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Warm-Up:
The Prologue and Chapter 1 of Beowulf
present the genealogy of Hrothgar, King
of the Danes--his noble heritage. Before you
read, have a go at creating your own genealogy. If
possible, go back at 3 generations. Add names of
other relatives if you wish. Here is a possible model:
Your Genealogy
YOU
Introduction to
The Anglo-Saxon Period
449-1066 CE
To best understand and
therefore, enjoy works from the
Anglo-Saxon Period,
you need to know about
the Anglo-Saxon people-their history and customs.
Ancient Britain
CELTS: The Native British tribe:
Celts believed in the pagan religion
of ANIMISM
(The Celtic language survives today,
as Welsh, Scottish, and Gaelic all
derive from the Celtic language).
The DRUIDS were the priest class of
the Celts. They built and
used STONEHENGE for religious and
mystical ceremonies.
Druid ceremony reenactments are
regularly held at Stonehenge every
year.
ROMAN PERIOD 55 BC TO 407 AD
ROME (Julius Caesar and others) invaded
and took possession of Celtic Britain.
(Rome, like Celtic Britain, was originally
polytheistic, but gradually became Christian
Rome brought the Latin of its scribes to record
Anglo-Saxon history).
Roman Empire
Many of the CELTS moved west to
avoid being enslaved or killed, but
Roman rule was generally
beneficial
Rome built roads and fortifications
throughout Britain, such as Hadrian’s
Wall.
Rome also established political order
But when Britain was threatened by
Germanic tribes the Romans pulled
out.
The Roman Empire fell in 476 CE
Germanic Tribe Invasions 410-515
AD
The Saxons (Germany), Angles and
Jutes (Denmark) invaded regularly,
pushing Celts further west each time.
These tribes brought their Germanic
languages and traditions to Britain.
Germanic Invasions
Each invasion resulted in intermarriage
between the Germanic tribes and the
remaining Celts. By 650 AD, all of Britain
was Christian in name, although many of
the old Pagan beliefs continued and
mingled with Christian ones.
The absorption of the Germanic tribes
into the fabric of Britain also resulted
in a new language, a mixture of those
Germanic tongues and the Celtic
tongue (Gaelic). This new language
was called:
Anglo-Saxon.
We now call it OLD ENGLISH
The new Anglo-Saxon language was
not written down until the 7th Century
when King Alfred the Great created
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a running
history of England
English "began" in the 800s
The Anglo-Saxon Warrior Culture
Christianity softened the Anglo-Saxon
warrior.
The Roman Catholic Church brought
education and written language.
The Monks who eventually copied
down the oral history of Beowulf,
wrote in Latin.
WYRD
The AngloSaxons
believed in Fate,
which they called
Wyrd.
The Anglo-Saxon warrior was called a
THANE.
The Thane owed his King, or Gold-Giver total
loyalty for life. He would fight for his king. He
was obligated by honor to give his king a proper
burial. In fact, he would die to protect his GoldGiver, or willingly go to his death if he failed in
that protection.
The thane was bound by honor to take
vengeance for his lord's death in one of
four ways:
1) Blood vengeance ("an eye for an eye)
2) Wergild (man-price, or bounty)
3) Marriage arranged as a treaty
4) Self-Sacrifice of his own life for failure to
protect his gold-giver.
Why is it important for you to know
this?
You will see this concept of honor in
Beowulf, as well as in the poem “The
Seafarer”, and the novel Grendel, by
John Gardner
THE MEAD HALL, OR COMMUNAL
HALL
The King (Gold-giver)
took all the war prizes
freely offered by his thanes when they
celebrated victory in the Mead-Hall.
He, in turn, gave his thanes
Heriot: horses and weapons, gold, land,
and treasure to reward them for their
particular service.
For his part, the King was responsible
for all of his men's acts, even the ones
they had
committed before they became his
retainers.
The Heroic IDEAL : EXCELLENCE!
The hero-king strives to do better than
anyone else the things that an essentially
migratory life demanded: sail a ship,
swim, tame a horse, choose a camp site,
set defenses, plow a field, and most
important of all--FIGHT.
Skill and courage were key to meeting
the heroic ideal!
THE HEROIC BOAST
TO MAKE A PUBLIC BOAST IS TO
MAKE A SOLEMN VOW UPON
WHICH ONE'S LIFE AND
REPUTATION DEPEND. ONLY THE
BRAVEST HERO WOULD BOAST AS
BEOWULF DOES BECAUSE HE
MUST THEN FULFILL THE
PROMISE OR DIE TRYING.
THE HEROIC PARADOX
By dying gloriously, one achieves
immortality.
The hero-king was dependent on the
poet or scop to sing his praises and
thus assure his legend.
THE ORAL TRADITION
The primary form for doing this was
the EPIC, and as you have learned,
the epic was passed down primarily
from listener to hearer
in what is called the Oral Tradition.
