Survey of eng lit
From Prehistory To The Roman Occupation:
It is natural to think of Britain as an island but in fact it became separated from
mainland europe only at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years BC
The South-east of the country consisted of fertile lowlands and was to prove more
receptive to continental North and West.
Pre-Roman Britain
There were several waves of invaders before the roman occupation.
1. Neolithic people:
Orginiate from the iberian peninsula
Settling in the West of Britain and Ireland
They are long headed
2. Beaker people:
They have round skulls
They have the custom of burying their dead in individual graves with a decorated
bell-shaped, pottery beaker or drinking vessel.
They are pagans
Stonehenge ( which is considered to be a religious monument) has some functions
for these people:
1-Its a place for religion worship
2- it was used for calendar
3. The celts:
First arrived from eastern Europe or Southern russia.
Small groups (tribals) living together with their own rules
They always fight with each other and other tribals.
They have a kind of aristocratic structure
They attached great importance to decoration and personal display.
The geometric patterns, s-shapes, spirals and floral motifs were their symbols. And
they can be found on swords, scabbards etc.
They are pagans (they are connected to nature)
They believed in another World after death (occasionally as islands in the sea or in
underground)
Their religous cerenomies took place in forest santuaries.
Druids:
Powerful and influential priests called druids performed magical rites.
One of their chief tasks was the education of young
They were also responsible for keeping the calendar and fixing the four festivals
around which the agricultural year was organised.
They have their own deties for instance: nature gods, sky gods, animal gods horse
goddess, fertility goddess.
Human sacrifices are also thought to have been made to appeasethe gods before
battles.
The development of Britain over the next few centuries must be viewed within the context of an alien
occupation.
ROMAN BRITAIN
The romans first invaded Briatin, unsuccesfully, in 55 BC under Julius Caesar, but full military
occupation - with the exception of scotland and initially, wales – did not begin until AD 43 under the
emporer claudius.
The roman army was instrumental in bringing about radical changes in Britain: garrison towns such as
exeter, Lincoln and york were established with a view to enforcing military superiority, and bath was
created mainly for army officers on leave or in retirement.
Many historians have pointed out that Britain demanded a heavier outlay of military resources than
any other province within the empire.
The last roman legions left Britain in about AD 410.
During their occupation of Britain the Romans carried out a policy of urbanization: towns were built
to serve as administrative centres, and their planned roads countinued to be used for the swift
transport goods and commerce centuries after their departure.
London originally a trading centre set up in AD 45, only succeeded Colchester as the main English
town at the end of the century.
Romans tolerated Celtic deities in the spirit of interpretatio romana. In the celtic regions the main
native gods were frequently equated with roman gods like mars or mercury, and were worshipped as
such by the Romans. Local deities were given second Roman names.
Although olympian gods like jupiter, juno, minerva and mars failed to satisfy the spiritual needs of
the people, Christianity was to make very little headway until the fourth century ( when it became
the official faith of the Roman empire.), and paganism continued to thrive. However, cults involving
the practice of human sacrifice - including those of druids – were not tolerated.
Romanization left its mark chiefly among the aristocratic. The lowland inhabitants appreciated and
accepted the Roman way of life. but hill dwellers never really took the city and celtic dialects
continued to be spoken in the countryside and highland areas by agricultural peasants.
The withdrawal of the Roman garrisons at the beginning of the fifth century meant Britain eas
deprived of the protection and political expertise to which it had become accustomed during the
years of occupation. and a new wave of invasions took place
From the Anglo-Saxon Invasions to the Battle of Hastings
According to the great eight-century English historian, the venerable Bede, heathen germanic tribes
known as the Angles, Saxons, Jutes first began to raid and later to settle in Britain around the middle
of the fifth century.
Jutes are thought to have come from the scandinavian area (probably jutland)
The resistance of celts and Romano-Britons was slowly crushed over a period of 250 years and many
of them sought refuge in the remote western areas of Wales, South-west england and scotland.
Wælsc= (meaning foreigner) when celts came they called celts wælsc.
Jutes usually settle in kent (island of witch creature) ironically years later kent will become
the first town to adapt christianity.
The economy of anglo-saxon is based on raids and bootys, trophies
Anglo-saxon kingdoms and the heptarchy
By about 650 AD, the country had been divided into seven smaller kingdoms, collectively known as
the heptarchy: wessex, mercia ,northumbia, east anglia, essex, kent and Sussex.
The survival of christianity
During the later years of the Roman occupation, christianity had become firmly established all over
Britain, but the anglo-saxons believed in their own gods. Despite the germanic invasions, christianity
survived largely through the resilience of the christian celtic church of scotland, ireland and wales.
There were significant differences between the two christian churches: the celtic church was ascetic,
anti-hierarchical, and its life was organized around rural monasteries: the roman-christian church was
hierarchical more grandiose in Outlook and was based on urban bishoprics.
Almost the whole country had been converted to christianity by the seventh century, although
conversion tended to be gradual and haphazard, and pagan worship was not the die out completely
for many years.
