Transcript The Anglo-Saxon Powerpoint

The Anglo-Saxons
449 - 1066
Anglo-Saxon England was born of warfare,
remained forever a military society, and
came to its end in battle.
~J.R. Lander
• The earliest settlers in England were called
Iberians because it is thought they
originally came from the Iberian Peninsula
(the peninsula of present-day Portugal and
Spain).
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The Celtic World
• From about 700 BC, the Celts dominated most of
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what is now western and central Europe.
Skilled artisans, they introduced the use of iron to
the rest of Europe.
They also had a highly developed religion, mythology,
and legal system that specified individual rights.
The Celts were also adept at curing hams, keeping
bees, and making wooden barrels.
Their language was dominant in Britain until around
the 5th Century AD. Welsh, Scots Gaelic, and Irish
are forms of the Celtic language that may still be
heard in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland today.
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• In the 4th C, Greek travelers visited what is
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now Great Britain, they found an island settled
by tall blond warriors who called themselves
Celts.
Animism was the Celtic religion. The Celts saw
spirits everywhere—in rivers, trees, stones,
ponds, fire, and thunder.
The spirits or gods controlled all aspects of
existence.
Druid priests were the intermediaries
between the gods and the people. The priests
sometimes performed human sacrifices to
satisfy the gods.
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• Celtic mythology has influenced English and Irish
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writers to this day.
15th C writer Sir Thomas Mallory wrote Le Morte
Darthur while in jail.
20th C poet William Butler Yeats used the Celtic
myths in his poetry and plays.
Celtic stories are full of strong women, fantastic
animals, passionate love affairs, and fabulous
adventures.
Celtic myths take you to enchanted lands where magic
and the imagination rule.
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Enter the Romans
• 55 BC Caesar led an invasion
• Britons finally conquered by the Roman legions
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100 years after Caesar’s invasion.
The Romans built roads, bridges, and a great
defensive wall (Hadrian’s Wall).
Christianity gradually took hold due to the
European missionaries. Celtic religion began to
vanish.
AD 409 – Romans pull out leaving the isle
vulnerable for invasion
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The Anglo-Saxons Sweep Ashore
• Angles, Saxons, & Jutes invade from the
continent
• Celts put up a strong fight for the land;
retreated to Wales were today traces of
their culture & language can be found
• Under the A/S, the land was called Engla
land (England) – from the Angles
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King Alfred of Wessex (aka Alfred
the Great)
• Led the A/S against the invading Danes – one of
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the fierce Viking peoples who crossed the cold
North Sea
Danes plundered & destroyed everything in their
path
Danes eventually settled in the northern part of
England
Due to Alfred’s victory over the Danes, England
became in any true sense a nation.
The reemergence of Christianity gave the A/S a
common faith & common system of morality &
right conduct
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• Christianity gave the A/S a link to Europe
• Under Christianity and Alfred, A/S fought
to protect their people, their culture, &
their church from the ravages of the
Danes.
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Anglo-Saxon Life
• A/S were an agricultural, semi-nomadic people.
• They had a two-class society: the earls or
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thanes, who ruled and who were related to the
tribe’s founder; and the churls, bondservants
whose ancestors had been captured by the
tribe.
The churls provided the hard labor
They were bound to the earl’s service unless
they could earn possessions & special royal favor
to become freemen (independent landowners)
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• A woman received honor & power only as a
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queen, as a wife of a powerful earl, or as a
churchwoman.
A/S society had strict laws and a sense of
obligation to others.
An absolute ruler and might warrior; the A/S king
consulted with the witan (“wise men”), an
assembly of respected earls.
The chieftain & his followers were bound till
death. If the lord was killed, his warriors had to
avenge his death or die beside him.
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Anglo-Saxon Religion
• The old A/S religion with its warrior gods
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persisted.
It was a dark, fatalistic religion that the Angles &
Saxons brought with them from Germany, & it
had much in common with Norse mythology.
To A/S the dragon was the living embodiment of
evil and death. It was associated with the fierce
Vikings (Danes) who sailed boats with prows
carved in the shapes of dragons’ heads and
fangs.
A/S religion was more concerned with ethics than
mysticism.
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The Bards (Scops)
• A/S considered creating poetry as important as
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fighting, hunting, farming, or loving.
A/S scops kept the history of the tribe
Scops performed orally from memory the
literature in the mead hall
Used rhythms to help them remember
Warriors hoped their heroics & deeds would be
kept & handed down by the scops.
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The Christian Monasteries
• Centers of learning
• Monks recorded not only the Greek &
Latin classics but popular stories, also.
• Some monks spent their days laboriously
copying manuscripts (printing was 800
years away)
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Alfred the Great
• Patron of learning who furthered the
education of his people – invited scholars
to his court; he translated scholarly works
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Stonehenge
• Built in three stages
• A gathering & ceremonial place
• Huge blue stones found only in Wales – 240
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miles away from the site
Some stones weigh up to 4 tons
Scholars do know that the arrangement of the
slabs indicates the timing of important
astronomical events such as the summer
solstice.
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Bede the Venerable
• Monk & scholar
• Man most responsible for our knowledge
of England before the 8th C
• Wrote – Ecclesiastical History to show how
the Church brought unity to England,
ending an era of violence & barbarism
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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• A history of England from the beginning of
the Christian era until the middle of the
12th C
• 1st important prose work in English
• Kept by unknown monks
• Tells of weak kings, greedy abbots, proud
barons, & recorded natural events
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Saint Augustine
• Converted the King of Kent in AD 597
• Founded the cathedral at Canterbury, &
became the 1st archbishop of Canterbury
• His mission was not completely successful
because the old pagan A/S religion
persisted.
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Whitby Abbey
• Founded by the Abbess Hild for monks &
nuns
• Hild accumulated an immense library
• Was the chief school of learning
• 867 destroyed by the Danes
• The Benedictine monks reestablished the
abbey & its ruins can still be seen today
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Sutton Hoo
• Site discovered in 1939 by archaeologists
• Enormous ship-grave with a vast treasure
trove
• Extraordinary find for history, art, &
archaeology
• Find suggests that England was influenced
by Scandinavia even before the Viking
attacks began
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Study Skills Practice - Organizing
Ideas
The Epic Warrior (Use your notes and text pp 12 & 13)
I. Warrior society
A. Tribal organization
1. Warrior families
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b.
2. Comitatus B. Values and beliefs
1. Bravery
2. Treasure
3. Loyalty
II. Oral literature
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