THE ROLE OF THE POET
(also known as the SCOP,
MINSTREL, GLEEMAN, or
BARD—The hero-king was
dependent on the poet or
scop to sing his praises and thus
assure his legend would live long
after he was dead.
What is an EPIC?
A long narrative poem which
celebrates the exploits or victories of
a religious or folk hero who is in
some way responsible for the
salvation or perpetuation of his
people.
Archetypes
The Epic often utilizes archetypes, or
universal symbols that would be
recognizable to most groups of people.
Typical archetypes would be:
Archetypes (continued)
The Wise Old Man
The Vengeful Villain
The Good Mother
The Bad Mother
Archetypes in Beowulf:
As you read, you will see all of
these archetypes in Beowulf
You are about to
experience the exciting
adventures of the first
super-hero: BEOWULF.
The story of Beowulf is
an EPIC POEM. Even
though he is a citizen of
Geatland, he is considered
an Anglo-Saxon (or British) hero. Few
people living
today realize that for centuries, Britain was
inhabited and ruled by Scandinavian tribes!
Beowulf's adventures were told for
hundreds of years before the legend
was ever written down, probably in
the 9th century. Before it was written,
though, the
SCOP, a traveling poet, was
responsible for
keeping the oral histories of heroes
like Beowulf alive.
By the time Beowulf was
written down in the 9th
century, it looked and
sounded like a Germanic or
Scandinavian tongue!
Hwæt! We Gardena
in geardagum,
þeodcyninga,
þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas
ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing
sceaþena þreatum,
5
monegum mægþum,
meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas.
Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden,
he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc
þara ymbsittendra
10
ofer hronrade
hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan.
þæt wæs god cyning!
ðæm eafera wæs
æfter cenned,
geong in geardum,
þone god sende
folce to frofre;
fyrenðearfe ongeat
As you know, poetry usually has
both rhythm and rhyme.
In Modern English,
rhyming in poetry most often occurs
at the ends of lines.
In Anglo-Saxon poetry,
rhyme was found in
ALLITERATION,
or the repetition of
consonant sounds.
Rhythm
in Modern English rhythm is measured
in feet or beats. We are most familiar
with iambic pentameter (accent on
every other beat with 5 beats to the
line…
Old English also uses beats, but in
a very stylized way:
Every line of poetry is divided into
2 sides with a space between the
sides indicating a pause, or
caesura. Each side has 2 beats, so
there are 4 beats to every line.
A good scop could memorize many
hours of his poem by relying on the
constant repetition of the Anglo-Saxon
rhythm, and consonants.
(Actually, this is is how most of us
memorize
complicated song lyrics today)…
The Anglo-Saxons invented an
important new literary device that
we still use today:
The Kenning
What is a kenning?
A kenning is an Anglo-Saxon
metaphor in which 2 or more
words are combined in a creative
way to form an image or second
level of meaning.
The history of the kenning:
It originated
in Anglo-Saxon (Old English)
and Old Norse poetry
It is a type of figurative language,
specifically a METAPHOR
Some kennings were coined by poets and
used repeatedly in various works
They sometimes utilized ALLITERATION
Types of kennings
Open compound (i.e.) wakeful
sleeper or icy wave
 Hyphenated compound (i.e.) goldshining hall or whale-road
 Possessive compound (i.e.) hell’s
captive or Hrothgar’s son
 Prepositional Compound (i.e.)
shepherd of evil or proud with wine

Throughout time, kennings have
become increasingly more complex
and detailed.
For instance, a kenning might begin with:
“Foamy-throated ship”
Then progress to:
“Foamy-throated sea-stallion”
And conclude with
“Foamy-throated sea-stallion of the
whale-road”
A Viking Ship
Some kennings are Epithets
An epithet is another name for a
character that is used frequently
and clearly identifies the character.
For example, in The Odyssey, you
will often see the epithets: Wily
Odysseus, and Odysseus the Greek.
As you read, note the kenning
epithets used to describe Beowulf,
Hrothgar, Grendel, and other
characters.
Modern example of kennings
include:
Head-hunter
“Gold Digger
What might each of these kennings refer
to or suggest:
...their ring-giving lord (p. 4)
Higlac's follower (p. 11)
sea-road (p. 12)
fresh-tarred boat (p. 15)
battle-hardened shields (p. 17)
gold-ringed queen/bracelet-wearing queen (p. 28, 29)
sin-stained demon (p. 36)
wagging tongues (p. 48)
cup-bearers (p. 51)
The End of Anglo-Saxon Britain
The Anglo-Saxon rule and way of life
came to an abrupt end in 1066 when
William the Conqueror (William or
Normandy) invaded Britain…
And defeated the last Anglo-Saxon
king, Harold of Hastings at the
battle of Hastings.
William, a Frenchman, brought a
new system of government, land
ownership, customs, and of course,
language to Britain.
As the years passed, Norman
French merged with Anglo-Saxon,
or Old English to form
Middle English, and the
The Middle Ages were ushered in.