1. The Anglo-Saxon Period
A.D

2. Early Britain
Great Britain has been invaded and settled several times throughout the course of history by the following groups:
the Iberians
the Celts
the Romans
the Angles and the Saxons
the Vikings
the Normans

3. The Celts (c B.C.)
The Celts were farmers and hunters who honored their priestly class: the Druids.
Belief in an “otherworld”
or an “afterlife”
Polytheistic
Gods were deities of particular skills
Goddesses were deities of things pertaining to nature

4. Celts Continued Celtic priests The Druids
Teachers, sacrificers, judges, and lore-keepers
Rituals took place in forests
Did not record their learning in writing
Evidence of human sacrifice in Gaul, Ireland, and Britain
Much of what we know about the Celts has been muddied by the period of intermingling with Romans.

5. The Romans (c. 55 B.C.)
Julius Caesar invaded in 55 B.C and Claudius returned about 100 years later.
During the Roman rule, Christianity began to take hold and the old Celtic religion began to vanish.
Occupation by the Romans resulted in a central form of government and a military presence.

6. Roman Contributions
The Romans built a network of roads (some still used today) and a great defensive wall, known as Hadrian’s Wall, some seventy-three miles long.
Romans introduced cities, roads, and written scholarship

7. Trouble in Paradise
The Romans evacuated their troops from Britain by A.D. 409
Left Britain with a system of roads, walls, villas, and great public baths
Britain is left without a centralized government and without a strong army to defend itself.

8. England without the Romans
Without Roman control, Britain was a country of separate clans.
The result was weakness
Island was ripe for invasions by non-Christian peoples from the Germanic regions of Continental Europe.

9. The Anglo-Saxons Possible reasons why they came:
their land often flooded and it was difficult to grow crops, so they were looking for new places to settle down and farm.
Some sources say that Saxon warriors were invited to come to England.

10. Who They Were Anglo Saxon means “war smith”. “Invaded” Britain from
the Scandinavian
countries
The Anglo-Saxons took
control of most of Britain
Divided the country into kingdoms, each with its own royal family.
As the Angles slowly interact with the Celts, their language, Angle-ish (English) begins to blend with the language of the Celts to form Old English.

11. The Land They Ruled
By around 600 A.D. there were five main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms:
Northumbria
Mercia
Wessex
Kent
Anglia

12. How They Lived
Anglo-Saxon settlements consisted of just two or three families and a few buildings
Life was highly organized in tribal fashion
Ruled by a king chosen by a counsel of elders known as “witon.”
Most people in Anglo-Saxon society were either freemen or slaves.
Richer freemen were known as 'thanes.'

13. How They Lived Mead Hall center of life sleeping quarters dining area
meeting place

14. Structure of Society
Chieftain
Thane
Peasant
Serfs
Comitatus: Thanes are loyal to Chieftains and fight wars for them; in return the Chieftains reward the Thanes and offer protection.

15. Punishment in Society
The Anglo-Saxons didn't have prisons. People were often punished with fines.
For minor crimes, a nose or a hand might be cut off.
If a person killed someone they had to pay money to the dead person's relatives, or even a life.
This was called a 'wergild.'

16. Old English Old English was chiefly an oral language
Anglo-Saxon scribes, however, kept written records in scripts learned from Celtic missionaries.
Viking (Norse) words are used in everyday English (i.e. kick, law, sister, sky, window).
Words concerning religion and learning were borrowed from Latin (i.e. school, candle, altar, paper, circle)

17. The Most Famous Relic 7th century helmet
Reconstructed from hundreds of corroded iron fragments
The bronze eyebrows are inlaid with silver wire and garnets. Each ends in a gilt-bronze boars head.
A gilded dragon-head lies nose to nose with a similar dragon-head placed at the end of the low crest that runs over the cap. The nose, eyebrows and dragon make up a great bird with outstretched wings that flies on the helmet.

18. The Hereafter
Until Christianity set in, the Anglo-Saxons felt there was nothing after death. Life is hard, and then you die.
When people died they were either cremated and put in a pottery urn or buried with their belongings.

19. Sutton Hoo Located in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England; discovered in 1939
Burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king
Burial site contained 41 items of solid gold and 37 gold coins, as well everyday items
The ship had been sailed upriver, dragged overland, and then placed in a pit dug at the burial spot. The ship was then covered with a large mound of soil.

20. So Where Did They Go?
In the 8th and 9th centuries the Vikings began to come to Britain
Anglo-Saxon accounts describe terrible Viking raids
Massacres
churches destroyed, animals and precious objects stolen.
By the end of the 870s, the Vikings occupied most of eastern England.

21. The Struggle for Land
By 878 the Vikings had conquered all of England except Wessex.
Wessex remained Anglo-Saxon and was ruled by King Alfred of Wessex.
Gradually, the areas of England under Viking rule were re-conquered by Alfred's descendants.

22. The Beginning of the End
The Anglo-Saxon period came to an end in 1066
Duke William of Normandy came to England and defeated Harold, the Earl of Wessex, in the Battle of Hastings.
This was the beginning of the Norman period in English history, after the Norman Conquest.