Dark Ages

1
Dark Ages Anglo Saxon Period (449 1066)
2
Angles, Saxons and Jutes invade Briton

• During the sixth and seventh centuries these
  Germanic invaders started to carve out kingdoms,
  fighting both the native Britons and each other
  for land.

United Streaming clip
3

• First called Saxons, the German invaders were
  later referred to as Angles.
• As time passed, the differences between the
  Germanic tribal cultures gradually unified until
  eventually they ceased referring to themselves by
  their individual origins and became either
  Anglo-Saxon or English.

4
Conversion to Christianity

• By the year 550ce, the native Britons had been
  converted to Christianity and the religion became
  firmly established within their culture.

5
Vikings attack

• The 8th century and the beginning of the Viking
  raids
• Words acquired during this period pertained to
  the sea and the Scandinavian administrative
  system. Some examples of these borrowings are
  law, take, cut, anger, wrong, freckle, both, ill,
  ugly, as well as, the verb form 'are'.

6

• Anglo-Saxons distinguished between two people
  with the same name by adding either the place
  they came from or the job they did to their first
  name. Modern surnames such as Baxter, Baker,
  Weaver, Fisher, Fowler, Hunter, and Farmer are
  Anglo-Saxon in origin.

7

• Vikings had a different way of distinguishing
  between people The of the same name. They added
  the name of the person's father or mother to the
  child's name. As an example, Harald, the son of
  Erik would be known as Harald Erik's son, or as
  we would say it today, Harald Erikson.

8
Society

• The Anglo-Saxon territory was divided into seven
  separate kingdoms commonly referred to as the
  heptarchy. Each kingdom was ruled by a king, the
  king's sons who were called aethlings and the
  ruling nobility known as the eoldermen.

9

• By the middle of the ninth century the royal
  family of Wessex was universally recognized as
  the English royal family and held a hereditary
  right to rule. Succession to the throne was not
  guaranteed as the witan, or council of leaders,
  had the right to choose the best successor from
  the members of the royal house.

10

• The early Anglo-Saxon society was organized
  around clans or tribes and was centered around a
  system of reciprocity called comitatus. The
  eoldorman expected martial service and loyalty
  from his thanes, and the thanes expected
  protection and rewards from the lord.

http//www.uta.edu/english/tim/courses/4301f98/oct
12.html