Brit Lit - Anglo Saxon Period

Anglo Saxon Period

449 AD - 1066

Before the Anglo Saxons

• Celts and Romans in England beforehand

• Tribes

  • Brithans

  • Britian

  • King Arthur

Celtic (beliefs/culture)

Polytheistic, spiritual

55 BC

• Conquest of Julius Cesar

• Celtics pushed out by Romans to Ireland

409 bc

• Rome falling

• England left alone

• “Harrian’s Wall”

  • ≈ 20 ft tall

• Roman infrastructures still present

Anglo - Saxon culture

• Angles

  • Germanic

  • The north had different languages

• Saxons

• Jutes

  • Welsh

  • Although, not as prominent, not considered truly to be part of them?

Impact of different people and different cultures

• Blending of people/cultures = English language

• Established towns, languages, etc.

“Old English” (Runes)

• Piratically unintelligible

• Around the year 100

Middle period

1400

Shakespeare period

1700

Anglo culture

• Warriors

• Values in fighting

• Leader had the most victories

  • Leader’s job was to protect clan from enemies

  • Often left on conquests

• Women responsible for keeping the town running

  • Important roles

  • Had dowery

  • Property was held by women

• Culture changed in future

Polytheistic belief system

• No afterlife

• “Heroic Ideal”

• Highly valued idea of heroism

• To be a hero was the marker of a life well lived

• The only way to live a good life was if the heroic acts were retold after one’s death

  • Retold orally, passed down through generations

Impacts of Christian monks migration

• Told polytheistic about how Jesus conquered death

• Death was one of the only things that they could not conquer, so they were intrigued

  • Quickly adopted Christianity

Why were warriors significant?

They ranked the highest, and were the most respected.

Why were bards significant?

They were the second rank from the top, and to live a good life according to the culture, they needed good stories to be told about them. Bards told stories, so if the bard disliked a person, their reputation was more or less set in stone.

How long were the stories told? How so?

• Stories told orally

• Until the 6th or 7th century

Significance of King Alfred the Great

• Nicknamed “The Unifier”

• The vikings were killing people, but King Alfred brought them together, earning the title of “The Unifier”