the anglo-saxons
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The Anglo-Saxons. 449-1066. The British Legacy. The British had a major influence on America Government Emphasizing personal rights and freedom Literature Language The British was influenced by many others Iberians Celts Romans Angles Saxons Vikings Normans. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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