Anglo-Saxons and the Age of Beowulf

1. Anglo-Saxons and the Age of Beowulf

2. A Little History • Britain was ruled by the Romans from about 43 to 410 CE. • It was the Romans who gave it the name “Britannia.” • For the Romans, it held a mysterious quality—Celtic warriors often fought in the nude, painted themselves blue, worshipped several nature gods, and generally seemed like an untamed, uncivilized people. • Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Jutes, and Picts all constantly attacked and raiding coastal British lands. • The mass invasion of these Anglo-Saxons ultimately felled the Roman occupation of Britain, and many Roman troops were sent home to protect Italy.

3. England in the 10th Century

4. Anglo-Saxons • The majority of Anglo-Saxons came from what are now known as Germany and Scandinavia. • They drove the Celtic and indigenous British tribes to the outskirts of the island—places that became Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. • Anglo-Saxons are a polytheistic people who believe in the pursuit of glory above all else. • However, when Christian missionaries arrive from the Holy Roman Empire, Anglo-Saxons are some of the earliest converts. • Around the 8th century, they begin to refer to themselves as “Anglise” and where they live as “Angle-lond.” • In the 8th – 10th centuries, Danes and Vikings from Scandinavia begin invading with a vengeance.

5. Sutton Hoo • Some Scandinavian cultures believed in at-sea burials, which often turned into land burials still utilizing maritime objects. • For instance, the most famous Anglo-Saxon burial site, Sutton Hoo, was excavated in 1938. • It is thought that Sutton Hoo was a royal burial ground. Many of its artifacts proved that Anglo-Saxons were gifted artisans. • https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/ancient-medieval/medieval/v/sutton-hoo-ship-burial-c-700

6. Beowulf • Even though Anglo-Saxons had a rudimentary alphabet and written language, the majority of history and knowledge was passed down orally. • Often the lines of fiction and history were blurred, as cultural fables and myths became tools for political propaganda, designed to foster a sense of tribal pride. • Each tribe had a scop, a designated poet/musician whose role it was to entertain, retelling and embellishing these legends for the warriors. • These were not just court jesters—the ability to memorize and perform the oral histories were seen as a sacred position in the community. • However, the nature of oral histories is that the literal language of the retelling will change. • The legend of Beowulf is first told somewhere around the 8th century.

7. Beowulf Culture • For the Anglo-Saxons, poetry was as important as war. • After the Christianity became influential in Anglo-Saxon England, it coexisted side by side with traditional pagan beliefs. • As the legend was retold Christian symbols and motifs appear with increasing regularity. • The epic is finally recorded in the 11th century by two Christian monks. It’s likely that they added some of the Christian elements to the text, but many were already there.

8. Beowulf Culture Continued • Anglo-Saxons lived under a concept called comitatus, or a Germanic style of ruling where kings consulted with thanes, or high-class knights. • The concept of kinship is extremely important. Kin can mean blood relative or simply which “tribe” one associates with. • Likewise, there is a sense of fraternity among the thanes and the king. This defines the social bonds of the tribe.

9. More Beowulf Culture! • The concept of fraternity demanded that revenge killings were acceptable if tribe members were murdered. • The revenge killings grew so common that eventually weregildhad to be substituted for the murder. Weregildmeans “blood-price,” or a substantial fee (increasing with class status) that could be paid to compensate for a killing. • Kings surrounded themselves with thanes in their mead-halls, where drinking, fellowship, and entertainment commenced. Always considered the social center and safest place in a kingdom. • They also believed in wyrd, or the concept of fate or destiny.

10. Literary Elements • Rhetorical tone: in which the speaker attempts to get the audience to think, feel, and act in a certain way. • Formal boasting: a ritualized event, trying to one-up each other. Bragging is often about family, status, accomplishments, the promise of future success, etc. • Litotes: a type of ironic understatement, in which a brag is disguised as false humility. • Flyting: the competition and ritualized exchange of insults delivered in verse.

11. More Literary Elements • Metonymy: the substitution of a symbol in place of the name or thing meant; “chair” for department head; “crown” for king; “suit” for business executive. • Synecdoche: the substitution of a part of the entity to symbolically represent the whole and vice-versa; “hand” for field hand; “NYOS” won by two touchdowns, etc. • Kenning: a metonym that uses colorful, interesting phrases to take the place of a simple noun. Names of almost all characters are kennings. It’s a common feature of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Gives the scop more time to think of the next line.

12. Works Cited • Faulkner, Neil. “Overview: Roman Britain, 43 - 410 AD.” BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2015. • Harris, Beth, and Stephen Zucker. “Sutton Hoo Ship Burial.” Khan Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2015. • “The History of England.” 'The History of England'N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2015. • James, Edward. “Overview: Anglo-Saxons, 410-800.” BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2015. • Masulo, Dean. “Beowulf, Lesson 1: Introducing the Anglo Saxons.” YouTube. YouTube, 29 July 2013. Web. 03 Aug. 2015.