1. The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods 449-1485
By: Mr. Nathan J. Harmon

2. Centuries of INVASION The Anglo-Saxon Period = The DARK AGES Violence!
Conflict!
Barbarians!
Serious: Hero epics
Struggle
Only the strong survive

3. Early Britian 55b.c Ceasar claimed the British Isle
He left! Took off and left Britons, Picts, Gaels in peace
100 years later the Romans returned
Britian became a Roman province
Build: roads, cities, scholarship

4. Early Britain (continued…)
“Romanized”
Christianity
Urban lifestyle
Public baths
Military
Dependence
Britians came to depend on Roman Government
5th Century Turns
Roman left to deal with their own invaders

5. Anglo-Saxons New settlers Germanic tribes Celtic Leader: Arthur
King Arthur?
Fought the invading hordes
Driven out to the west (Cornwall & Wales) and north (Scotland)
New settlers
Angle-Land
England
Anglo-Saxon culture became the base for English culture
Old English: the gutteral sound of the people

6. Vikings! 790’s: New Invaders from Denmark & Norway Crazy Men! Looting
Killing
Burning villages
Summer homes?

7. Vikings !! (continued…)
Preferred the winter in England than their homes, they set up camp
The Danes!
Met defeat by Alfred the Great (Anglo-Saxon)
Alfie unified England
Brought education, learning, and culture
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a record of England

8. The Norman Conquest Williams Response: Edward the Confessor
Descendant of Alfie, had no kids
Promised the Crown
French cousin William (so he claimed)
Nobles and the Church
Endorsed Earl Harold
Williams Response:
Norman Invasion!
Harold died Battle of Hastings 1066
Christmas day 1066 William was crowned
William the Conqueror

9. Result The Norman Invasion ended the Anglo-Saxon dominance of Britain
New Nobles
Out with the old
The former Noble class of Anglo-Saxons sank into the peasant class

10. Cultural Influences The Spread of Christianity Christianity Takes Hold
Invaders: Pagan, belief in “Wyrd” (fate)
Strong hero worship: Strength against “evil”
Christianity Takes Hold
300 A.D several missionaries were establiched
Spread to Ireland/Scotland

11. Christianity taking hold
597A.D Roman missionary Augustine enters Kent.
Est. Canterbury
Monastaries became centers of education, literacy, art, and social activity
Spread rapidly
By 690 A.D all of Britain was nominally Christian
Though many held pagan traditions

12. Venerable Bede Wrote: A history of the English Church and People
Vikings plundered monasteries, tried to destroy the culture
Christianity endured

13. Epic Tradition Oral art form As religion spread Early lit. style
Heroic deeds
Mead Halls
Poems performed by Scops
History
Sermon
Pep talk
Cultural pride
Demonstrates behavior
Oral art form
As religion spread
Education spread
Writing spread
Oral tradition died out
Beowulf survives…

14. The Medieval Period The Monarchy: William the Conqueror
New kind of King: Powerful, organized, intelligent
Law and Order
“any honest man could travel over the kingdom without injury with his bosom full of gold”
Doomsday Book: a tax that recorded and taxed all property: lakes, livestock, etc.
William’s death
Power struggles
Near anarchy
Until…

15. Williams great grandson
Henry Plantagenet= Henry II
Reformed the judicial system
Est. juries
Formed common law
His son: Richard I = Richard the Lion-hearted
Ten-year reign fighting abroad
Brother plotted against him
“King John”: fought with nobles about rising taxes
Forced to sign the magna carta which limited royal power

16. War & Plague War was near constant The Hundred Years’ War
1337: England vs. France
Black Death
killed 1/3 of the pop.
1453: England lost almost all French holdings.
Two Families fought for power
York (white rose)
Lancaster (red rose)
War of the Roses

17. The Tudors Wars of the Roses ended in 1485
Henry Tudor (Lancaster) killed Richard III (York) at Bosworth field
Henry took the throne = Henry VII
End of the Middle Ages

18. Three Social Forces The Feudal System
Feudalism: political and Economic system (implemented by William the conqueror)
King owns all
¼ for himself
¼ for the church
The rest to the nobles
Nobles gave land to knights
Serfs= bound to land they didn’t own (Anglo-Saxons)
Everyone paid upwards toward the king

19. Three Social Forces (continued…)
The church
Led by the Pope (in Rome)
Huge powerhouse
Levy taxes
Laws
Courts
Keeping kings in line

20. Three Social Forces Chivalry and Courtly Love
Medieval literature: created an idea of social conduct
Chivalry: code of honor intended to guide knightly behavior
Courtly Love: Relationship ideas between lords and ladies
“the Art of Courtly Love”
Marriage is no real excuse for not loving
He who is jealous cannot love
When made public, love rarely endures
A new love puts an old one to flight
Every lover regularly turns pale in the prescience of his beloved

21. The Age of Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer: Father of English Literature
showed English as a literary language
Wrote in the language of the time: middle English

22. The Canterbury Tales Chaucer’s best known work Collection of tales
The Pilgrims characters tell stories
They reflected English development such as: the serfs realizing their value (workforce), War with France re-est. English as a ruling class language

23. Medieval Romance Adventure! King Arthur and Excalibur
Legendary Hero: King Arthur
Artorius
Britain of roman influence
King Arthur to Wales as Beowulf to Anglo-Saxon
Geoffrey of Monmouth: produced welsh tales that caught the interest of the French , German, English alike

24. King Arthur: Artorius
Inspired German, English, French to create their own versions of King Arthur and the Round Table
Made chivalry something to aspire to in English courts
Feats, Battles, Ideals
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Death of Arthur
Retold the legendary King’s end in, printed weeks before the final battle of the War of Roses: the last battle fought with knights in armor