THE ANGLO SAXON PERIOD 449-1066 What we speak of English literature might be more accurately called British Literature,

for it includes the literature of scotland, Wales and Ireland as well as of Egland. The island of Britain located twenty miles off the coast at northern Europe, was originally inhabited by primitive Celtic tribes known as Britons. Britain is a land that has had its history, culture and literature shaped by a series of invaders from the nearby continent Before The Anglo Saxon Although our study of english literature begins with the Anglo Saxon Period, the Anglo Saxons were not the first people, nor indeed the most civilized people, to invade Britain. By 250 B.C, Rome had conquered the Mediterranian world in the two hundred years between 100 B.C and A.D. 100, Rome produced another ancient civilization, indebted to that of Greece, with a literature of its own (see part two) under the Roman general Julius Caesar, the roman empire was carried northward into what was then Gaul and is now France. Anglo Saxons Invasions The Jutes, followed by the Angles and Saxons all tribles germanic origin-invaded Britanian from the European continent in 449. As they invaded, the celts-led, stories tell us, by a Christian king named Arthur-retreated slowly into misty uplands of present day wales, and the Britain that we know began to take shape. In the southern part of the island, the Angles and the Saxons, soon united as AngloSaxon, began to introduce a society that was in a sense, democratic and order loving, in 787 Danes-tribes from northern Europe, often called Vikings or Norsemen began raids on England. By 878 the Anglo Saxons had acquired a ruler strong enough to repe! The invaders. Anglo Saxons Civilization The Anglo Saxon preferred their own little villages, with timber-built shelters and communal farmland (in which each family, howefer poor, had a strip of land), therefore, you would see now wagon trails conneting these villages, and also winding off to an occasional castle and courtyard, to newly built Anglo-Saxon stone churses, and to manasteries, some of which dated back to Roman times. Perhaps not easily distiaguished from other parts of an Anglo-Saxon castle were the mead halls. People would gather in these great communal banquet halls to celebrate a battle or the return a hero from a long journey.

The Beginnings Of English Literature English literature began as oral, not written, literature, with songs and poems celebrating heroes. These poems were passed on by minstrels, or scops, who composed many poems that praised Anglo-Saxon ideals. This was primarily a somber time in which human destiny was believed to be ruled by fate, or wyrd, as the anglo-saxons called it. The scops poems often reflect the grim,war-ridden lives of the anglo-saxon people. By immortalizing their heroes, the scops also brought a semblance of permanence to a world ruled by a sense of transience and fatal doom. The earliest English storypoem to come down to us is about a hero called Beowulf. Beowulf was composed about 700 by an unknown minstrel, one of the many who travelled from mead hall intertain the courts of kings of the warriors. TIME LINE 449 1066 BRITISH EVENTS 449 Germanic tribes cross the North Sea to England, and Anglo-Saxon rule begins. c. 537 King Arthur, legendary king of Britain and hero of English literature, dies. 563 Establishment of Lona Monatery, one of earlist centers of Christianity in Britain. 597 St. Agustine, missionary, establishes monastery in canterbury c. 658 Caedmons Hymn c. 673 Brith of Venerable Bede, earliest English historian and earliest important prose writer. c. 700 Book of kells, decorated manuscript of the four gospels. 700 Beowoulf by anonymous author, oldest epic poem composed in English. 787 Danis invasions. 871 Alfred the great begins rule (until 899) 878 Alfred defeats Danish infaders 892 Anglo-Saxon Chronicles initiated by Alfred the Great, first historic record to be kept in English. 975 The Exeter Book, group of short meditative poems, including The Seafarer. 1040 The real Macbeth kills king Duncan. 1042 Edward the confessor begins rule (until 1066) last English king descended from Alfred the Great. 1066 The Norman conquest of England. WORLD EVENTS 449-1066 c. 460 Mexico : Peak of moyan culture.

476 End of western Roman Empire. c. 500 China : Tea brought from India. 517 China : Buddhism introduced. 542 Europe : Bubonic plague spreads through Europe, killing about half the population. 550 India : Beginning of chess game. 552 Europe : Beginning of silk industry. 560 Japan : Buddhism introduced. c. 570 Arabia : Mohammad born, fonder of Islam. 630 Arabia : Cotton introduced. 700 Easter eggs come into use among Christians. China : Population explosion. 771 Charlemagne becomes ruler of Frankish kingdom. 810 Persia : Term algebra coined. 861 Iceland discovered by Vikings. 895 Holy Land : Earliest hebrew manuscript of old Testament. 900 Beginning of Arabian tales A thousand and one nights, Greenland discovered by Vikings. Europe : Emergence of feundai system. 1000 North America discovered by Ielf Ericsson 1045 Spain : Brith of the Cid THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD 1066-1485 In england the Medieval Period, also called the Middle ages, bagn in a year that has become famous 1066. Norman Rule In England

