Anglo Saxon Period

Britain became separated from

mainland Europe at the end of
the last Ice Age
(10.000 years BC)
Population: small Normandic
group of Fishermen/hunters

In 2000 BC Stonehenge was completed. It

is a circle of stones, and is regarded as
the most famous prehistoric monument in
Britain.

Invaders:
1. Neolithic People: (3000 BC)
2. Beaker people (2400 BC)
3. The Celts ( 700 BC)
4. The Romans (55BC
Full occupation 43 AD)
-They brought an urban civilization
-built good roads
-brought peace and prosperity.
Even today the ruins of Roman buildings,
forts, roads and baths can be found all
over Britain.

5.Anglo-Saxons

-Angles
-Saxons
-Jutes

(Germanic Tribes)

smaller kingdoms
1. Wessex (West Saxons
& south and sw of Eng).
2. Mercia (Midlands)
3. Northumbria(North Eng)

6. The Vikings ( Danes)

(came from Norway and Denmark)
occupied north and east of Eng.)

KINGS
1. 1st King----Offa of Mercia
Witans : (Royal Council) Consisted of a group of leading
warriors and religious figures
(function as advisors of Kingissue law)
2. King Alfred the Great: brought peace, promoted the use
of written English rather than Latin. He improved the
state of education. He knew how to write good clear
prose. With helpers he translated much Latin into
English (including the Ecclesiastical History of Bede)
3. King Edward (Saxon King from Normandy - North of
France
4. Duke William of Normandy
He won a great victory at Hastings in 1066
Known as William the Conquerorcrowned as King of
England.

Anglo Saxon Ideals:

Loyalty to ones Lord/King
Hospitality
Belief in fate
Love of glory

RELIGION
During the Roman Occupation: Christianity
Anglo-Saxons: Believed in Germanic Gods
Christianitythrough the Celtic church

St. Augustine (Monk) sent by Pope to reestablish Christianity. + Celtic bishops

The whole Britain had been converted to Christianity by 660

 Anglo-Saxon society
Organised in small units --- huts

 They were farmers or fishermen

They brought new technology in
agriculture crop rotation

Literary Context
Oral Literature - oral poetry
Deals with heroic or legendary episodes
from history of Germanic Tribes
Performed by a scop (poet) and
accompanied by harp

All the records of the early literature of the

Anglo-Saxons belong to a Christian
England, written by clerks in monasteries.
We must think of this literature as being
oral, passed down by word of mouth from
generation to generation.

Old English Poetry

metrical
rhythms
no rhyme
use of alliteration (repetition of same consonant sounds)
use of assonance (repetition of same vowel sounds)
kennings (phrases that are elaborate and indirect way of
naming persons, things, events. Eg. Souls prison/
house of bones for body; Battle-sweat for blood)

Caedmons poem is perhaps the first

piece of Christian literature to appear in
Anglo-Saxon England. It was written in old
English.
According to literary historians it was
divinely inspired.

Caedmon, who was rather shy, was

embarrassed to sing at the feast, so he went out
to the stable. He fell asleep and had a dream, in
his dream he saw a man who asked him to sing
a song. Although Caedmon said he could not
sing, with divine inspiration he started to sing
verses in praise of God the Creator whom he
had not heard before.
This talent was believed to be a gift from God
and Caedmon composed more verse without
being able to read and write.

Bede, (AD 672-735), who was the first historian

to attempt to write the ecclesiastical history of
the English Church with his book Ecclesiastical
History of the English Church and its People.
Bede talks about Caedmon in his book saying
that Caedmon sang the story of the Book of
Genesis (1st chapter of the Old Testament)
covering Christs life and death and many other
aspects of Christian teaching.

None of Caedmons other compositions

survived, and we do not know how many
of them Bede knew himself.
For Bede, Caedmons poetry represents a
beginning, and a divinely inspired one.

Beowulf
The oldest poem in the English language is
Beawulf. It was not composed in England, but
on the continent of Europe. The new settlers
brought it over.
It is an epic poem consisting of over 3000 lines.
It is essentially a warriors story. It is about the
hero who gives his name to the poem and his
struggle with a foul monster (half-man, halfdevil) called Grendel.
It contains supernatural elements and historical
facts, and offers hints of Christian teaching,
Anglo-Saxon society and its values.

An epic or heroic poem is:

a long narrative poem;
on a serious subject;
written in a grand or elevated style;
centered on a larger-than-life hero.

