The Anglo Saxon Period English IV Mrs. Donte McDowell

Celts(Kelts) Britons were the early inhabitants of Britain. They were originally known as the Celtic people. They were tall blond warriors who were a non literate culture whose history and literature was preserved through oral tradition. There literature was passed down from generation to generation. Often told stories about great warriors.

Celts The Celts were the original historians or story tellers, but then they were conquered by the Romans in the first century. However, after a short period the Romans had trouble within their home town in A.D. 409, and left the Celtic people to defend themselves Without Roman control or government the land was invaded by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. One of they myths or legends is that King Arthur was the one who led the war between Saxons and the Celts.

Anglo Saxon In the middle of the 5 th century the invaders, Angles and Saxons from Germany and Jutes from Denmark drove out the Celtic people. With these new tribes they brought a common language, the ancestor of our present day English, they called it “Anglo Saxon”.

Anglo- Saxon These tribes created the Anglo-Saxon language that lasted until 1066 when the Normans led by William Duke of Normandy, successfully invaded the country. (Anglo- Norman).

Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxons had a love for literature. They admired men of outstanding courage. For example; heroes, epics. Also, they had a passion for beauty they produced many beautiful pieces, such as; brooches and bracelets of exquisite design. Anglo-Saxon had a way of responding to art, their poetry was an oral art. Poems were not written down until much later. The two most important traditions of Anglo-Saxon were the heroic tradition and the elegiac tradition.

Beowulf And that is why Beowulf, an old English heroic poem authorship is unknown because of their oral tradition. Beowulf is the first great work of the English national literature.