Transcript Old English History

Old English History
449 to 1066
*Anglo-Saxon Period
or
“The Dark Ages”
*Inhabitants include
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Iberians
Celts
Romans
Germanic Tribes
(Jutes, Angles, Saxons)
• * 449 AD to 1066
* settled in Kent
• * brought with them
• 1) heroic ideals and set of
traditional heroes
• 2) Old English Language
• 3) literature: melancholy,
stern, dangers
*King Alfred the Great of Wessox
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1) 849-899 / reigned 871-899
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2) was able to unite the three tribes
and push Danish invaders (Vikings)
to the N.E. part of England
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3) rebuilt his kingdom: restored
England to a learning, leading
facility; and reestablished just law
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4) Greatly influenced OE Literature
(see more in OE Literature)
*Germanic tribes of England lived peacefully for two hundred years
(850-1066)
Meanwhile . . .
• Christianity came to England, again
• 2nd or 3rd c. (314 AD)
• from the North (Celtic Christianity of Ireland, known as “the center
of Christ”)
• from the South (St. Augustine and monks landed in Kent—
Canterbury; St. Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury)
• wrote in Latin
• wrote about scripture and theology
• set up monasteries (Northumbria),which became important
learning centers
• monks spent their days copying manuscripts in cloistered settings
• Caedmon—1st English religious poet
Two Great Men of the Church
St. Augustine, Archbishop of
Canterbury
Caedmon’s prayer invites us to “Cradle
a sense of wonder” in every person
*Bede the Venerable
1) most outstanding writer
2) wrote about Caedmon
3) prolific writer
4) foremost scholar of his time
5) regarded as the greatest
ecclesiastical authority until
Reformation
6) “Father of English History”
7) Wrote The Ecclesiastical History of
the English Church and People
8) began translating Gospel of St. John
into Latin
9) lived 673-735
10) Regarded as a prodigy (in later
times may have been considered a
“Renaissance Man”
And then came the . . .
Vikings (Danes), meanest and
most hated
and finally, the Normans
• Edward the Confessor Dies, (1-5-1066) leaving
no heirs and a three-way rivalry for the crown
*Harold Godwinson, advisor to Edward, very
powerful in England, brothers-in-law
*William, Duke of Normandy, distant cousin to
Edward, swore he received word of his succession
by Harold, himself; claimed to have the Church’s
support
*Harald Hardrada of Norway; claims extended
beyond Edward’s ownership of throne
William was the Conqueror
• Harold had assumed
the throne, but William
invaded and won in
what is known as The
Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
• *Norman Conquest (1066), lead by William the Conqueror of
France, marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) time period
End of Anglo Saxon/Old English Period
"King Harold is killed". Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry
depicting the Battle of Hastings. Harold grasps the
arrow lodged in his eye.
William the Conqueror,
Duke of Normandy
Bayeux Tapestry
*230 feet long
*Contains 50 scenes leading up to the
Battle of Hastings
*Embroidered on linen with colored
woolen yarn
*commissioned in the 1070s
*currently displayed in Bayeux,
Normandy, France
At this time, look at the map of the
Roman Invasion and the charts of
the Indo-European Languages and
the Germanic Tribes
Earldorman
A-S Levels of Society
--nobility -- king
Thane
--wealthy but owed allegiance to King
Geneat
--(means companion) – owed land
and allegiance to earl, thane,
king
Peasants
--owed rents or services to those
who owned land; farmed
Theows and Thralls
--(serfs and slaves) prisoners of war;
performed menial
tasks on the land or in homes of
upper class
OLD ENGLISH
LITERATURE
• *Characteristics:
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*melancholy
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*stern
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*haunted by sea and dangers
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*shortness of life
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*eager to depict and praise acts of heroism
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*heroic traditions and exploits
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*elegiac traditions
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*fatalism—dominant mood
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*old pagan heroic tradition was later mixed with
Christianity
• *Little literature available
Caedmon and Bede:
contributors of Old English
Literature (Bede, below)
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Caedmon—first English religious poet
Bede (673-735)—most outstanding
writer
1) wrote about the life of Caedmon
in The History of the English
Church and People
2) sang it, as most lyrics were
3) began translating Gospel of John
into Latin
4) child prodigy
5) wrote 40 books, considered the
last word on their subjects for
centuries (saints, grammars,
biblical, commentaries, literary
criticism, scientific treatises)
6) without him we would know
little about English History up to
the Norman Conquest
*Anglo Saxon Poetry
• poetry was memorized and recited by scops
• not written down, thus not read
• riddles, caesuras, kennings, alliteration,
repetition, variation, simple, but full of
imagery
• few surviving pieces (Exeter Books, Beowulf,
among few)
Anglo Saxon Riddle
*Beowulf
• 1) name means “bear”
• 2) Beowulf was an actual Swedish warrior
in early 6th c.
• 3) poem refers to historical events that date
as early as 516 – 520
• 4) composed around 700 AD (Bede’s
day)
• 5) 3,182 lines long
• 6) anonymous author / recited, not read
• 7) written in Old English around 1000 AD
• 8) oldest surviving in any modern European
Language
9) Epic poem
• long story on a serious theme,
narrating the adventures of a hero
• one central heroic character
• set in distant past
• mood is noble, religious, dignified, and sublime
• includes formal, genealogical
introductions
• warrior heroes, perilous journeys, monsters,
eternal struggle of good
versus evil
10) Scandinavian setting
11) offers glimpses of Scandinavian feuds between the Geats and Swedes,
Frisians and Danes, but mostly reflects English life as was in 7th c.
12) monster-battles
13) story is an allegory
*initiation into adulthood
* testing one’s courage as an adult
* honorable conquest by one’s death
14) told with concreteness, adventure, detail, and sympathy
15) Beowulf embodies the
characteristics of an epic hero
• embodies outstanding char’s of race
• involved in a struggle against opposing forces of
nature
• represents his people through good deeds, linked
together in a narrative
• represents a heroic ideal
• honesty, integrity, courage, loyalty
• sadness, fear
• symbolic role as a fighter of monsters
Alfred the Great (849-899)
/ aka King Alfred
As a Literary Figure . . .
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continued the translation of the Gospel of St.
John into Latin (began by Bede—see below)
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2) produced “great books”—set of
translations Europe’s classics such as Bede’s
English History and Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
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3) considered the “Father of English Prose”
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4) helped to bring respect for the English
Language to England
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5) Responsible for starting the first “public”
schools
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6) All of this while he was nearly singlehandedly saving the Germanic Tribes from
Danish invasion!!! (see notes on OE History)