 England
inhabited by Briton Tribes
• Spoke Celtic language
 Me zo o komz gant ma amezeg (I am talking with my
neighbor.)
• Barbarians and violent
 Romans
conquer in 55 AD
• Technology (aqueduct)
• Roads
• Latin Language
 Roman Empire begins to crumble
• British provinces relinquished in 409 AD
 Leave Latin behind
 Britons
fight over land
 German
 Angles
 Saxons
 Jutes
tribes invade
 509—Roman
missionaries return
• Convert pagan English to Christianity (Catholicism)
 787—First
Scandinavian invasion at Lindisfarne
• Focus on riches of Christian Churches
• Expand to conquer towns by 850
 Alfred the Great leads defense
 871—Treaty
establishing the Danelaw—land
north and east of line under Viking Rule




Old English becomes
the common language
Education
Latin and the concept
of writing the oral
histories
Angleland=AngloSaxon England
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Si þin nama gehalgod.
To bekume þin rike
gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa on
heofonum
urne gedæghwamlikan hlaf syle us todæg,
and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa we forgyfað
urum gyltendum.
and ne gelæd þu us on kostnunge, ak alys
us of yfele. soþlike.
 Wergild
• Price related to a person’s position/worth in
society
• Families paid accordingly if a relative was
murdered
 Women
• Expected to be moral and domestic
• Serve as peacekeepers and mediators
 Loyalty
• fighting for one’s cyning (king)
• Avenging one’s kinsmen
• Keeping one’s word
 Generosity
• gifts symbolize bonds and power
 Heroism
• Physical strength
• Skill and resourcefulness in battle
• courage
 Reputation
 Hospitality
• Kings expected to be friendly and generous
 Honor
through deeds
 Fierce
warriors
 Expert seafarers
 Fishermen, farmers
 Master craftsman
 Strong sense of community
 Male-dominated society
An Introduction to the Story


Comitatus : Germanic code of loyalty
Scop: poet in oral culture
• Preserves history
• Entertains court
• Spreads hero’s fame

Thane: warrior who swears loyalty to the king

Wergild: “man price”
• Substitute for violence

Wyrd: fate (God’s will)
 No one knows:
• When Beowulf was composed
• The original author
• Why it was written
 Translated
1000 AD
by a Venerable Bede around
• Obtained by Sir Robert Cotton
• Damaged in fire in 1731
 Scop
entertain the upper class during
feasts
• memorized and preserved the Anglo-Saxon
culture through their stories
 Celebrations held in the
• A central gathering place
mead hall.
 Courage
 Follow
of the hero
of Anglo-Saxon Code of Ideals
 Briefness
 Mystery
and sadness of life
and cruelty of the sea
 Exile
 Ruin
 Lamentation
Terminology
 The
repetition or a pattern of similar
vowel sounds, but with different end
consonants in a line
• Try to light the fire.
• I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed
and restless.
 Repetition
of consonant sound at the
beginning of words
• And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each
purple curtain…
• A powerful monster, living down in the
darkness…
 A mid-line pause
• You will see many commas, semicolons, dashes, and
ending punctuation in the middle of a line
“A powerful monster, living down
In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient
As day after day the music rang
Loud in the hall, the harp’s rejoicing
Call and the poet’s clear songs, sung
Of the ancient beginnings of us all…”
(Beowulf 1-6)
A
descriptive compound word that
evokes vivid images
• Sea house
• Whale road
• Boy child
A
long narrative poem that relates the
great deeds of a larger-than-life hero
who embodies the values of a particular
society
 Hero is a leader
• Represents with a particular people or society
 Setting
is broad and often includes
supernatural realms
 The hero:
• Does great deeds in battle
• Undertakes an extraordinary journey or quest
 Presence
of gods or other supernatural/
fantastic beings
 The
story told in sophisticated language
 Invocation—formal
plea for aid/help
 The
action begins in media res (in the
middle of things)
 Epic
hero achieves immortality
• Not necessarily through eternal life