1. Chapter One The Anglo-Saxon Period (450 —— 1066) 1. Historical background The Celts 〉the Brythons. The Iron Age. The ceremonies of May Day and the cult of mistletoe. From 55 BC to 407 AD, the Roman Empire, a slave society. London was founded. Little influence on the cultural life of the Celts, Town with names ending in “chester” or “caster”. De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar and Germania by Publius Cornelius Tacitus 450 AD, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. “angul” means a hook; “seax” means a short sw ord. Around 500 AD, the Celtic King Arthur fought against Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. Camelot, King Arthur’s capital. Later 8th, the Danes, or the Vikings. King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849-899) Harold, the last Saxon King 〉William the Duke of Normandy. 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to England and the first converted king was King Ethelbert of Kent. 2. Northumbrian School and Wessex literature——two highlights in the development of the Anglo-Saxon literature. Monasteries and abbeys in the kingdom of Northumbria. Caedmon in the 7th turned the stories in the Bible into verse form——Paraphrase. Inspired by God. The Venerable Bede (673-735), wrote in Latin The Ecclesiastical History of the English People from Caesar to 731. It was Bede who told about the story of Caedmon. The reign of King Alfred (871-899) First, Latin books into West Saxon dialect. It is said that King Alfred translated the history of Bede. Second, the launching of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, from Caesar’s conquest to 1154. Third, created a style of Anglo-Saxon prose which was not obscure. 3. Anglo-Saxon poetry The earliest is Widsith and the last is Maldon. Beowulf As...
