Early Britain

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Early Britain

• From Roman Britain to Anglo Saxon Anglelonde

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Essential Questions

• What caused England to enter the Dark Ages?
• How was Roman England different from Anglo Saxon
  England?
• What characterizes Anglo Saxon poetry?
• How do we know anything about the Anglo Saxons?

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• From about 50 AD until 420 AD, Rome ruled much of
  England. The Roman towns were modern and refined.

In such a cultured lifestyle, books were
plentiful, theater was common, life was good.
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The ruins of an amphitheater at Verulamium,
England hint at the wealthy, advanced culture of
Roman Britain.
Did you know that. . . Romans had central heating
in their homes? The had hot and cold running
water? Nearly all citizens could read and write?
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• In the early 400s, the Romans deserted Britain
  because barbarians were attacking Rome. All
  outlying settlements (like Britain) were
  abandoned. So who was left in Britain?
• Native Britons of Celtic origin
• Descendants of the Roman citizens
• Slaves of various nationalities
• A few wealthy Roman citizens

And none of them stood a chance against the
Angles, the Saxons, or the Jutes.
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The invaders burned, raped, and pillaged.
But eventually, they brought their families and
they stayed.
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The Anglo Saxons were different from the Romans

• They were not Christians
• They had no written language
• They were not as culturally advanced

A Roman villa in Britain
A Saxon farm in Britain
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The Dark Ages

• The advanced, educated culture of the Romans was
  replaced with a harsh lifestyle where simply
  surviving was sometimes the most one could hope
  for.
• In other words, the culture was darkened.
• 440-1066 AD

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Anglo SaxonEngland
The Angles
The Saxons
The Jutes
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England during the Dark Ages was really many
small kingdoms, each one ruled by a powerful
warrior chieftain who set himself up as
king. These kings fought each other, trying to
conquer bigger chunks of land for their
kingdoms. Finally, one king managed to claim the
biggest part of England for himselfAlfred.
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Alfred the Great

• He encouraged education
• He created walled towns called burghs
• He defeated the Vikings
• He established the Danelaw
• He commissioned the Anglo Saxon Chronicles
  and insisted it be written in the
  vernacular the spoken language of the common
  people.

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Anglo Saxon Literature

• The beginnings of English literature fall into
  two broad categories
• the poetry of the pagan
• Anglo-Saxons
• prose of their Christianized
• descendants.

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• Early poetry possessed four characteristics which
  mark not only Anglo-Saxon literature but also the
  English literature of subsequent centuries.
  These characteristics are
• a love of adventure
• a sense of the importance of honor
• an awe of natural beauty
• a delight in word play (puns and riddles)

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• There are four sources from which we have derived
  all existing Anglo-Saxon literature

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1. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles A year by year
account of English history commissioned by Alfred
the Great.

• It is important
• Historically because it gives us some insight
  into life during the Anglo Saxon era.
• Linguistically because Alfred insisted it be
  written in the vernacular, that is, in English
  and not Latin which promoted English as the
  national language.
• Literarily because it is one of only four
  surviving manuscripts from the Anglo Saxon era
  449-1154.

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2. The Ecclesiastical History of the English
People by Bede
This is the only one of the sources for which we
have an author. Originally written in Latin (the
language of the church and the educated) by the
Venerable Bede, it covers the religious history
of England from the invasion of Julius Caesar
through 731. It was translated into Old English
in the 890s at the order of King Alfred. It
includes descriptions of the physical nature of
England (flora and fauna) as well as stories
about various AS kings and their conversion to
Christianity.
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3. Beowulf

• Beowulf is the oldest piece of English
  literature. The only copy is a 10th century
  manuscript but it is generally dated to the 8th
  century. The story takes place in 6th century
  Scandanavia. It is an epic poem.

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4. Exeter Book

• Copied by a scribe from a prior manuscript
  between 950-990. It was given to Exeter
  Cathedral by Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter
  Cathedral, shortly before his death. The book is
  the largest extant (existing) collection of
  Anglo-Saxon riddles and poetry.

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Anglo-Saxon Poetry Terms Alliteration the
repetition of the first consonant sound in a
single line of poetry. Generally, the stressed
syllables on either side of the caesura used in
alliteration. E.g. thrust//broke through the
bone-rings Caesura a pause in the middle of
a single line of the verse. Each half line of
poetry has two stressed syllables and a varying
number of unstressed syllables. The pause in the
middle gave the singer a chance to catch a
breath. These are often denoted by a comma or
period in the middle of a line.
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• Epithet - an identifying word or tag
  identifying a person and often used in place of
  an actual name or title People are seldom
  mentiond only by name, but usually with an
  identifying metaphor Hrothgar is a ring-giver,
  a gold-friend Beowulf is Ecgtheows son.
• Kenning a condensed metaphor or two-word
  metaphor (often hyphenated, but not always) used
  to replace a concrete noun. The poet had a word
  hoard of formulaic phrases whale road, swan
  road, sail road are all examples of kennings
  which refer to the sea.

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Repetition repeating the same idea in
successive lines, expressed in different words,
gave the poet time to formulate the next step in
the story. A Geatish bowman Relieved one of
them of life and wave- Contending his hard
arrow bit deep Into its heart It was quickly
assailed in the waves With boar-spears sharply
barbed
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Oral Tradition Anglo Saxon literature was
recitedthere were no written versions so each
new telling probably changed the work in some
way. Scop The storyteller, bard. A scop knew
many different tales and they were long stories,
too. He used the characteristics of AS poetry to
help him remember the lines.
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So, although much of the Anglo Saxon literature
was created before Christianity came to England,
the written versions often have Christian
references. Why would that be?
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In a time when monks were trying hard to convert
the Anglo Saxon people to Christianity, inserting
Christian ideas into their stories was a natural
strategy.
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So lets look at some Anglo Saxon literature. . .