William bestrode the English channel like a colossus, with one court in England and one in Normandy, The Anglo Saxon character and culture, solid and civilized, did not give way before the more stylized, older culture of the Norman conquerors. Norman king ruled England for less than a hundren years, but during that time the Normans brought England closer to the mainstream of European society. The Royal Houeses of plantegenet, lancaster and york In 1154 the Norman line was at an end. The royal houses, or families, of Plantagenet, Lancaster and York would carry England through the Middle Ages. Henrys son, Richard I, called Richard Lion-Hearted, has become a model of true knight. Richard was away from England for all but five months of his ten-years reign, travelling across the world, giving his riches to the poor and seeking holy relics. John, Henry IIs other son, who succeded Richard I, gained a reputation as a weak, even villanous reler, but John too, had a moment of high drama when in 1215, a year before his death, he was forced to sign the Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter). Most of the remaining plantagenet kings Edward I. especially-provided strong leadership for England, despite family troubles over succession, trouble with Scotland, trouble with France, trouble with Ireland, and near revolution at home. The first of the three kings of the houses of Lancaster, Henry IV (1299-1413), survived many crisis and was succeded by his more powerful son, Henry V foundly known among his followers as Prince Hal. Henry VI, next in line, went insane for a brief period and left the throne in the hands of an uncle, the Duke of york. Thus in 1455 began thirty years of civil strife. Known as the wars of the roses, between the house of Lanchaster (whose symbol was a red rose), The Lancasters never returned to the throne. Edward IV, the first of the yorkist kings, can be thanked for encouraging William Caxton to set up a printing press with movable type, capable of printing in quatities large enough to bring the printed word to the general public. After this notable event, the drama of the Yorkist kings turns dark, when in 1483 Edward V succeeded to the throne. He was only twelve years old. Chivalric Life In Medieval England The feudalism that the Normans brought to England was not just an economic and political system, a means of dividing up land and power. Feudalism was also a social system. The english kings and barons from 1066 to 1485 played their roles against a backdrop of glory and violence that spread from the royal courst and roman ruins near London norhward into Scotland, west into Wales and Ireland, across the English channel into

France, and SouthEast into what was called the Holy Land, the city of Jerussalem, then in moslem hand. With feudalism and knight hood the Normans brought of England the Norman brought to England the code of chivalry. Chivalry was in ideal that all knights must try to attain : to be honorable, courteous, generous, brave, skillful in battle, respectful to women, and helpful to the weak. This romantic attitude would affect much of the literature of the period, especially the songs and stories. Religious Life In Medieval England The roman Catholic Church was also a powerful force in the Egland of the middle ages. Never had so many people been more totally and unquestioningly at me with a single instutional church and with the faith that church professed. Knights were willing to die for their religious belief, as witnessed in particular by their ardent desire to join in the crusades, which were millitary expeditions undertaken to recapture the city of Jerussalem from the moslems. Churces and cathedrals, perhaps the most dramatic and beautiful legacy of the period, were another product of religious faith and energy. City Life In Medieval England By all reports, London remained a merry town with children playing ball games in the streets and wealthy merchants, now on horseback, hunting wild bear and deer in nearby park-land. In spite of plague and warfare, England prospered during the later middle ages. People began to move from castle towns to village and cities, and cities had sprung up in the north as well as on the southern plains. Caxton was a fine editor as well as a printer. He played very important role in bringing the two great literary works of this period-chaucers canterbury Tales and Malorys Morte d Artbur- to light. Story Telling in The Middle Ages Although printing was now available, it would be centuries before sory telling would take form at novels, Nevertheless, the seeds of the novel and short story find rich ground in this period. Geoffrey Chaicher told short stories in verse, using a bright, new kind of English Poetry Influenced by European models as well as hewed from his own genius. Drama In the middle ages Drama is a form of story telling that seems to be a very ancient one, perhaps appealing to an instinct of human nature, the desire to imitate another human being. In theater (a name

we give a drama that is produced on a stage) a simple, perhaps ponnilers baker, for example, can become for a few moments a heroic king, and his audience can lose itself in the story that unfolds. Drama as public entertainment began in England in the medieval period as religious ritual, in the form of mystery plays, or miracle plays, as they are usually called. The miracle play was followed by a some what different development- the morality play, in which actors played the roles of virtues and vices-pattience, greed and so on. All in all, the literatur of the Medieval Period carries us back into a colourfull and exciting worls as reported by the poest. Storytellers and dramatis of that time and forward into other ages in which knights, crusaders, monks, and fine ladies would continoue to inspire writters. Indeed the Medieval Period is at once very far away and very close at band. TIME LINE 1066-1485 BRITISH EVENTS 1066 Anglo-Saxons defeated by William Conqueror of Normandy at Battle of Hastings. 1086 Domesday Book, first official record of property owners in England. 1096 Grusades, attempts to rescue Jerussalem from Moslems (until 1270). 1151 Game of chess arrives in England . 1154 House of Plantagenet rules England (until 1399). 1167 Oxford University founded. 1170 Murder of Thomas a Becket, archbishop Of canterbury. 1215 Magna Carta, signed by King John. 1265 First Parliament. 1296 Wars between England and Scotland (until 1328). 1337 Beginning of hundred years war series of wars between England and France. 1348 Black Death series of Plagues. 1375 Earliest part of sir gawain and the green knight verse romance in English about knight at king Arthurs court. 1377 William Langand, the vision of piers the plouman, a protest on behalf of the common people. 1386 Geoffrey Chaucher, the centerbury tales. 1388 John Wycliffs translation of bible into English. 1399 House of lancaster rules England (until 1485). 1469 Sir Thomas Malory le morte dartbur. 1476 William Caxton establishes first printing press in England. 1485 King Henry VII (of house of tudor) begisn reign. 1125 France beginning of troubadour music

1170 France Chretien de troyes Lancelot 1191 Japan Tea arrives from China 1204 Hollad founding of Amsterdam 1211 China invasion by Genghis Khan 1241 Korea movable meral type first used. 1271 China exploration by Marcopolo 1307 Italy dante begins Divina comedy 1325 Italy beginning of the renaissance. Japan development of no drama. Azlee Empire Establishment of capital on site of modern Mexico city. 1341 Italy petrarch crowned with Laurel Wreath 1348 Italy Boccaccio Decameron. 1368 China beginning of Ming Dynasty 1431 France Joan of are burned at stake. 1452 Italy Birth of Leonardo Da Vinci. 1453 Germany The Gutenberg Bible, thought to be the first European book printed from movable type. 1462 Russia Ivan the great rules as first czar.