Anglo-Saxon+Britain

__**History **__  It seemed as if the Anglo-Saxon period was full of wars with overwhelming conflict. This period was seen as containing a barbarous way of living. Despite these assumed conditions, the Anglo-Saxon culture was impressively advanced for that time. These accomplishments included new findings and improvements in their cultural developments, civilization, bureaucracy, religion, art, and literature.
 * Anglo-Saxon Britain **  **(410 A.D. - 1066 A.D.) **

The Anglo-Saxons were not always considered one union of people. In fact, the Angles were a tribe that inhabited territories in Germany, such as the region people may know now as Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The Angles bonded with groups of similar ethnicity and cultural influences, and became known as the English. The Saxons, on the other hand, were said to have been German also. The origin of the Saxons was never actually clarified. It has been mentioned that the Saxons may have occupied the south Jutland Peninsula, which happens to be north of what is now Germany.

The Saxons devoted their time to lead incursions on populated areas along the North Sea. These areas were raided for the duration of two centuries. The Angles and the Saxons would soon come face to face towards the end of the sixth century. The Saxons sought after Roman territories within north-west Germany. The Angles would then join forces with the Saxons in the fifth century to invade Britain. The battle ensued for nearly a century before the Anglo-Saxons were declared victorious at the final battle of Mount Badon. The victory did very little to prevent the internal conflict between the Angles and the Saxons over their religions.

Up until 596 A.D. nearly everyone was firm believers in their favored religion, Paganism. The Romans brought Britain the ways of Christianity in 597 A.D. Pope Gregory sent over the missionary, known as St. Augustine to convert the Saxons. Augustine was very successful due to the fact that almost all of England had been converted to Christianity. People would state that they were Christians while holding on to their Pagan ways of life.

England was still in the process of developing their own written language through these years so this may have hindered some of the written works from this period. People told stories orally as they did for generations. Heroic poetry and Christian poetry were the two types of poetry expressed at the time. The epic poem //Beowulf// was told orally for year before finally being written down during the Anglo-Saxon era. The Anglo-Saxons thrived and prospered without worries until 787 A.D. This was the year that the Vikings attacked the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons fought back with tenacity and gained them a few victories. They may have had won the battle, but the war was far from over, for the Vikings renewed their forces in late tenth and early eleventh century. The Vikings attacked once again. The Anglo-Saxons, under rule of King Harold Goodwinson, fell to the Vikings at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. The remaining citizens jolted in fear to the forests, which brought along a new era. The Kingdom of the English had crumbled.

= __Language __ =

Old English was another word for Anglo-Saxon. Old English was spoken between the fifth to eleventh centuries. This language was spoken under Alfred the Great. Anglo-Saxon continued to be often used until after the Norman Conquest of 1066.The Anglo-Saxons language came from Germania. The spoken language of the inhabitants of Germania was a part of the Indo-European family. The Germanic branch was divided into three groups, North, East and West. North Germanic consisted of different Scandinavian languages. East Germanic consisted of extinct languages from the fourth century. West Germanic includes the largest branch in Germanic Language. West Germanic Language is the most common language because it was the mostly common spoken branch. This branch consist s of High German, Old English and Dutch. Old English is more than difference in word spelling. It has something to do with the root vowels.

As you know our vowels are A, E, I, O, U. Old English vowels are written as [a], [æ], [ɛ], [I], [ɔ], [u], [ə] and [y]. Usually each word consists of one or more vowels. For example the word “Domjan” is translated in Old English. It consists of two vowels. //Domjan// meant “To Judge” in Old English. Old English was usually written under the version of the runic alphabet. Runic was usually found on jewelry, weapons and other small objects they used. Click here to listen to Old English: @http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Prologue.html

** __Literature __ **
According to the section labeled “Language” above, much of the literature that is recognized during the Anglo-Saxon period is written in Old English (see more in Language). The written literature that has survived through years of turbulence can be found in a variety of sources such as Literature textbooks, internet articles and so forth. Many of the poems and books that we see today have been translated from its original version which was written in Old English. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The literature for the Anglo-Saxon period is comprised into two sections: the heroic and the Christian. The __Widsith__, one of the earliest Old English poems, is very common today. An example of the heroic section of Anglo-Saxon literature can be found in the well-known epic, a lengthy narrative poem, Beowulf. The story of Beowulf is described as being a hero’s struggle to uphold the virtues and morals of loyalty and honor in a ruthless world. In addition to Beowulf, there are also other epics or poems that are well known pieces in the Anglo-Saxon literature. Some well-known poems, just to name a few: //The Battle of Maldon, The Wanderer// and //The Seafarer//. One of the earliest works of this time period is Caedmon Hymn from the 7th century.

<span style="color: #19c8c8; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Although this period is common for their involvement in poems and epics, the Anglo-Saxons have also translated biblical readings, written theories of medicine and so forth. The authors and writers of these poems are not listed in many resources. A lot of articles state that the writers were just Christian poets. Literature during this time was more written than oral. As we read the works from the Anglo-Saxon period, the beginning of the transformation of the English language is quite evident. There are about 400 surviving pieces from the Anglo-Saxon period.