutes

King Arthur to King Alfred

• Invaders after Romans abandoned Britain:– Angles and Saxons (Germany)– Jutes (peninsula of Jutland in Denmark)

• Great Struggles– Celts: King Arthur (retreated to Wales)

Anglo-Saxon England

• Independent Principalities

King Alfred

• 871-899• Led against Danes• UNIFIED ENGLAND

Anglo-Saxon Religion

• German origins– Norse/Scandinavian mythology

• Diety: Thunor --“Thor”—Thursday– Mother was god “Earth”

• Took many forms

• Childbearing and homemaking

Norse god—Odin: Overcame death to learn of great mysteries

god of death, poetry, and magic

assists humans communicate with spirits

“Woden”--Wednesday

Ethics

• Main concern with Anglo-Saxon religion– Virtues of:

• Bravery

• Loyalty

• Generosity

• Friendship

The Danes (from Denmark)

• Vikings (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark)

• 8th and 9th century• NE & Central England• Danish Law now in

place• ‘Danegeld’- payment

in exchange for peace

William, Duke of Normandy

• Forced the Anglo-Saxons out in 1066

Battle of Hastings

October 14, 1066

Reemergence of Christianity

• Christianity declined when the Romans left

• Irish and Continental Missionaries– St. Augustine converted

King Ethelbert of Kent

• Not Immediately or Permanently Successful– Ex: King Readwald of East

Anglia

Sutton Hoo

• Richest burial site ever discovered in Britain, an Anglo-Saxon ship containing the treasure of one of the earliest English Kings - Rædwald, King of East Anglia. Rich in Anglo-Saxon and Christian treasures.

Life in Anglo-Saxon England

VIP’s

• Venerable Bede• King Alfred• The Beowulf poet• Caedmon

Law and Order

• Warfare was common occurrence

• Leaders in any group were responsible for safety– Family– Clan– Tribe– Kingdom

Fame, Success, and Survival were obtained through LOYALTY to the leaders

Beowulf

• Defeats monsters who attack King Hrothgar

• Loyal Dependence

Bards and Poets in Anglo-Saxon England

• Communal Hall– Offered shelter– Public meetings– Entertainment

• Bards (scops) were skilled story tellers– Considered very manly– Accompanied by a

harp

Narratives

• Poems were many times improvisational– Traditional heroic tales– People under the threat of war, disease, old age– Stress the transience of life connected with the

cold and darkness of winter

• Elegiac strain—mournful• Bards gave hope that heroic deeds would be

remembered in the collective memory

Monasteries and Anglo-Saxon Lit.

• Centers of faith and learning

• Provided cultural and spiritual influence

• Monks probably wrote down the bards tales– Tales: Old English

– Learning: Latin

Venerable Bede

• 673-735

• Greatest Latin writer in Anglo-Saxon England

• Ecclesiastical History of the English People– 731– First major source of early English history

Old English Poetics

• Sung or recited aloud

• Harp provided a regular rhythm

• Old English poets are more concerned with time rather than number of syllables– Beowulf has 4 primary stresses in each line

• Uses alliteration frequently “Alliterative poetry”

Poetics, cont’d.

• Caesura—rhythmical pause in the middle of a line

• Kenning—descriptive compound words• Ex: “sea-stallions” to mean ships

• Ready made formulas to describe certain events: greeting a stranger, voyaging on the seas, eating a feast, receiving riches