1. Britain ~ 500 - ~ 800 Anglo-Saxon invaders

2. Clash of Cultures Celtic--already there zspeaking various Celtic langs: Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Cornish, Manx + Latin zChristian zsome literacy in Latin zpushed to West and North--mountains Germanic--newcomers z speaking dialects of Old Germanic: Old English z pagan z largely illiterate z settled in south and East--most fertile farmlands in England

3. Western Europe ~500 zThree major language groups dominate Western Europe--all have some speakers in Britain yLatin/Romance -- becomes lang of learning yGermanic -- will come to dominate England yCeltic -- speakers move into margins, survive in mountains and islands zFall of Rome Dark Ages

4. Who is where? Irish Gaelic Scots Gaelic Welsh Cornish Old English Old English London Winchester

5. Anglo-Saxons settle down zRomanized Celts stay in west and north in mountains, hold on to literacy in isolated monasteries yorigin of Arthur myth--a Christian Celtic chieftain either in Cornwall or Wales who has some limited success against the A-S in ~ 6th C zA-S Germanic warriors prefer settling down to being raiders, and form small kingdoms in England zNew Germanic raiders try to hone in on England yDanes, Vikings, Norwegians continue raids on coast

6. Christianity comes back z597: Pope Gregory sends St. Augustine of Canterbury to convert the A-S tribes. zChristianity in England yfollows Roman rather than Celtic practices ygives the English the Latin alphabet which they adapt to OE, abandoning their runic alphabet zAll various Germanic tribes begin to unite, eventually forming a single English kingdom under Alfred the Great (dies 899)

7. Pagan/Heroic values have to yield to new Christian values, but have some trouble! zPolytheistic rather than monotheistic zPessimistic world view yNorse mythology sees the world as inevitably ending in the destruction of all mankind and the gods in ice. zValue attached to raiding over farming yconsidered more noble to pillage from others than to raise own crops or tend sheep, etc. zImportance of revenge yconflicts engender cycles of bloodshed zUltimate loyalty owed to tribal leader ywillingness to die for leader--celebration of sacrifice for leader

8. Oral / Formulaic poetry zCharacteristics of oral poetry yrepetitions of phrases ymetrical yboth narrative and lyric zCharacteristics of OE oral poetry yalliteration (repetition of initial sounds) ycaesura (pause in middle of line) ytwo stresses per half line (alliteration in stressed sylls) yuses irony, understatement, long similes, kennings