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Anglo-Saxon Period

Anglo-Saxon Period. 449-1066. Politics. A period of invasions Romans withdraw (c.410) Angles, Saxons, and Jutes begin raids/invasions (c. 449-600) Viking Danes (Norsemen, Northmen ) attack, settle (c. 787-1017) Normans-French invade (1066). Culture.

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Anglo-Saxon Period

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  1. Anglo-Saxon Period 449-1066

  2. Politics • A period of invasions • Romans withdraw (c.410) • Angles, Saxons, and Jutes begin raids/invasions (c. 449-600) • Viking Danes (Norsemen, Northmen) attack, settle (c. 787-1017) • Normans-French invade (1066)

  3. Culture • Society organized by tribes and clans; nobles and bondsmen • Developed military organization called the comitatus 1. Tribal “kings” gathered and supported warriors = pact of loyal dependency 2. Mead halls provided social life 3. Scops (skops) served as poets, historians, entertainers • Originally pagan, most had converted to Christianity by 700. • Mainly farmers, warriors, artisans

  4. Literature • Invaders brought a rich oral tradition of folk epics with them from the Continent • Lyric poetry and riddles reveal their personal lives and everyday world • Monastic writers preserved and censored Anglo-Saxon literature • Prose writing was limited to histories, chronicles, and government documents • Oral literature recited by Scops, with memorized and established formulas, patterns • Didactic (instructional): addressed moral, religious, ethical concerns

  5. Poetry • Lines do not rhyme • Rhythm of line depends on number of beats, or accented syllables. Number of unaccented syllables in line may vary, some long and others short, but all lines are similar in having the same number of beats, (Scops would hurry through long lines and sustain short ones.) • Each line has a caesura, a pause, after the second beat, so each half of a line has two beats. Fate has swept our race away • Alliteration is an important factor, usually binding together the two halves of a line • Kennings, phrases that are an elaborate and indirect way of naming nouns, are also a frequent and distinctive ornament; sometimes unusual wording to challenge audience, sometimes a common synonym. Kennings may be hyphenated compounds, prepositional phrases, or possessives ring-giver = king shepherd of evil = Grendel soul’s prison house = body

  6. Epic Poem • Celebrates deeds of heroes • Has heroes who reflect cultural values of audience • Contains episodes important to history of nation or race • Contains element of the supernatural • Good triumphs over evil

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