The Anglo-Saxons

449-1066

The Anglo-Saxons

The British had a major influence on AmericaGovernment

Emphasizing personal rights and freedomLiteratureLanguage

The British was influenced by many others IberiansCeltsRomansAngles SaxonsVikingsNormans

The British Legacy

The Spirit of the CeltsCelts

Among the Celts were a group called the Brythons or the BritonsName later became

the adopted name of England –Britain

LanguageDominant in Britain

until the 5th century A.D.

The Spirit of the CeltsReligion

Animism: Latin for “spirit”Everything contained a

spirit; trees, plants, animals, weather, fire, etc.

DruidsExisted since the 3rd

century B.C. Served as

communication between the gods and the people

Name means “knowing the oak tree”

Stonehenge

3100-1100 B.C.Salisbury Plain in WiltshireStones origins are from southwestern Wales,

240 miles awayEach stone weighs 4 tons

Purpose and Creation is unknown

Stonehenge

Possible AnswersReligious Gatherings

Observation of astronomical eventsA place of healingA place of sacrifices (human possibly!)Or…..

Stonehenge

ALIENS!!!

Stonehenge

The Celtic Heroes and Heroines: A Magical WorldCeltic Mythology

King ArthurThe true embodiment

of British valuesUnlike Anglo-Saxon

stories, Celtic stories containedFemale Oriented Tales

Queen Maeve of Connacht

Usually end in happiness

Full of fantasy, animals, love affairs, and adventures

Between Julius Caesar in 55B.C. and Emperor Claudius around 155 B.C. the Celts were conquered.

Christianity later became a unifying force as the old Celtic religion began to vanish.

The Romans: The Great Administrators

The Romans: The Great Administrators

To Prevent More InvasionsArmiesRoadsHadrian’s Wall

73 mile wall that linked the North Sea and the Atlantic

In 409 A.D. there was trouble brewing back in Italy and the Romans left.

Everything was left behind except a central government

This left Britain vulnerable and open to numerous invasions.

The Romans: The Great Administrators

The Anglo-Saxons Sweep AshoreMid 5th century the

Angles and Saxons from Germany and the Jutes from Denmark invaded Britain.

The old Britons were driven out and the language of the Anglo-Saxons became the dominant language

Eventually Britain's new name was adapted

Engla land = England

The Anglo-Saxons Sweep Ashore

Unifying Forces: Alfred the Great and Christianity King Alfred of

Wessex (reigned 871-899)Led the Anglo-

Saxons against the invading Danes

Map After King Alfred

Christianity Irish and Continental missionaries converted

the Anglo-Saxon kings, whose subjects converted alsoUnity formed with a common faith and common

system of moralityLinked England to Europe

There was a constant fight to protect that unity from the Danes

Unifying Forces:Alfred the Great and Christianity

Unifying Forces: Alfred the Great and ChristianityThe Wessex kings

The battle against the Danes was carried on by Alfred’s successorsEthelfleda (Alfred’s

eldest daughter) Brilliant military leader

and strategistEdward

By the middle of the tenth century the Wessex kings had become the kings of all England

Anglo-Saxon Life: The Warm Hall, the Cold WorldSutton Hoo

Discovered in 1939 in Sutton Hoo or present day Suffolk England

An enormous ship grave

There is no trace of who was buried in the shipThe body probably

dissolvedAlso contained gold,

silver, and bronze

Ship Burial

Anglo-Saxon Life: The Warm Hall, the Cold World

Among the ship burial was 20 earthen burial moundsCremation gravesA boy and his horseA womanExecution burials

The Anglo-Saxon LifeWarfare was the most important aspect of their

lives

Anglo-Saxon Life: The Warm Hall, the Cold World

Anglo-Saxon Life: The Warm Hall, the Cold World

Anglo-Saxon WomenInherited and held

propertyCould join an abbeyUpper class women

Would supervise the weaving and dyeing of clothes, slaughter of livestock, and the brewing of mead

Anglo-Saxon life: The Warm Hall, the Cold WorldFame and the success,

was measured in gifts from the leader

A loyal and communal clanLoyalty grew out of a

need to protect the group from enemies

Community was arranged around a warm, fire-lit chieftain’s hall

The Anglo-Saxon Religion: Gods for WarriorsOdin

Norse god; god of death, poetry, and magic

Where we get “Wednesday” from “Woden Day”

Helped humans communicate with spirits and was associated with burial rites ecstatic trances

The Anglo-Saxon Religion: Gods for Warriors

Thunor (Thor)Norse god of

Thunder and lightening

Sign was the hammer and possibly the twisted cross

Thursday (“Thor”day)

The Angle-Saxon Religion:Gods for WarriorsThe Dragon

The protector of treasure; embodiment of evil and death

Associated with the Danes because of the shape of their ship

A personification of “death the devourer” and the guardian of the grave mound

Communal halls served as a place for storytellers

Bards or scops: skilled storytellers Sang of gods and heroesWere considered as important as warriors

The Bards: Singing of Gods and Heroes

Although most Anglo-Saxon literature contained a elegiac strain the bards gave their listeners hope.A literary work written in a elegiac strain has a

mournful, lamenting tonePoets and bards provided one element of

hopeThe possibility that heroic deed might be

enshrined in the society’s memory

Hope in Immortal Verse

Ireland was not overrun by the Anglo-SaxonsIn 432 the Celtic Ireland was converted to

Christianity by a Romanized Briton named Patricius (Patrick)

A Light from Ireland

A Light from IrelandSaint Patrick

Seized by Irish slave traders as a teenager

Escaped and became a bishop and returned to convert his captors

Explained the holy trinity (father, son, holy ghost) by the Shamrock

From 432-750 Ireland experienced a golden age

Sanctuaries were founded by Irish monks

A Light from Ireland

Christianity also provided hopeMonasteries served as centers of learning and

helped preserve the oral tradition of the ancient people

Preserved Latin and Greek classics

The Christian Monasteries: The Ink Froze

The Christian Monasteries: The Ink Froze

Monks copied manuscripts by handMonks wrote in

covered walkways called cloisters, these were open to the court

Winters would freeze the ink but still monks would write

Vellum: sheepskin “paper”

The Rise of the English LanguageAnglo-Saxon

ChronicleInstituted by King

AlfredA lengthy running

history of England that covered the earliest days and continued until 1154

The first important prose work in English

Written in Old English

William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066.

Called the Norman Conquest is considered one of the pivotal events in world history

1066 – The Norman Invasion