Download anglo-saxon england

Pre-Anglo-Saxon Period
(55 B.C. – 410 A.D.)
Prior to Julius Caesar
and the Roman Empire
invading in 55 B.C.,
Britain was inhabited
by Celtic tribes…
…that first migrated to
the British Isles
around 600 B.C..
The Celts built walled
farms and hut villages.
They used bronze and
iron tools and grew
crops.
Separate Celtic tribes,
each with its own king,
battled with each
other. They built wood
and stone fortresses
and rode in twowheeled chariots.
Celtic priests called
druids conducted
sacrificial rites. The
Celts were Pagans and
their religion was known
as “animism,” a Latin
word for “spirit.” Celts
saw spirits everywhere.
Important Cultural and
Historical Results of the
Roman Occupation
- military
- infrastructure
- language/writing
- religion
Military
- Pushed Celts into
Wales and Ireland
- Prevented Vikings
from raiding for
several hundred years
Infrastructure
- Government (fell apart
when they left)
- Walls, villas, public
baths (some remains
still exist)
Language and Writing
- Latin was official
language
- Practice of recording
history led to earliest
English “literature” being
documentary
RELIGION
- Christianity begins to
take hold, especially
after St. Augustine and
other missionaries
came from Rome in
597
In 410, while Rome
was falling to an
army of German
barbarians, Honorius,
the emperor, ordered
the Romans to come
back home.
ANGLO-SAXON
ENGLAND
(450 – 1066 A.D.)
From 410 – 450,
Angles and Saxons
invaded from the Baltic
shores of Germany,
and the Jutes invaded
from the Jutland
peninsula in Denmark.
The invaders were
vigorous warriors and
skilled seamen who
often served as
mercenary soldiers for
the Roman Empire.
The Celtic inhabitants
fled into the western
highlands of Wales.
King Arthur is
rumored to be one of
these men.
England became a tribal
society, ruled by warrior
kings just as it was before
the Romans conquered it.
Neighboring kings and
warriors within their own
tribes constantly threatened
tribal kings.
To protect himself
and his lands, a king
gathered around him
a retinue of fighting
men called thanes.
Bloodshed and
fighting was
rampant across
the land.
Tribal kings would
build a mead-hall,
where the warriors
would feast, sleep,
and…
…be entertained by
singing poets called
scops. The scop
would recount both
past history and
present events.
Fame and honor was
highly important, and
the scop preserved a
record of the warriors’
achievements for later
generations.
In 597, St. Augustine was
sent from Rome to spread
Christianity across
England. During the next
40 years, most of the
Anglo-Saxon kings and
their people converted.
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Starting in the
century, England
was invaded by
Vikings.
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From the
century to
1066 (when William
the Conqueror invaded
England) the land was
divided between
Scandinavian groups in
the north and east…
…and the AngloSaxon groups in the
southeast and south.