Anglo-Saxon & Medieval Periods

Historical Background Question

(449-1485)
Use the notes on these two time periods as well as Pages 18 – 26 in your
book / pdf to answer the following questions. (pdf of Anglo-Saxon literature
and Beowulf is located in Canvas, use the first 10 pages).
Copy the document below into a google doc or into text entry on canvas
and answer the questions.

1. What are the 2 main periods introduced in this background? Anglo-Saxon &
Medieval Periods.
2. Early Anglo-Saxon writing was mainly for inscriptions on coins, monuments.
3. The literature was mainly transmitted oraly .
4. Oral poets were called scopes and they sang long epic poems and shorter
lyric poems.
5. They also told riddles to make their audience think.
6. England was originally inhabited by primitive Celtic tribes known as the
britons.
7. In 55 BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain. He brought Roman civilization to the
Celtic people, who were crude and barbaric by Roman standards.
8. Around 450 AD, the Angles, Saxons , and the Jutes all Germanic tribes,
invaded Britain again and destroyed the Roman cities.
9. The Britons retreated into , Scotland, and Cornwall and present day Britain
began to take shape.
10. In 787, the Danes (also called vikings ) began raids on England. A very
barbaric and war-ridden period.
11. Finally, the Anglo-Saxons acquired a strong ruler who could withstand the
Danes. He was Alfred the Greay
12. Alfred gave the Anglo-Saxons many cultural things: Their own language—Old
English instead of Latin ; he established first education system; and London
was already becoming an important town.
13. Britain saw its first decline under Edward the Confessor , a descendant of
Alfred the Great. He was considered by

many to be an arrogant weakling.

14. The Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror , saw his chance to invade
Britain on Oct. 14th 1066. this is known as the Normandy Conquest.
15. William had The Doomsday Book written—a listing of what each person of
England owned, land, cattle, and buildings. People were then taxed based
on what they owned (a first property tax).
16. Feudalism was a political and economic system, a property system, a military
system and a system of social behavior.
17. In the feudal system the king divided the land among Lords called nobles or
barons.
18. The lowest of the people were peasants called Serfs.
19. “Dubbing” occurred when the training to become a knight was complete. The
boys was “dubbed” with a hard tap on the shoulder with a sword that signaled
the young man was now a knight and has earned the title of Sir.
20. All women in the Medieval Society were always subservient to the male and
had no political rights.
21. The Crusades were are a series of wars waged in the 11th, 12th & 13th
centuries by Christian Europe against the followers of Muhammad.
22. Richard I often called ( Richard the Lion-Hearted) played an important role in
the wars and was king from 1189-1199
23. The Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215 and returned England to
older, more democratic ways.
24. This event led to the decline of Feudalism in England The Black Death .
25. This Bubonic plague was a highly contagious disease spread by fleas from
infected rats.
26. This plague caused a labor shortage and gave the lower classes more
leverage in the job market; the long-term result was the freedom of the Serfs ,
which knocked out the last support of feudalism.
27. Chivalry was a system of ideals and behavior codes that governed both
knight and gentlewomen.
The knightly ideal? Knights should be honorable, courteous, generous,
courageous, in a good faith, skillful in battle, respectful to women, and helpful to
the weak.
Chivalry gave rise to the form of literature known as romance.
The greates English romance written during the Middle-Ages is
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”