2500 BC to 1066 AD

British History & Literature

BC• 2500 BC – First

Monoliths (megaliths) are constructed for an unknown purpose.

•2000 – Invaders from the Iberian (Portugal and Spain) Peninsula come to the main island of Britain

• 600 BC – Celts begin infiltrating Britain and eventually become the dominant people.

• 55 BC – First invasion of the Romans by Julius Caesar

Anno Domini • 43 – Successful

full scale invasion of Britain by the Roman Empire

• 50 – Celt tribes are prevelant despite Roman invasion

• 122 -Construction of Hadrian's Wall to keep out the Picts and Scots

184 - Lucius Artorius Castus- commander of a detachment of Sarmatian conscripts stationed in Britain, some believe that this Roman military man is the original, or basis, for the Arthurian legend

• 410 – Rome grants Britain its “independence” – many years of small battles ensue.

• 430 – St. Patrick begins converting Celtic Ireland to

Christianity.

Celtic Christianity

• Romans spread, Celtic areas continued.

• St Patrick (389-461)• Celtic monks walking

from village to village• Celtic Christianity

(anti-hierarchical, rural monasteries)

The World Begins to Change

• 450 AD – Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and others begin to take over Britain by force.

• 560 – Aethelbert (Saxon) began his reign as the first Bretwalda

• 597 – St. Augustine (Not the guy that wrote Confessions) sent by Rome to convert England to Christianity. – The mass conversions were achieved after a ruling

tribal King converted. – Established the first archbishopric at Canterbury.

Wait! What?!You mean the English haven’t always just

been there?

• Who were the Angles?• Who were the Saxons? • Who were the Jutes? • Who were the Celts? • Who were the Vikings?• Who were the Irish? • Who were the Danes? • Who were the Picts?• Who were the Scots?

Historical Questions

• Where did they come from?

• Where did they go?

• When did they start moving?

• What do we know about their culture?

About the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Celts, Irish, Vikings, Geats, Picts, Scots, and other peoples that got mixed together in Britain.

The Anglo-Saxon Invasion Begins

Vocabulary• Thanes – pledged warriors that would die for

their King. • Scop (pr: Shope – rhymes with hope) – a singing

poet (created lyrics extemporaneously based on tales of battles and heroism)

• Bretwalda – a ruling king (over other rulers)• Kenning – a metaphoric synonym usually

hyphenated (Sea = Whale-Road; King = ring giver.)

• Caesura – a pause in the metrical foot that represents a pause in the sense of the word: marked by two vertical lines.

Celts• 2000 BC – Were spread

throughout all of Europe including Britain (Irish and Scotish)

• 600 BC - A second wave of Celts came and settled in Britain. (Welsh, Cornish)

• 400 BC - Came upon the Roman people in Northern Italy and because of a disgrace, sacked Rome and left.

• Tribal society (hill forts)

•Forest sanctuaries

•Druids:education, calendar, four festivals, human sacrifices before battles

•100BC-50BC rapid development (minted coinage)

Jutes

• From: Modern Denmark • they ended up settling in Kent, Hampshire and

the Isle of Wight. • the Jutes in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

vanished, leaving only the slightest of traces. • In Beowulf the Jutes appear as the Eotenas in

the Finn passage, making them a people distinct from the Geatas

Angles

• after the invasion of Britain the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of the Nord Angelnen (Northumbria), Ost Angelnen (East Anglia), and the Mittlere Angelnen (Mercia).

• The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I. As an abbreviated version of the story goes, Gregory happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. Struck by the beauty of their fair-skinned complexions and bright blue eyes, Gregory inquired about their background. When told they were Angles, he replied with a Latin pun that translates well into English: "Not Angles, but angels".

Saxons• The Saxons were

considered by Charlemagne and other historians to be especially war-like and ferocious.

• The Saxons gave their names to the kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Wessex (the lands respectively of the East Saxons, South Saxons and West Saxons), which with the shorter-lived Middlesex eventually became part of the kingdom of England.

PictsPicts Many legends exist about Many legends exist about

the Picts because little can the Picts because little can be proven. What is known be proven. What is known is that they inhabited is that they inhabited Scotland for many Scotland for many hundreds of years and they hundreds of years and they would use a blue dye to would use a blue dye to create tattoos to ornament create tattoos to ornament their bodies. their bodies.

