THE CELTS
Six thousand years ago, the land now called britain was already inhabited.
The population began to burn down forest, grow cereals, and breed cattle, sheep, pigs.
They changed the landscape and they built sites, large and enclosed spaces that were used for
ceremonies and defence. The most famous is Stonehenge in Southwest England. During the Bronze Age
they started metal working and they produced pottery, salt, and manufacturing leather and cloth.
The Celts arrived from northwest Germany around 700 bc and they settled in the country between 500-
100 bc.
They were tall, mascular, with fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. They were mainly hunters, fishermen,
metal workers and farmer, they introduced the iron plough which made the cultivation easier indeed.
They built hill forts in top of the hills surrounded by ditches sometimes filled with water and they were
used as tribe centers and refuges. Women were almost equal to men, in fact they could choose the man
they wanted to marry and they could also retain their own property.
There were also women that could lead other warriors in war, like Bodicea.
The Druids were the Celts priest, and besides being important in religion, they were important also in
justice, education and medicine, and they held their ceremonies in the heart of the forests.
They believed in the natural elements like the sun, the moon, trees and rivers. They believed in the
water like a holy element that could lead into the life after death, in fact they also believed in the
transmigration of the souls from one person to another.
Julio Caesar led a Roman invasion in 55-54 bc, but the county wasn’t conquered until 43-47 ad, under
Emperor Claudius. The romans were attracted by the agriculture of the south. One of the most
engineering project of the world was the wall built between the conquered britons and the unconquered
Scots and Picts.
They also build over 9600 km of paved roads in britain that were well built. The romans also connected
the towns, and many of them were originally army camps, the most important was Londinium, that was
built around the thames.
The romans brought their culture, the language and the christianity to britain.
THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
The anglo saxon settled south of hadrian's wall because they were lowland rather than upland people
and they were looking for farming land. Thei society was based on loyalty to the family or clan, and the
hall was the place where they all gathered and swore loyalty to the chiefs in return for their protection.
The boundaries of anglo saxon kingdoms, also known as the Heptarchy or Seven Kingdoms , had formed
by the beginning of the seventh century.
The kingdom of Wessex became later the most important.
CHRISTIANISATION
The anglo saxon partly reintroduced pagan values, the pope Augustine sent a mock to bring Christianity
back to England indeed, and his attempt was successful. Augustine became the first Archbishop of
canterbury when it was founded in 602. England joined Europe's ecclesiasticas culture as a consequence
of the christianisation. The monasteries became important culture centres, the church educated people
and offered them public administration.
The monks produced illuminated gospels and in 685 a new monastery was founded where the scholar
Venerable Bede wrot The Ecclesiastical History of English people.
THE DANES
Danes were sea people, in fact they crossed the Atlantic looking for treasure, cattle and slaves. They
sacked Lindisfarne in 793, they destroyed a lot of manuscripts and took the monks as slaves. In the 9th
century the Viking began to settle and intermarry, they estblished Danelaw, a code for danish laws that
also described the area administered by the dame in northern and eastern England. They reached the
Wessex and they met with opposition form King ethelred and his brother Alfred.
Alfred became King of Wessex after his brother's death , and he defeated the danish commander. He
reorganised the army of Wessex, built fortresses and planned a navy with longships.
HE established his capital in Winchester. Latin texts were translated into anglo saxon and the anglo saxon
chronicle was commissioned in 890. Was created a new legal code and were copened curch schools.
Edward and then Athelstan succeded to the throne after Alfred's death.
Athelstan created a kingdom based on loyalty coniage and law.
The Vikings tried to attack but the english responded by paying money.
In 1050 the Dnish attempted to do another invasion and the Viking Empire extendet through Denmark to
the north of Norway.
Harold, the last nglo saxon king, defeated the danes in the north of England but then had to fight with
William, duke of Normandy, who was claiming the throne. Harold was killed and the normans
counquered the anglo saxons.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
William dominated the dukedome of Normandy, in fact his rule was based on ownership of the land. In
1066 he gathered his barons because he wanted to claim the english crown. William's army was
composed of 8000 warriors and he had a calvary of of 3000 men supported by archers and infantry.
Harold's formed a shell with their shields that was impossible to penetrate.
The two armies fought on 14th october 1066. Hrold was killed by for knights and then, after the anglo
saxon escaped, the normans declaired victory.
William was crowned William 1 in london on christmas day 1066.
1066 was a very famous and important date in english history because it signed a period of deep
political, cultural and social transformation.
The English ruling class aes defeated by the Conquest bc many many anglo saxon noblemen died or
were exiled or dispossessed of their lands. Remained only two class of Englishmen with wealth and an
power: the townspeople and the churchman whose teaching and writings mantained english cultural
and religious traditions.
