ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

(449-1066)

PREPARED BY:

ROLDAN U. URBI BSEd IIA ENGLISH

THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
The Anglo-Saxon period in
Britain spans approximately
the six centuries from 410-
1066 AD. The period used to
be known as the Dark Ages,
mainly because written
sources for the early years
of Saxon invasion are
scarce.
 3 CULTURAL GROUPS WHO INHIBITED GREAT
BRITAIN AROUND 5th AND 6th CENTURIES.

1. The ANGLES
2. The SAXONS
3. The JUTES
 It was a time of war, of the breaking up of roman
Britannia into several separate kingdoms, of religious
conversion and, after the 790s, of continual battles
against a new set of invaders: THE VIKINGS.

Climate change had an influence on the movement

of the Anglo-Saxon invaders to Britain: in the centuries
after 400 AD Europe's average temperature was 1°C
warmer than we have today, and in Britain grapes could
be grown as far North as Tyneside. Warmer summers
meant better crops and a rise in population in the
countries of Northern Europe.
The VIKINGS
 The various Anglo-Saxon groups settled in different areas
of the country. They formed several kingdoms, often changing,
and constantly at war with one another. These kingdoms
sometimes acknowledged one of their rulers as a ‘High King',
the Bretwalda.

1. Kent, settled by the Jutes. Ethelbert of Kent was the first

Anglo-Saxon king to be converted to Christianity, by St
Augustine around 595 AD.
2. Mercia, whose best-known ruler, Offa, built Offa's Dyke
along the border between Wales and England. This large
kingdom stretched over the Midlands.
3. Northumbria, where the monk Bede (c. 670-735) lived and
wrote his Ecclesiastical History of Britain.
4. East Anglia, made up of Angles: the North Folk (living in
modern Norfolk) and the South Folk (living in Suffolk). The
Sutton Hoo ship burial was found in East Anglia (see below).
5. Essex, (East Saxons). Here the famous Battle of Maldon was
fought against the Vikings in 991.
6. Sussex, the South Saxons settled here.
7. Wessex, (West Saxons), later the kingdom of King Alfred,
the only English king ever to have been called ‘the Great', and
his equally impressive grandson, Athelstan, the first who could
truly call himself ‘King of the English'.
 POETRY
Three poems give excellent insights into the Anglo-
Saxons:
1. THE RUIN- an anonymous poem written about the
ruin and decay of a Roman town.
2. BEOWULF- is an Old English epic poem consisting of
3,182 alternative lines. It is one of the most works
of Old English Literature about the great hero
who fought and killed the monster Grendel and his
mother, became a great king and met his death
fighting an enraged dragon.
3. THE BATTLE of MALDON- is the name given to an
Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the
real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which an Anglo-Saxon
army failed to repulse a Viking raid. Only 325 lines of
the poem are extant; both the beginning and the
ending are lost.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50114/beo
wulf-modern-english-translation
https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/battle-
of-maldon
FAMOUS PERSONALITIES DURING
THIS PERIOD
Alfred, also spelled Aelfred,
by name Alfred the Great,
(born 849—died 899), king of
Wessex (871–899), a Saxon
kingdom in southwestern
England. He prevented
England from falling to the
Danes and promoted learning
and literacy.
King Alfred, called ‘the Great' because he:
• defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Edington in 878, then converted
their leader Guthrum to Christianity;
• recaptured London from the Vikings and established a boundary
between the Saxons and the Vikings - the area ruled by the Vikings
was known as the Dane law;
• strengthened his kingdom's defenses by creating a series of fortresses
(burhs) and a decent army;
• built ships against Viking sea attacks, so beginning the English navy;
• had books translated into English and promoted learning;
• founded monasteries; and
• commissioned the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical
record of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain.
Aelfric the Grammarian, Grammaticus
Aelfric, (flourished c. 955–c. Anglo-Saxon
prose writer, considered the greatest of his
time. He wrote both to instruct the monks
and to spread the learning of the 10th-
century monastic revival. His Catholic
Homilies, written in 990–992, provided
orthodox sermons, based on the Church
Fathers. Author of a Latin grammar, hence
his nickname Grammaticus, he also wrote
Lives of the Saints, Heptateuch (a
vernacular language version of the first
seven books of the Bible), as well as letters
and various treatises.
St. Bede the Vulnerable

-He is an author, teacher,

and scholar. He
becomes Saint in the
year 1899 by Pope Leo
XIII and consider as the
Doctor of the Church.
THANK YOU!