1. The Dawn of English Literature

2. The Ancient Britons and Their Language
We find Celtic in geographical names:
dun/dum = down, dune (the towns of Dunscore, Dunedin, Dumbarton)
avon=river (Stratford-on-Avon)
kil=wood (Kilbrook)

3. The Roman Invasion 55 B.C.: the Roman(Latin) till 407 A.D.
Julius Caesar - the first Roman
castra=camp (Lancaster, Manchester, Worcester)

4. The Invasion by Germanic Tribes
410: Angles, Saxons, Jutes
West Germanic language
They were pagans, believed in many gods:
Tuesco (god of darkness) – Tuesday…

5. the first page of Beowulf in Cotton Vitellius A. xv.
Remounted page, British Library Cotton Vitellius A.XV
the first page of Beowulf in Cotton Vitellius A. xv.

6. An illustration of Grendel by J. R. Skelton from Stories of Beowulf
An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from Stories of Beowulf. Grendel is described as "Very terrible to look upon."
An illustration of Grendel's mother by J.R. Skelton from Stories of Beowulf (1908) described as a "water witch" trying to stab Beowulf.

7. A 1908 depiction of Beowulf fighting the dragon by J. R. Skelton.
Beowulf is challenged by a Danish coast guard, Evelyn Paul (1911).

8. Anglo-Saxon literature (the 7th-11th Centuries)
Caedmon (poet) - the 7th century - wrote in Anglo-Saxon “The Paraphrase”
Bede - the father of English history ”The History of the English Church”
Alfred the Great (849 – 901) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – the first prose in English literature

9. The Norman conquest
The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings and the events leading to it.
William the Conqueror and Harold at the Battle of Hastings

10. King Harold Kern
Norman archer
Norman knights riding

11. Model of the Anglo-Norman castle

12. William of Normandy go ashore in England, French drawing from 1883.
William Bastarden invades England.
 Illustration of French manuscript from 

13. King Arthur Merlin kidnaps baby Arthur. (N.K. Wyatt, 1922)
King Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler (1903)

14. Mark Twain. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1889)
Lady of the Lake presenting Excalibur

15. Culhwch entering Arthur's Court in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, 1881

16. The Round Table experience a vision of the Holy Grail
The Round Table experience a vision of the Holy Grail. From a 15th century French manuscript.

17. Mordred, Arthur's final foe according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, illustrated by H. J. Ford for Andrew Lang's King Arthur: The Tales of the Round Table, 1902
The combat of Arthur and Mordred, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth for The Boy's King Arthur, 1922

18. The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century.

19. The first page of the Hengwrt Chaucer manuscript with the beginning of theGeneral Prologue.
Geoffrey Chaucer, 1380, New Catholic Encyclopedia.

20. Then said the first of them when this was done: “Now for a drink
Then said the first of them when this was done: “Now for a drink. Sit down and let’s be merry…” He took a bottle full of poison up And drank; and his companion, nothing loth, Drank from it also, and they perished both, Thus the two murderers received their due, So did the treacherous young prisoner too

21. Woodcut from William Caxton's second edition of The Canterbury Tales, ca 1484.
Chaucer as a pilgrim from the Ellesmere Chaucer manuscript in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

22. A story from Il Decameron by John William Waterhouse.
The English Peasant Revolt of 1381 is mentioned in The Canterbury Tales.

23. Ezra Winter, Canterbury Tales mural (1939), Library of Congress John AdamsBuilding, Washington, DC
The dilemma of Bors - he rescues a girl instead of his brother Lionel.
The murder of Thomas Becket.

24. The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485)
The White Rose of the House of York
The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster

25. The Tudor Rose, created at the end of the Civil War, joining the two emblems.

26. Robin HOOD
The title page of Howard Pyle's 1883 novel, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Robin Hood statue in Nottingham

27. Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood; the sword he is depicted with was common in the oldest ballads
"Robin shoots with Sir Guy" by Louis Rhead

28. Robin Hood and Maid Marian
(Robin Hood wife)

29. When was England called Britain?
in the 7th century B.C.
about 25 centuries ago
in the 4th century A.D.
What Christmas tradition originated from the Druids?
to go to the darkest parts of the woods
to hang mistletoe in the houses
to eat the leaves of an oak-tree

30. How long did the Roman occupation last?
from 55 B.C. to 704 A.D.
more than 40 years
more than 400 years
What interesting remains of Roman times can you still find in England?
some ruins of public baths and tiled floors of Roman villas
the highways have been built on the military roads made by the Romans
a large number of English words come from the Latin language

31. What dialects did Angles, Saxons and Jutes speak?
of the Latin language
of the English language
of the West Germanic language
What traces of the Germanic tribes’ language can we see in the modern English?
the names of many people
the names of the week-days
the names of fruit

32. Find the odd one:
The Roman invasion, the Danes invasion, the Norman invasion, the French invasion
Celtic, Latin, West Germanic, Roman

33. THE END