ASL - Anglo-Saxon Literature - Bravery and Morality Overview

Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature

Throughout the years, various civilizations inhabited the British Isles. The Celts arrived around 300 BC when the Germanic tribes arrived. Then, the Roman Empire, in a siege led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC, governed the island for nearly 400 years. However, the English language that exists today permeated society through the development of Anglo-Saxon society. The four Germanic tribes who invaded the Roman Empire in the 5th century--the Angles, Saxons, Frisians, and Jutes -- were the origin of the English language. The various historical writings and poetic provisions of the Anglo-Saxons document the beauty of not only the evolving English language, but also the importance of bravery and morality of the people in this age.

In the Anglo-Saxon Literature module, students will explore the themes of bravery and morality in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction documents from the Anglo-Saxon time period while understanding how drastically Modern English evolved from the "Old English" of the Anglo-Saxon time period. Without a deep knowledge and understanding of the Anglo-Saxon time period, we cannot fully understand or appreciate the development, intricacies, and importance of the English language. In this module, we will delve into the Anglo-Saxon culture through literature and explore the origins of the English Language by examining the history of the time period.

 

Essential Questions

1. How do a complex set of ideas and/or sequence of events contribute to meaning in literature?
2. Can I analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text?
3. How can I use informative/explanatory writing to convey complex ideas, concepts, and information through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content?

 

Key Terms

1. Comitatus - The social bond between the lord and his thanes inspired physical and moral courage and insisted on loyalty.
2. Wyrd - A concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny.
3. Scops - Oral poets within Old English literature.
4. Mead Hall - In ancient Scandinavia and Germanic Europe a mead hall or feasting hall was initially simply a large building with a single room for feasting and gathering.
5. Liege Lorde - A feudal lord, or man of rank, entitled to allegiance and service.
6. Thane - A member of any of several aristocratic classes of men ranking between earls and ordinary freemen, and granted lands by the king or by lords for military service.
7. Four Anglo-Saxon tribes - A people who inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians.
8. 449 AD - The Anglo-Saxon Invasion begins where several Germanic tribes invaded what is now England.
9. 597 AD - Christianization of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom begins.
10. Bretons (Britons) - Ancient Celtic people whose culture and language fragmented and from whom territory was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons.
11. Illuminated Manuscript - Refers to those manuscripts produced in the area that is now England, or by Anglo-Saxon scribes and illuminators working elsewhere, between the period c. 600 AD to c. 1100 AD.
12. Danelaw -The law defining the boundaries of the Vikings in order to create peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings.
13. Sutton Hoo - An Anglo-Saxon royal burial site that unearthed an undisturbed ship burial, including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artifacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance.
14. Normans - A member of those Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France.
15. Exeter Book - A tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices.
16. Archetype - A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response.
17. Kennings - Compound words or phrases used to both name and describe an object or place.
18. Alliteration - The repetition of the initial consonant sound in a line of poetry.
19. Caesura - A pause that divides the line, with each part having two stresses.
20. Epic - A long narrative poem that celebrates a hero's deeds which usually began as oral tradition and was retold by poets over many generations before finally being written down.

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