BRLI LECTURE 1 Anglo-Saxon Literature (600 1066 AD) A-S settlement

5th 6th century massive migration of pagan tribes over Europe Romans withdraw to protect Rome The Roman Empire had its own central internal problems After 450 AD arrival of Germanic tribes from N. Germany and Denmark = 1st Engl. Culture to produce literary texts ( corner stones of British literary history) the Angles, Jutes and Saxons Life in small communities No central authority Heptarchy (7 kingdoms Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Kent, East Anglia) o Angles inhabited Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia o Saxons inhabited Essex, Wessex, Sussex o Jutes inhabited Kent

The Germanic tribes were primitive people incapable of establishing of central state AS = barbaric, military and agricult. people (no artist, no diplomats) Rejection of Roman achievements o The Romans in Britain built stone buildings and housings, roads, spas, theatres, system of hygiene (toilets)
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AS No multitribal government, wooden houses

Life in a village, farming life Simple houses of the peasants were in circle around the hall for tribal chief who was the major figure in each community Values: o Loyalty to the leader o Revenge

o Belief in fate (Wyrd) your life is not in your hands but in hands of some power, your life is prewritten and you are only a poppet o Materialism (in the sense of gold and treasures of other tribes) AS religion They had very complex sense of divinities Pagans natural religion (the nature around you is full of Gods) o Natural Gods of wind, birth, trees, etc.
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The AS came to a fertile country but it was not a paradise (inhospitable environment) important for the AS texts (sad, mournful) the man is controlled by the sources of outside Fatalism belief in fate and doom World = dark, sad, isolated place Most AS text has the character which is unhappy, sad and lonely Runes (an alphabetical system of writing): mystical/sacred power (not for secular use) The AS were people who did not produce written texts, the oldest texts come from about 700 but they had oral literature (it is usual in primitive cultures)

AS and Christianity Romanised Celts = Christians X AS pagans The Christian monks who came to England started written fiction When they left England the Christianity almost disappear and the AS did not want to adopt it until:
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597 AD Pope Gregory the Great sends Augustine to Kent King of Kent baptised Canterbury = seat of English Bishop

o Kent is today the central of English religion -

700 AD most people Christianised (fate X salvation) The Pagans believing in Gods, Evil spirits and fate opened themselves to Christianity because it offered hope, salvation and light into darkness which was something that the Pagans did not include in their belief your life is in your hands

AS literature Early AS = runes, but no written literature

Folklore (secular literature) disseminated by bards and scopes (AS speakers who travelled from village to village, people were listening to their stories) Written by Christian monks in monasteries (stone buildings where the monks lived and where the first English writing took place) Today = cca 30 000 lines in 4 manuscripts o MANUSCRIPTS (named after the place where they were found or the name after the owner of the library where it was held) Junius Vitellius Vercelli Exeter

600 900 AD most areas of English culture (including literature) contains mixed elements of paganism and Christianity Most literature from this period shows a mixture of Christian and Pagan motives because the Pagan stories were written by the Christian monks who added the motives to the Christian ethos Franks Casket (7th c.) motives from pagan and Christian Mythology

AS secular poetry Non-scientific view of the world Charms, proverbs and riddles o Charms begging for good harvest etc.
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AS had a great sense for everyday life proverbs and riddles (the most simple and primitive example of the AS culture)

o Heroic epics Deeds and actions of some exceptional hero The only complete heroic epic is Beowulf Beowulf

o Battle poetry They show the importance of military activity

Battle at Brunanburth (c. 937 AD) Battle of Maldon (c. 1000 AD)

o Elegies A text which is full of sadness, crying and moaning and the importance of individual life in community Wifes Lament story about a wife whose tribe expelled her to live in a forest Husbands Message The Seafarer The Wanderer

+ mainly religious literature (poets Caedmon, Cynewulf the very first names in British literature)

Bede Venerabilis o A monk, priest, historian in Jarrow (in Northern England where was a prominent monastery in Northumbria) o He wrote one absolutely essential book Historia Eclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (731 AD) o It is a book written in Latin o The very first and extensive history of the English people from the beginnings until 730
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It became a source of essential information for future historians the historians served for future writers Northumbria was of a top importance for England at that time it was there where the mot writing and knowledge come from BUT by about 800 AD Northumbira was seriously attacked by Vikings by this time Northumbria was highly developed but it was destroyed by this barbars

o The Vikings established Danelaw o Northumbria lost its cultural importance so that during 800 AD it was no longer Northumbria but another kingdom (kingdom of Wessex king Alfred the Great) o He was a skilful diplomat and fighter and it was him who made a deal with the Vikings to stop their expansion

o He organised building of very effective systems o He initiated the cultural and educational arrival

He promoted English as the national language He opened schools He translated religious philosophical texts from Latin to English Pastoral Curer in the Preface he writes in a sad voice about the decay and disappearance literacy and education in England He was interested in national history and promoted Englishness by taking Historia Eclesiastica as another source for Anglo-Saxon Chronicle This book covers the whole history of England from the Roman times till the times of Alfred The shocking thing about this book is that it was continued to be updated for 300 years When he died, England came into darken Around 1000 there was a Benedictine reform which tried to initiated the cultural revival