1. The Anglo-Saxon Period and the Middle Ages Introduction to the Literary Period
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Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Key Concept: The Normans Invade Britain
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2. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
History of the Times
After the legions of Rome conquered the Celts, Roman armies kept Britain free from invaders.
Troubles at home forced Rome to evacuate its soldiers in A.D. 409, opening Britain to invasion.

3. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
55 B.C.
Hadrian’s Wall
Julius Caesar invades Britain.
A.D. 43
Celts defeated by Claudius.
Romans build walls, villas, baths, roads.
A.D. 409
Romans evacuate their troops.
Britain left vulnerable to attack.
Roman ruins
Central government breaks down.

4. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Celts in Britain—before fourth century A.D.
Britain home to several Celtic tribes.
Britain named for one Celtic tribe—the Brythons.
Celtic religion a form of animism.
Druids were Celtic priests.
Stonehenge

5. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Jutes
Angles
Saxons
Celts
A.D. 449 Angles, Saxons, and Jutes sweep ashore from Germany. The invaders push the Celts into the far west of Britain.

6. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
History of the Times
Angle and Saxon clans impose warrior culture on the island for six centuries.
Until ninth century, Britain is subject to constant invasions and battles.
King Alfred unites Anglo-Saxons against the invading Danes.
The spread of Christianity helps unify the Anglo-Saxons.

7. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Anglo-Saxon Society
Kinship groups led by strong warrior chief.
Constant threat of war bonded local clans through harsh living conditions.
People farmed, established local governments, and produced fine craftwork.
English emerged as a written language.

8. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Invasion of the Danes
The Danes were one of the fierce Viking peoples who crossed the North Sea in their dragon-prowed boats, plundering and destroying everything in their path.

9. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
8th–9th centuries
Vikings called Danes invade Britain.
871 Alfred of Wessex is king of England.
878 King Alfred unifies the Anglo and Saxon clans against the Danes.
King Sweyn and his Danish troops arrive in England, from a manuscript (c. 14th century)
England becomes a nation.

10. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Around A.D. 400
Christian monks settle in Britain.
Christianity and Anglo-Saxon culture co-exist.
Christianity’s hope of an afterlife becomes more appealing than Anglo-Saxon religion.
By A.D. 699
Christianity replaces British pagan religions.

11. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Anglo-Saxon religion
Norse god Thor
offered no hope of an afterlife
valued earthly virtues of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship
was similar to what we call Norse mythology
Thunor
Thor
Woden
Odin
Weekday
Anglo-Saxon god
Norse god
Wednesday
Thursday

12. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Literature of the Times
Anglo-Saxon literature is rooted in oral tradition.
Poetry, like fighting, hunting, and farming, had great significance.
Bards relied on sound devices and repeated phrases to remember their tales.
Old English epic poem Beowulf combines Germanic heroism and Anglo-Saxon fatalism.

13. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
The Anglo-Saxon bards
also called scops
strummed harp as they sang
sang of heroic deeds
were often warriors
Why were the scops important?
Anglo-Saxons did not believe in an afterlife.
Anglo-Saxon harp
Warriors gained fame and immortality through songs.

14. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
Literature of the Times
English emerges as a written language.
Christian monks copy ancient manuscripts, preserving classical and Anglo-Saxon texts.
Historical poems in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle detail events of early English history.

15. Key Concept: The Anglo-Saxon Legacy
The Book of Kells
In 760 A.D. monks began creating The Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of Latin Gospels.
This page reflects the opening words of St. Matthew’s Gospel.

16. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Beowulf was composed in Old English. The versions you will read were translated by Burton Raffel and Seamus Heaney.
Their translations reflect these features of Anglo-Saxon poetry:
• caesura
• alliteration
• kenning

17. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Anglo-Saxon poets used a caesura, or rhythmic pause, to create unity.
Locate the caesura in these lines:
ða com of more         under misthleoþum Grendel gongan,         godes yrre bær; mynte se manscaða         manna cynnes sumne besyrwan         in sele þam hean.
Line divided into two parts by a caesura.

18. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Here are the same lines in modern English:
Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.
In English, punctuation reproduces the pause of the caesura.

19. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon oral poet also used the poetic device of alliteration.
Grendel gongan,         godes yrre bær; mynte se manscaða         manna cynnes

20. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in words close together.
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste.
The emphasis on the w sound in this line from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 creates a melancholy tone.

21. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Find examples of alliteration in this translation of lines of Beowulf:
Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.

22. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Find examples of alliteration in this translation of lines of Beowulf:
Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.

23. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
The kenning is another poetic device that was used by the oral poet.
Examples of kennings from Beowulf:
gold-shining hall = Herot
guardian of crime = Grendel
strong-hearted wakeful sleeper = Beowulf
cave-guard and sky-borne foe = dragon

24. Beowulf Translations of Beowulf
Kenning: a metaphorical phrase or compound word used to name a person, place, thing, or event indirectly.
A kenning enhances the literal meaning of the words. A kenning gives the listener an idea of how the words connect to an idea or concept that is richer and more emotionally complex.