Ancient English History: a series of invasions!

Anglo-Saxon background

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The Celts600 BCTribal SocietyReligion: animism, Druids, and Stonehenge

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Stonehenge

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/ancient/hidden-chapels-ritual-shrines-discovered-surrounding-stonehenge/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=nova_next

RomansJulius Caesar (55 BC)ClaudiusContributions: castras, roads, Hadrian’s

WallFall of Rome in 410AD

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The Germanic InvasionAngles and Saxons from GermanyJutes from Denmark449 AD

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The Anglo-Saxon warrior societyTheir tribal organization, values, and beliefs

all reflect thisEvery family or tribe had a warrior chief,

who served a royal warlord.Each warlord and his warriors formed a

comitatus

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Loyal dependencyGrew from the need for protectionWarlords rewarded the bravest of their

warriors with treasures.Warriors responded with absolute

loyalty

“On the field of battle it is a disgrace to a chief to be surpassed in courage by his followers, and to the followers not to equal the courage of their chief. To leave a battle alive after their chief had fallen meant life-long shame.”

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Wyrd (fate)Life in Anglo-Saxon England was brutal and

short.Believed that fate or Wyrd controlled

human destinyOne’s ultimate fate was death.Because Germanic religious beliefs held no

promise of an afterlife, the warrior’s primary goal was to achieve fame in this life and to face death with courage.

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Anglo-Saxon society and cultureSocial Classes1) Thanes2) Warrior3) Scop4) Churl5) WomenThe Mead HallWergild—early lawBretwalda

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“He who earns praise, has under heaven the greatest

glory”The Christianizing of England

Pope Gregory I sent Saint Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons (597)

By the year 650, most of England was Christian in name, but many still maintained pagan beliefs.

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The Benefits of Christianity for the Anglo-SaxonThe promise of eternal life was appealing to

a warrior culture.Unification and peaceScribes copied manuscripts by hand and

preserved the oral talesMonks composed scholarly literature

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Anglo-Saxon heroic (pagan) poetryThe epic—viewed as records of their

peoples’ historiesEpics are found in cultures around the

world, demonstrating the timeless and universal human desire to transmit legends from one generation to another.

Oral “histories” shared in mead halls by scops.

4 characteristics

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Major themes of heroic/pagan poetryCourage of Brevity of Mystery and cruelty of

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Beowulf and the Beowulf poet

One of Europe’s first literary works to be composed in the vernacular (language of the people) and not in Latin (language of the church).

Story takes place in Scandinavia and is set in the 6th century

Involves the Geats, a tribe from southern Sweden, and the Danes, a tribe in Denmark.

Brought to England and told by scops for generations until an Anglo-Saxon poet or monk actually wrote down the tales.

The Beowulf poet was clearly Christian, but the poem retains some of its pagan roots.

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Anglo-Saxon Literature: Christian prose

Utilitarian in natureTranslations of Histories of Stories of Example: Bede’s History

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