The Anglo-Saxons

When the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D., a new group of people came in ships across the North Sea.

These people were the Anglo-Saxons, and they were a mixture of people from north Germany, Denmark and northern Holland.

Farmers, sailors, iron smiths, woodworkers

Lived in villages

Houses built from wood

Clothes made from woolen cloth or animal skins

Men: tunics with tight trousers or leggingsWomen: long dresses

Gatherings and feasts took place in great halls

Loved tales about brave warriors

Music often played to accompany stories and poems (harp or lyre)

Enjoyed riddles for entertainment

Anglo-Saxons at War

Armies usually small, with only a few hundred men

Soldiers had spears, axes, swords and bows and arrows

Helmets and wooden shields

Fought on foot during a battle

Religion

Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain as Pagans, but gradually converted to Christianity.

Paganism: represents a wide variety of traditions that emphasize reverence for nature and a revival of ancient polytheistic and animistic religious practices.

Polytheism: the belief in or worship of more than one god.

Animism: the belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena

Kennings

Literary devices in which a poetic phrase substitutes for a noun

Provides powerful imagery that helps the audience focus on the words of the scop, or poet telling the story

Alacrity (noun)

speed or quickness; eagerness

Antithesis (noun)

the direct or exact opposite

Arbitrate (verb)

to judge or decide in the matter so as to reconcile

differences

Baleful (adj.)

portending evil; ominous

Cache (noun)

a hiding place used especially for storing

provisions

Caroused (verb)

to engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking

Contrived (adj.)

obviously planned or calculated; not

spontaneous or natural

Deluge (noun)

something that overwhelms as if by a

great flood

Ethos (noun)

the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era

Extol (verb)

to praise highly or exalt

Exultant (adj.)

marked by great joy or jubilation; triumphant

Fissure (noun)

a long narrow opening; a crack or cleft

Glutton (noun)

a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to

excess

Inexorable (adj.)

not capable of being persuaded by entreaty;

relentless

Keel (noun)

the principle structural member of a ship, running

lengthwise down the center from bow to stern

Pinioned (verb)

to restrain or immobilize by binding the arms

Quell (verb)

to put down forcible; suppress

Reticence (noun)

the state or quality of being reluctant;

unwillingness

Solace (noun)

comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or distress;

consolation

Stalwart (adj.)

having or marked by imposing physical

strength

Unavailing (adj.)

ineffectual or useless; futile

Vernacular (noun)

the standard native language of a country or

locality