Was established the feudal system, in facts the new french barons obtained their land becoming king's
tenants and paying rent in military services to the king. They built castles to demonstrate and keep their
power. The security, food, peace and prosperity were guaranteed by the militaly services given by the
barons and knights and by the agricultural labour given by the peasants.
William the conqueror become the lord of the land and his authority became stronger.
The domsday book was a record which gathered detailed information about the new country whose the
king was in possession.
The english called the book Domesday because felt it was having their souls wight up on judgement day.
In the book there were listed sveral types of land and thir use, the number of productive people, their
status and animals. The normans replaced english with french but latin remained the main language in
the political sphere and also in ecclesiastical and intellectuals contexts.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF POETRY
The anglosaxon poetry was anonymous and oral. The poet, also known as 'scop', entrateined the
noblemen in the halls of kings, usually with the accompaniment of the harp. His importance was very
strong because he sang epics celebrating cultural values on great ceremonies and festivities. Anglosaxon
poetry was passed by word o mouth, untile it was written down by the church clercks in the 12th
century. The fundamental aspects of this poetry were stress and alliteration. Each line was diveded in
two halves by caesura and alliteration was used to connect them . Kenning was also very important, that
was a phrase used in place of a name or noun.
The gratest medieval poem was Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote The canterbury Tales.
THE EPIC POEM AND THE PAGAN ELEGY
The word epic comes from épos, that means oral exposition. The major poems in the Western traditions
were The Iliad and the Odyssey, and then The Aeneid and the anglosaxon Beowulf.
The epic poem is a narrative poetical compositions which contains the recollection of a glorious past of a
country and the deeds of heroes. There are many supernatural creaures, like monsters. The society
described is aristocratic and military. The narrative is made up by a series of scenes like banquet, the
battle, the voyage and the funeral. The principal theme is about the heroic gestures and life in the
society. All men should have heroic values and should perform their actions wich lead to glory.The
language is elevated and the vocabulary is rich and vivid.
BEOWULF
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem written in old English.
The poem, which was originally untitled, started to be called by th name of its Scandinavian hero.
Despite the real historical elements that can be encountered during the narrative, both the story and the
protagonist are fiction.
The poem was composed as an elegy for the king who died in the 7th century, although it was written
down during the 11th century, it developed several versions over the years.
The settings bring us back to a place and time when, it didn't really matter if you died, but hwo and
when.
The first action is ruled by King Hrothgar and take place in denmark, precisely in Heorot, where beowulf
defeat a monster that has been terrorising the king and his man for 12 years.
Later boewulf dives into a misty lake to fight againtst the monster's mother. During the final part, that
takes place in the land of the Greats in Sweden, Beowulf tries to defeat a dragos that is terrorising his
own land.
The poem is divided into three parts connected by the presence of the same hero. King Hrotgar has buikt
a great hall where all his warriors can gather, but a monster, Grendel, terrorise the danes every night for
12 years, until beowulf, who was a Scandinavian warrior at the court of geats, decides to sail to Denmark
with a group of men, willing to fight Grendel. Beowulf spends the night in the hall until Grendel makes
his nightly raids and then he kills him.
But Grendel's mother, who lives in a misty lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for his son. So Beowulf
travels to the murky lake, dives into the water and kill her. Then comes back to Scandinavia and take the
throne of King of the Geats. He rule for 50 years bringing prosperity to his country. When he gets old, he
has to fight against a fire-breathing dragon which is trying to smash the country after discovering the
theft of a treasure it has been guarding for a a long time. Beowulf finally kills the dragon with the aid of
his retainer Wigalf, but is mortally harmed. Beowulf's wariors burn his body on a huge funeral pyre and
then bury him into a barrow overlooking the sea.
The poem is focused on heroicity of the main character, who is obviusly endowed with supernatural
powers, in fact Beowulf is a hero in the eyes of his men due to his incredible physical strenght. He fights
and wins every battle; he is strong enough to rip off grendel's arm only with the power of his bare hands.
He also defeats Grendel's mother slashing her neck with a giant sword that can only be lifted by a very
strong person.
Another heroic trait is beowulf's ability to put his people's safety before his own. When he is old and
tired, he still defeats the dragon and even in death he wishes Geats' safety, a tall lightohuse is built in
order to help people find their way back from the sea indeed. His major heoric quality is that he's
absolutly not afraid to die.
Beowulf describes a warrior society where his relationship with the king, the leades an the thane is
based on lolyalty. They defend the instrest of their king in return for weapons, armour, gold, silver, food
and drink. The struggles the poem describes are the classic challenges of good against evil.
The poem contain the typical elements of the epic style. There is a frequen use of repetition to
emphasise that the words come from the protagonist and not the narrator. The language is elevated and
there are long lists as well as references to mythical and christian elements.
We can found lot of alliterations, parallelism and antitheses recur throughout the poem.
