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The Dark Ages The Middle Ages ~ 449-1485 ~ Anglo Saxon or Old English Period (449-1066) England has had many invaders, each leaving their stamp on what we think of as “England” today. The Celts The Romans The Anglo-Saxons The Celtic Heroes: A Magical World The Celtic Heroes: A Magical World & (around 300 BC) the island of Britain was inhabited by tall blond warriors who called themselves Celts & a group of these warriors, called Brythons, left their permanent stamp on Britain The Romans: The Great Administrators Beginning with an invasion led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC and culminating in one organized by the Emperor Claudius about a hundred years later, the Britons (the Celts) were finally conquered by the legions of Rome. & Rome brought organization to Britain – armies that prevented further invasions, networks of roads, and a great defensive wall seventy-three miles long. Religion of the Romans Rome brought Christianity, and soon the old Celtic religion began to vanish. Christianity became a unifying force. Roman Britain The Anglo-Saxons •In 449 the tribes of Jutes, Angles and Saxons from Denmark and Northern Germany started to invade Britain defeating original Celtic people who escaped to Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. The Anglo-Saxons Sweep Ashore In the middle of the fifth century (~450 AD), the attack came from the north, from the Angles and Saxons from Germany and Jutes from Denmark. The Anglo-Saxon language became the dominant language in this land, thus a new name Engla Land, or England. The Celts did put up a brave fight but finally retreated into Wales in the far west of the country. Anglo-Saxon Invasion The Spread of Christianity BEOWULF Beowulf , written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. Beowulf exists in only one manuscript. This copy survived both the wholesale destruction of religious artifacts during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a disastrous fire which destroyed the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (15711631). The poem still bears the scars of the fire, visible at the upper left corner of the photograph. The Beowulf manuscript is now housed in the British Library, London. The first page of the Beowulf manuscript.
