The Royal Portfolio

British Lit Time Period Information

Instructions:
1. Research for the answers to the following prompts and questions.
2. Type your information and copy the link to the website that contained the information allow the boxes to expand as you type or insert information.
3. You should read various websites to find comprehensive information, but you need to document two independent, reliable and credible sources that you will use
to present your information on your Royal Portfolio site.
4. When the chart is completed, you will present your information in paragraph form as if you are telling someone the story of England (see instructions below).
5. You should not simply string along facts and dates, but create a logical, coherent, sophisticated piece of writing that incorporates senior-level vocabulary and
sentence structure. Review the rubric for standards and criteria for grading.

Literary/Historical Time Period: Anglo-Saxon

Prompt

Source #1 and Information

Source #2 and Information

1. What are the years

of the time period?
Keep in mind that
there is really no
exact year, as
many historians
have varying ideas
of when a period
may begin or
finish.

Source:
http://www.history.org.uk/resources/resource_3865.html

3. Who are the major

ethnic or cultural
groups within the
time period?
a. Where did they
come from
b. What
traditions did
they bring with
them?
c. What is their
religious
focus? (could
be more than
one)

Source: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Anglo-Saxon

Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Anglo-Saxons.aspx

Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of

the Germanic peoples who, from the 5th century ce to the time
of the Norman Conquest (1066), inhabited and ruled territories
that are today part of England and Wales.
According to St. Bede the Venerable, the Anglo-Saxons were the
descendants of three different Germanic peoplesthe Angles,
Saxons, and Jutes. By Bedes account, those peoples originally
migrated from northern Germany to the island of Britain in the
5th century at the invitation of Vortigern, a ruler of Britons, to
help defend his kingdom against marauding invasions by the
Picts and Scotti, who occupied what is now Scotland.

From obscure beginnings the Anglo-Saxons formed a number of

kingdoms. The 7th-cent. trend was a shift in the balance of power from
south and east (Kent and East Anglia) to north and west (Northumbria,
Mercia, Wessex), and the take-over of smaller kingdoms by larger
ones, the so-called Heptarchy. The 8th cent. was a period of Mercian
dominance and Northumbrian independence, the 9th of the rise of
Wessex, and of the threat of the Vikings, who established their own
kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria. In the 10th cent. Wessex
united England.

5. Who is the most

powerful single

Source: http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/anglosaxon.html

Source: http://www.britainexpress.com/History/anglo-saxon_lifekinship_and_lordship.htm

This period is traditionally known as the Dark Ages, mainly

because written sources for the early years of Saxon invasion are
scarce. It is 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.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/saxons.shtml
The Anglo-Saxon period lasted for 600 years, from 410 to 1066,
and in that time Britain's political landscape underwent many
changes.

person who
influences the time
period?
a. What actions
did he do to
impact the
time period?
b. What
contribution
did he make to
the
development
of Great
Britain

7. What influence did

the history or
cultural events
have on the
literature of the
time? Describe in
at least three
statements.

9. What are the

traits/conventions
of the poetry of the
period? (i.e.
extended
metaphors,
imagery, etc.)
a. What are the
messages
and/or themes

The Anglo-Saxon social structure consisted of tribal units led by

chieftains ("kings," or "lords") who, theoretically at least, earned
their respect from their warriors (or "retainers," or "thanes," the
group being called a "comitatus"). Kings should display the
heroic ideal and be known for an extraordinary and courageous
feat or for success in war, all preceded by some boasting. The
king must be a generous "ring-giver" too -- that is, he must dish
out the spoils of war to his thanes rather than hoard the treasures
won in tribal warfare (a practice that has survived in diluted
form, says Tom Garbaty, with the Queen giving medals to the
Beatles and such)

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/saxons.shtml
At this time, the Jutes and the Frisians from Denmark were also
settling in the British Isles, but the Anglo-Saxon settlers were
effectively their own masters in a new land and they did little to
keep the legacy of the Romans alive. They replaced the Roman
stone buildings with their own wooden ones, and spoke their
own language, which gave rise to the English spoken today.