The vikings:
Around 800 AD a new wave of invasions began. The vikings from present-day Norway and Denmark,
beagan by raiding and later occupying large areas in the North and east of England, as well as Ireland
Thanks to the skill and bravery of alfred the great the outstanding figure of early English history, that
the last remaining Anglo-saxon kingdom, wessex, resisted and peace was eventually restored. Having
defeated the danish forces at edington 878, alfred negotiated peace with the enemy and left a large
part of the country in the north and east under Viking control.
Alfred the great
Alfred captured london and succeeded in uniting all english kingdoms outside the danelaw
under a single crown.
He is known for his social and cultural achievements.
Hes is good at politics and education
He established higher education instutions.
His period is called pre-renaissance
After his death Athelstan took possession of northumbria and he became the first king to
rule over the whole of england.
He initated the anglo-saxon chronicles.
(Monks wrote the anglo-saxon chronicles. they wrote down everything that took place in the
country. They kept it like a diary.)
Anglo-saxon life
They have a non-urbal character
They have small communities
They lived in rural villages
They did agriculture
Loyalty and kinship defind them. King expected them to be loyal.
Social organization an the wergeld
Ealdorman: holder of royal Office in the shires.
He is responsible for administaring royal justice and raising and leading the military force
in return king or lord rewards him with land and treasures.
They are like military aristocrats.
Status was hereditary and the distribution of property was dependent upon kinship. Each small
communities depended heavily on kinship as a means of social bonding.
Vengeance: was an integral part of a feud-ridden society, and loyalty was fundamental at all levels.
The knowledge that one’s death would be avenged by another member of the family, and that failure
to do so would mean undying shame, was reassuring.
Wergeld: ( a mans price): the sum of money that kindred would be willing to accept in place of
vendetta if one of their family members were killed. Those unable to pay were either enslaved by an
injured party or exiled.
Agriculture
Anglo-saxon england was a wealthy country by the eleventh century and its habitans were better fed
and taller than they were to be for many centuries.
They divided fields into long strips.
They also insituted the system of crop rotation over three fields which was to be basis of the
English agriculture until as late as the eighteenth century.
Anglo-saxon architecture
Very little architecture from anglo-saxon period remains today.
House reflects the owner. it depends on wealth and importance of the people.
Kingship, loyalty, the heroic ideal and fame
Heroic ideal and fame : these two concepts are the defining cultural characteristics of the anglo-
saxon way of life. They are reflected in the literary product of this period as well.
The king had to prove himself and show that he is worthy of peoples loyalty so he shows his strenght
and courage.
He is very generous but in return he could expect the complete loyalty of his warriors: they had to be
ready to lay down their lives for him and avenge him, should he be killed in battle.
There was another important aspect of the heroic ideal: the yearning for fame. in the days of
christianity immortality could only be achieved through securing a name or reputation here on earth.
Gods, fate and religion
The anglo-saxons worshipped their own gods: Tiw, woden, thor and frig are still remembered in the
names of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, friday.
The fates -past,present and future- were superior to the gods and goddesses and were responsible
for upsetting and destroying the plans of both humans and deities. Anglo-saxons were actually
aware of fate.
Anglo-saxon kings an their subjects converted to christianity during the course of the sixth century,
and the church rapidly assumed a key role in cultural life and education.
Old english poetry
Very little remains of Anglo-saxon literary production. Approximately thirty thousand lines of Anglo-
saxon poetry have survived. The old english poems which survive in these manuscripts were untitled.
it is impossible to say who wrote them.
Celtic, Roman Latin and Old English
Celtic: celtic was the first indo-european tongue to be spoken in Britain and although versions of the
languages are still spoken no written records of it remain today.
Roman latin: When the romans came, latin became the language of the upper classes and of those
who lived and worked in the towns which grew up around the Roman forts, but it never achieved the
widespread usage of celtic among the native population.
Old english: The true roots of english go back to the various germanic dialects of those tribes which
started invading England from North-western Europe during the fifth century
Runes, latin letters and english sounds: From about the second century on, germanic tribes had
used an alphabet of characters called runes. These characters were designed in straight lines and
were often used for making inscription on jewellery or other artefacts
Gloss writers had to find a way of employing latin letters to represent the sound of English but new
symbols had to be invented.
Spellings:
The strangeness which a modern reader may feel when first glancing at an old english test is further
compounded by other unfamiliar spellings: the sound sh was written sc and the sound of k was
represented by o.
Old english vocabulary
Old english also appears different in terms of its vocabulary and grammar. Old english is almost
totally germanic. it has been estimated that seventy per cent of modern english consist of words
borrowed from other languages.
Compounding words:
(Two words coming together and make another word) The compounding of words was another
significant feature of old english. Compounding remains a characteristic feature of german to this
everyday. For instance break-feast meant breakfast dægred, (day-red) meant dawn
Pagan or secular poetry
The vast majority of old english poetry is religious in subject matter although what little does survive
of pre-christian composition.
Pagan poetry falls into two main types:
1-the heroic epic (beowulf):
2-lyric or elegiac: lyric reflects poet’s individual personal feelings about a event or person etc
They tells off the sadness of exile or separation from one’s loved one, lord, or community
Christian poetry
While more specifically christian in terms of their content. The religious poems belonging to this age
retain many of the features of the heroic poetic discipline. This is because christianity was adapted to
fit the needs of the anglo-saxon heroic ideal from themid-seventh century onwards.