The epic poem, "Beowulf", describes the most heroic

man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The hero, Beowulf, is a
seemingly invincible (indestructible) person with all the
extraordinary traits required of a hero. He is able to use
his super-human physical strength and courage to put
his people before himself. He encounters hideous
monsters, but he never fears the threat of death. His
leadership skills are superb and he is even able to boast
about all his achievements. Beowulf is an epic hero who
risks his life countless times for immortal glory and for
the good of others.

Other Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Songs
Heroic tales
Riddles
Elegiac poems-tell the sadness of exile or
separation from ones Lord or community
The Wanderer
The Seafarer
Wulfstan (the Archbishop of York he wrote a
prose crying out that the end of the world is
coming)

The Wanderer
The Wanderer is an Old English poem
preserved only in an anthology known as
the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from
the late 10th century. It counts 115 lines of
alliterative verse.

 Some scholars believe that the poem was

composed around the time the AngloSaxons were making the conversion to
Christianity, sometime around 597, though
others would date it as much as several
centuries later.

 The Wanderers monologue (a prolonged

talk by a single speaker) is divided into
two distinct parts, the first being a lament
for his exile and the loss of kin, friends,
home, and the generosity of his king. In
nature he finds no comfort, for he has set
sail on the wintry sea. The speaker
dreams that he is among his companions
and embracing his king, but he is in the
middle of the gray winter sea where
snowfall mingled with hail.

 In the monologues second part, the Wanderer

reflects more generally on mans fate, urging
resignation and control of emotion as ways of
meeting adversity. From the ruined walls and
cities he encounters on his travels, he witnesses
the destruction that societies experience other
than his own. This part of the poem introduces
the ubi sunt (latin, where are those who were
before us?, highlights the idea of mortality)
theme, as the Wanderer questions what has
become of the things he has known and realizes
that many have vanished.

 The poem, like much other Anglo-Saxon poetry, links

pagan and Christian values in an uneasy combination.
The authorial voice begins and concludes the poem,
referring to God and stressing the importance of faith,
themes absent from the Wanderers speech.
The Wanderers lament, even in the voice of an outcast,
upholds Anglo-Saxon tribal values, notably loyalty,
generosity, courage, and physical strength.

It reflects an overriding concern with the hostile aspects

of nature and with the power of fate.

The Seafarer
The Seafarer is an Old English poem
recorded in the Exeter Book, one of the
four surviving manuscripts of
Old English poetry. It contains 124 lines
and has been commonly referred to as an
elegy, a poem that mourns a loss, or has
the more general meaning of a simply
sorrowful piece of writing.

It is told from the point of view of an old seafarer, who is evaluating

his life as he has lived it. The seafarer describes the desolate
hardships of life on the wintry sea.

He describes the anxious feelings, cold-wetness, and solitude of the

sea voyage in contrast to life on land where men are surrounded by
kinsmen, free from dangers, and full on food and wine.

The climate on land then begins to resemble that of the wintry sea,
and the speaker shifts his tone from the gloomy of the winter voyage
and begins to describe his yearning for the sea.

Time passes through the seasons from winterit snowed from the
north (31b)to springgroves assume blossoms (48a)and to
summerthe cuckoo urges (53a). It is here that the speakers soul
flies out over the sea in search of heaven and comes back eager
and ready to depart.

 Though this poem begins as a narrative of a mans life at

sea, it becomes a praise of God. At line 66b, the speaker
again shifts, this time not in tone, but in subject matter.
The sea is no longer mentioned; instead the speaker
preaches about the path to heaven. He asserts that
earthly happiness will not endure" (line 67), that men
must oppose the devil with brave deeds (line 76), and
that earthly wealth cannot travel to the afterlife nor will it
determine the wealth of the soul (lines 97-102).
Next the speaker provides the reader with proverbs and
then calls to men to consider where they want to spend
the afterlife and then reflect upon how we could come
there (line 118). Heaven is a goal for man to reach by
living a good, honorable life. This is a reward to man for
faith, as well as a reward for God who has honored us
for all time (124). The poem ends with a note of
gratitude to the Lord.

Both poems are melancholic in tone, and

they give a powerful description of nature.

Bede (AD 672-735)

Bede was the first historian to attempt a

history of the English. Even if his viewpoint
and main interest was for the
ecclesiastical side to the history of the
English.The title Venerabilis (the
Venerable) seems to have come within
two generations after his death.

 In 731, the Venerable Bede completed his

most famous work,
the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the
English People). His greatest work, it is
the foundation of all our knowledge of
British history.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is another

important piece of prose that gives us a lot
of information about the main happenings
of the country.
It was kept by monks in seven successive
monasteries.