Anglo-Saxon Literature

 Also known as Old English literature, shortened to OE  Period, 500 to 1066 CE  Roman invasion of Britain 54 BC under Julius Caesar  Celts: pre-Roman invasion inhabitants of Britain, currently traces in Irish, Highland Scots, Welsh, Cornish  Romanised Britain a. Towns and roads b. Sanitation, markets, culture c. Part of a large trade network d. Protected by Roman troops

Emperor Honorius, 393-423 End of Roman rule in Britain

 “Rescript of Honorius”, in 411  British are told to defend themselves  By 411, Roman legions were withdrawing from Britain  Increasing invasions by Celtic tribes into Roman Britain  “Romanised British”, those influenced by Romano- British culture  No military training  Easily run over by the Celtic tribes  The Dark Age begins Invasions of Roman Britain Anglo-Saxon invasions, c 449 Some names and places

 Hengest and Horsa, mercenaries invited by Celtic King Vortigern  The Angles, from Denmark, settled the north and east, Northumbria and East Anglia  The Saxons, from Germany, settled Sussex, Essex, and Kent  The Jutes  The Frisians  The Franks The Heptarchy, the Seven Kingdoms

 Northumbria  Mercia  Kent  Essex (East Saxons)  Wessex (West Saxons)  Sussex (South Saxons)  East Anglia The Heptarchy, a map Anglo-Saxon life The meadhall and the village Anglo-Saxon weapons and armour Books in the Anglo-Saxon Age

 Literacy was very low  Limited to some of the nobility, and the clergy  Emphasis on Latin  Very few knew Latin, depended more on rote learning, and the use of the vernacular  Books were very RARE  Every book had to be created through a long process, and each book was a work of art  Everyone, from the tanner to the master-scribe, contributed to the making of a book Books

 Many monasteries and abbeys had scriptoria (singular: scriptorium)  Animal skin, mainly vellum was treated, sometimes parchment, made from reeds  Folio manner of writing and binding  Junior scribes to draw lines  Senior scribes to write  Illustrators  Books were copied to make more copies  Each “copy” was a NEW BOOK A Scriptorium A page from a book The scop

Mainly an oral culture Long winter evenings spent around a fire Leisure included drinking, fighting, listening to scops Scops were not only singers and poets, but also repositories or store-houses of cultural information This included historical information The scop used a mnemonic system to store huge amounts of information in the brain Typical word: Whaet! Used a stringed instrument as accompaniment A scop and a meadhall A meadhall, from the outside