The Anglo-Saxon Period

1
The Anglo-Saxon PeriodGuided Notes
2
Anglo-Saxon England(449-1066)

• The two main classes of the Anglo-Saxon society
  are known as
• The Earls the ruling class must show blood
  relationship to the founder of the tribe
• Churls Bondsmen, agricultural lives

3
The Warrior

• Very highly revered and respected the most
  important of human relationships was the
  relationship between the warrior and his lord.
  When a warrior vowed his loyalty to his lord, he
  was not a servant but a voluntary companion. The
  warrior took pride in defending his lord and
  fighting in his wars. In return, the lord was
  expected to take care of his warrior and richly
  reward them for their valor.

4
Wergild

• Man-Price if only one of his kinsmen had been
  slain, a man had the special duty of either
  killing the slayer or getting the payment of the
  wergild. Each rank of society was evaluated at a
  definite price which had to be paid by the killer
  to avoid his own death, even if the killing had
  been accidental. This concept of revenge caused
  never ending feuds.

5
Women/ Scops

• Women played mostly a domestic role
• Scop a bard, the entertainer told legends about
  the great heroes of the past (epics)

6
Epic

• Epic A long narrative poem in which the action,
  characters, and language are presented in a
  majestic style
• A setting in a remote time and place
• A simple plot
• A theme involving universal human problems
• Deals with supernatural forces
• Epic Hero A towering hero of great stature who
  possesses a superhuman strength of body,
  character and mind.

7
The Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066)

• Great Britain/England has been invaded and
  settled many times by the
• Iberians
• Celts
• Romans
• Angles
• Saxons
• Vikings
• Normans

8
The Celts

• the Celts were also known as the Britons
• Animism a form of religion in which spirits are
  found everywhere and control existence
• Druids priests that acted as intermediaries
  between gods and the people
• Stonehenge believed to be used by the Druids for
  religious rites

9
The Celts
Animism
Stonehenge
Druid (Droo-ids)
10
The Romans

• The Britons/Celts were finally conquered by the
  legions of Rome led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC.

11
The Romans

• The Romans introduced the following to the
  Britons
• Armies and organization that prevented further
  serious invasions
• Roads
• Walls
• Christianity which began to take hold under
  missionaries
• Public baths
• The Romans left by the year 409 AD

12
The Anglo-Saxons

• The Angles and Saxons came from Germany
• The Jutes came from Denmark
• The Celts retreated into Wales, but put up a good
  fight
• One of the heroic Celtic leaders was a Welsh
  called Arthur who developed into legend as
  Britains once and future king
• The country was divided initially after
  Anglo-Saxon take-over

13
The Anglo-Saxons

• England became a unified nation when King Alfred
  of Wessex, also known as Alfred the Great, led
  the Anglo-Saxons against the invading Danes.
• Irish and Continental missionaries converted the
  Anglo-Saxon kings and their subjects to
  Christianity, which provided common faith and a
  common system of morality and conduct
• The Anglo-Saxons and the Danes were defeated in
  1066 by William Duke of Normandy and his invading
  force of Normans from Northwestern France.

14
Anglo-Saxon Life and Culture

• The treasures of Sutton Hoo, a wooden ship grave,
  were discovered in 1939.
• They had been buried in the earth for 13 hundred
  years with a great king
• -The treasures indicate that the Anglo-Saxons
  were not barbarians

15
Anglo-Saxon Life and Culture

• In Anglo-Saxon life, warfare was the order of the
  day
• Fame and Success, even survival, were gained only
  through loyalty to the leader/chieftain and
  success was measured by gifts from the leader.

16
Anglo-Saxon Living Arrangements

• Single-family wooden homes surround a communal
  court or chieftains hall.
• The cluster of homes was protected by a wooden
  stockade fence
• This system provided a sense of security between
  the leader and followers

17
Anglo-Saxon Gods

• Woden (Woo-den) God of death, poetry and magic
• Thunor God of thunder and lightening

18
Other Information

• The fiery dragon was seen as both a
  personification of death and evil and the
  guardian of the grave mounds where warriors
  ashes and treasure lay
• Scops storytellers or bards

19
Ireland

• Unlike England and the rest of Europe, Ireland
  was not overrun by invaders instead, it
  experienced a golden age
• In 432, Celtic Ireland was converted to
  Christianity by Patricius, a Romanized Britain
• Irish monks founded monasteries for refugee
  scholars from Europe and England
• Monastaries served as centers of learning by
  preserving Latin and Greek classics
• Old English began to gain respect prior to this,
  Latin was the only language of serious study