Source: http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/anglosaxon.html
Most Anglo-Saxon poetry emerges from an oral tradition and
was meant for mead-hall entertainment. Scops (the poets) and
Gleemen (harpists) sung or recited and were the only historians
of the time. The poetic structure was based on accent and
alliteration (not rhyme and meter), and made use of stock
formulae.

The strongest ties in Anglo-Saxon society were to kin and lord. The
ties of loyalty were to the person of a lord, not to his station. There
was no real concept of patriotism or loyalty to a cause. This explains
why dynasties waxed and waned so quickly. A kingdom was only as
strong as its war-leader king. There was no underlying administration
or bureaucracy to maintain any gains beyond the lifetime of a leader.
The king's powers
Kings could not, except in exceptional circumstances, make new laws.
Their role instead was to uphold and clarify previous custom. The first
act of a conquering king was often to assure his subjects that he would
uphold their ancient privileges, laws, and customs.

Source: https://www.uta.edu/english/tim/courses/4301f98/oct12.html
As Old English began to evolve, four major dialects emerged which
were Kentish, spoken by the Jutes, West Saxon, the Saxon dialect, and
Northumbrian and Mercian, subdivisions of the dialect spoken by the
Angles. By the 9th century, partly through the influence of King
Alfred, the West Saxon dialect became prevalent in literature which
aided the dialect's dominance among scholars.
Soon after the Germanic invasions, the inhabitants gave their
settlements new names. The most common Saxon place names are
those ending in -ton (fenced area), -wick (dwelling), -ham (home),
-worth(homestead), -den(pasture), -hurst(wooded hill), and
-burn(stream). Some settlement names began with more than one word
which either stated personal possession or described a physical
description of the area and would later evolve into one word. One
example of this evolution would be the word Chatham which was
originally Ceatta's Ham (Ceatta's home).
Source: https://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/123%2051%20Anglo%20Saxons
%20II.htm
It was the Anglo-Saxons who called the Britons wealhas (which meant
foreigners, and later slaves) - this became corrupted to Welsh. The
earliest Welsh poetry expresses the same tribal values and warrior
ethics as that of the very same Anglo-Saxons whom the Britons had so
long resisted. Although the British in Wales retained their
independence for many more centuries, virtually all Roman culture
had disappeared.

of the poetic
writing?
b. Name the titles
11. What are the
traits/conventions
of the prose
writing of the
period? (i.e.
extended
metaphors,
imagery, etc.)
a. What are the
messages
and/or themes
of the prose
writing?
b. Name the titles
and authors of
three pieces of
prose.

Source:

Source:

Combine the information into a logical, coherent paragraph that tells the story of the historical and literary time period.
o Remember that a solid, comprehensive, senior-level paragraph is at least 8-10 sentences.
o Remember that it has a topic sentence and a concluding sentence.
o Remember that you may include information that you recall from research but may not necessarily be part of the graphic organizer above.
You should create a piece of writing that show how seniors take task, purpose, and audience into careful consideration, choosing words,
information, structures, and formats deliberately during the writing process. Merely copying and pasting information will not meet the Common
Core literacy standards.

Kennon McClendon
27 January, 2016
Honors British Literature
Ms. Doar

The Anglo-Saxons were a very diverse and rich culture. The time period of the Anglo-Saxons lasted for about six hundred years and was called
the Dark Ages, it was also a time of war. They had tribal units that were led by people called chieftains. These chieftains were leaders and lords who had
earned their respect from fighting alongside their warriors in battle. Anglo-Saxon was used to describe the Germanic people from this time. They were
descended from three different Germanic tribes: The Angles, The Saxons, and The Jutes. The Kings of these tribes were ring givers meaning that they
were supposed to share their spoils of war. A lot of the warriors were more loyal to the actual person rather than their status or position. The AngloSaxons wanted a strong and courageous leader and respected someone based on their character which is dynasties and legacies waned so quickly.
There were also major dialects that emerged. The Jutes spoke Kentish, The Saxons had a certain dialect called West Saxon, and the Angles spoke
Northumbrian and Mercian. Most of Anglo-Saxon poetry emerged from oral tradition which means it was passed down through stories from generation
to generation. These poets were used as entertainment during times of pleasure. Scops and Gleeman usually would sing or recite these poems in mead
halls. Their poetic structure was based on something called ancient alliteration rather than rhyme.