They frequently raided They frequently raided neighboring villages, thus neighboring villages, thus the need for Hadrian’s wall.the need for Hadrian’s wall.

They left many stone They left many stone

carvings, but little else. carvings, but little else.

IrishIrish

The Irish are, just as most of England is, The Irish are, just as most of England is, a mixture of different peoples. a mixture of different peoples.

The are probably the combination of The are probably the combination of Celts, Picts, Scots, Vikings, Angles, and Celts, Picts, Scots, Vikings, Angles, and Saxons. Saxons.

A distinctly Irish culture did not emerge A distinctly Irish culture did not emerge until around 1000 ADuntil around 1000 AD

ScotsScots

► Inhabited modern Ireland. Inhabited modern Ireland. ►Fought against the Picts for hundreds of Fought against the Picts for hundreds of

years. years. ►Fought with the Picts against the Fought with the Picts against the

RomansRomans►Continued fighting with the Picts after Continued fighting with the Picts after

the Romans left. the Romans left. ►Lost to the Picts, but remained in Ireland Lost to the Picts, but remained in Ireland

until after the Vikings defeated the until after the Vikings defeated the Picts. The Scots then intermingled with Picts. The Scots then intermingled with the Picts and slowly became the modern the Picts and slowly became the modern Scottish. Scottish.

Danes• AKA

Spear-Danes, Shield-Danes, West-Danes, East-Danes

• Highlighted in Beowulf and Hamlet

Back to the Timeline…

• 450 – Invasion

• 560 – Aethelbert (Saxon) began his reign as the first Bretwalda

• 597 – St. Augustine

627 - Sutton Hoo

• In 1939 archaeologists unearthed an astonishing Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Woodbridge, Suffolk;

• The find was so important because of everything that was inside the ship….

• Lots of very expensive stuff in the burial leads to support the claim that….

…. King Raedwald was the person buried in the ship.

• He fits the timeframe on the coins found; • It was tradition for Kings to have a ship burial. • Was the most powerful Saxon ruler at that time (a

bretwalda). • Acknowledged Christianity – all of his successors were

Christian.

Roman Christianity

• Roman Christianity (hierarchical, urban bishoprics)

• St. Augustine 597 founder of Church at Canterbury

• Synod of Whitby 663 (dating of Easter)

• Venerable Bede: Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, 730

• 750 – Beowulf written

• 750 – Vikings begin to pillage coastal towns by way of Norway and Denmark

• 835 – Vikings start making more regular raids and conquests with larger armies.

• 867 – 877 Vikings invade and conquer most of Eastern Britain

• 878 – Alfred the Great defeats the encroaching Vikings at Edington; He forces them to retreat to the Danelaw.

Alfred the Great• Alfred the Great (849-899)

Wessex royal line• Except the Danelaw he

united kingdom (886)• Only English ruler to have the

title “the great” • Anglo-Saxon cohesion

(English language)• He translated Bede’s History. • Began keeping records in

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

• 926 – Saxons conquer the Danelaw

• 975 – The Book of Exeter - also called the “Red Book of Exeter”

Edward the Confessor• 1042 – King Edward the

Confessor ascends to the throne as a descendent of Alfred the Great.

• Deeply Religious (Christian)

• Had close ties with the ruler of Normandy (France)… his cousin.

• After Edward died in 1066…

the Normans Invaded!!!

• William the Conqueror

• Captured the beach unopposed.

•The Anglo-Saxons were in the north fighting the King of Norway

The Battle of Hastings

Early “English” Literature

• Ecclesiastical History of the English People - 731

• Beowulf – 750

• The Dream of the Rood 750 – 900?

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - 891

• Book of Exeter - 975

Beowulf• An Epic Poem written around

750• Events occur around the time

of the death of Hygelac (521)• Author wrote down what had

been passed down through the generations.

• The story was lost for nearly a millennia – found on a shelf in a private library.

• $11.25 at Borders or B&N – Seamus Heaney’s translation.

Old-English, Beowulf

• Anglo-Saxon dialects replaced Celtic (Latin letters)

• vernacular poetry: bards, (harp)

• A lot of translation problems…