Week 1: Anglo-Saxon England: The Beginnings
Beda Venerabilis (c. 673-735)
In Western Christendom, he was famous by the time of his death
He was an Anglo-Saxon from a noble family.
He was an oblede - it was not uncommon in a noble family to give one child to a
monastery. (lat. oblatus past participle of obfero): In this situation, you left your family
to spend the rest of your life in the monastery.
He was a monk at Jarrow-Monkwearmouth (north of England): This was an England as
a geographical region, not a nation state yet, which came much later. In this part of
England, there was a flowering culture of monasteries and monasticism, in which
books were written, copied or, even more importantly, imported from the continent.
Thus, he had wide access to books.
With these books, he became a leading European intellectual (Doctor of the Church).
He was also known outside the borders of England.
He wrote in Latin, which was the language of intellectuals (the further we go back, the
less there is a situation of only English).
Furthermore, he wrote bible commentaries (as he was a monk); saints’ lives
(martyrology: they were an important strand of literature during the Medieval
times);Grammar books (he was interested in teaching and how to teach his pupils
good Latin); wrote on Science (computus: Easter reckoning: he was one of the leading
intellectuals who could calculate this); wrote histories.
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (completed 731)
Gens Anglorum (People of the Angels)
Anglo-Saxons were Germanic speaking tribes
Germanic tribes from Northern Germany and Southern Denmark (North Sea Coast)
they spoke a Germanic dialect
Bede refers to them as:
Jutes: north of Angles (Kent + Isle of Wight)
Saxons: from Holstein, probably as far as Weser (Essex, Sussex and Wessex)
Angles: in southern part of Denmark (East Angles, Middle Angles, Mercians and
Northumbrians)
The between 400 and 600 A.D, groups of people from northern part of Germany and
Southern of Denmark settled in England, which are generally called the Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxon’s had a runic alfabet. Runes are especially known to be carved in
stone (Dutch raiten; English: write; Latin: scribere)
From 600 onwards, we have a conversion to Christianity:
St. Augustine landed in Kent in 597 (conversion from Rome)
Aiden became bishop of Lindisfarne in 635 (conversion from Ireland)
, The Church in 600 a.d. brought:
Christianity
Literacy (the Roman alphabet; schools; monasteries; writing and copying)
Diglossia: both Latin and Old English used in the written domain
Caedmon and the hymn
A miracle story set in Whitby (Streonashealh), at the time of Abbess Hild (d.
680)
A story from way back then
Name Caedmon Brittonic (celtic name) *Catu-mand-os ‘war horse’
“Bede sets him forth in glory as the poet who, in the abbacy of St Hild, during
which the conversion of the English was fulfilled, was, by divine grace, the first
to mediate Latin Christianity in English Verse, in sonf og praise of God and in
holy narrative” (E.G Stanley)
He was invited to a party and was asked to sing a song in English. His
incapability leaves him to flee, where he sleeps and dreams of an angel who
asks him to sing a song. The angel convinces him to sing, where he talks of
god’s kingdom which should be praised, the work of the glory father, God, who
established the beginning of each of the wonders: first created for men’s sons
heaven as a roof; then the eternal lord, mankind’s guardian, made middle earth,
for the men of the earth (he is recalling the passage in the Genesis).
His ability to compose is regarded as a gift of God, as he never learned to do so.
Features:
The stress with the alliteration guide the poem and weaves the lines together
The nouns are often the stressed and are alliterated
For the others, like me, there is only the flash
Of negative knowledge, the night when, drunk, one
Staggers to the bathroom and stares in the glass
Beda Venerabilis (c. 673-735)
In Western Christendom, he was famous by the time of his death
He was an Anglo-Saxon from a noble family.
He was an oblede - it was not uncommon in a noble family to give one child to a
monastery. (lat. oblatus past participle of obfero): In this situation, you left your family
to spend the rest of your life in the monastery.
He was a monk at Jarrow-Monkwearmouth (north of England): This was an England as
a geographical region, not a nation state yet, which came much later. In this part of
England, there was a flowering culture of monasteries and monasticism, in which
books were written, copied or, even more importantly, imported from the continent.
Thus, he had wide access to books.
With these books, he became a leading European intellectual (Doctor of the Church).
He was also known outside the borders of England.
He wrote in Latin, which was the language of intellectuals (the further we go back, the
less there is a situation of only English).
Furthermore, he wrote bible commentaries (as he was a monk); saints’ lives
(martyrology: they were an important strand of literature during the Medieval
times);Grammar books (he was interested in teaching and how to teach his pupils
good Latin); wrote on Science (computus: Easter reckoning: he was one of the leading
intellectuals who could calculate this); wrote histories.
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (completed 731)
Gens Anglorum (People of the Angels)
Anglo-Saxons were Germanic speaking tribes
Germanic tribes from Northern Germany and Southern Denmark (North Sea Coast)
they spoke a Germanic dialect
Bede refers to them as:
Jutes: north of Angles (Kent + Isle of Wight)
Saxons: from Holstein, probably as far as Weser (Essex, Sussex and Wessex)
Angles: in southern part of Denmark (East Angles, Middle Angles, Mercians and
Northumbrians)
The between 400 and 600 A.D, groups of people from northern part of Germany and
Southern of Denmark settled in England, which are generally called the Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxon’s had a runic alfabet. Runes are especially known to be carved in
stone (Dutch raiten; English: write; Latin: scribere)
From 600 onwards, we have a conversion to Christianity:
St. Augustine landed in Kent in 597 (conversion from Rome)
Aiden became bishop of Lindisfarne in 635 (conversion from Ireland)
, The Church in 600 a.d. brought:
Christianity
Literacy (the Roman alphabet; schools; monasteries; writing and copying)
Diglossia: both Latin and Old English used in the written domain
Caedmon and the hymn
A miracle story set in Whitby (Streonashealh), at the time of Abbess Hild (d.
680)
A story from way back then
Name Caedmon Brittonic (celtic name) *Catu-mand-os ‘war horse’
“Bede sets him forth in glory as the poet who, in the abbacy of St Hild, during
which the conversion of the English was fulfilled, was, by divine grace, the first
to mediate Latin Christianity in English Verse, in sonf og praise of God and in
holy narrative” (E.G Stanley)
He was invited to a party and was asked to sing a song in English. His
incapability leaves him to flee, where he sleeps and dreams of an angel who
asks him to sing a song. The angel convinces him to sing, where he talks of
god’s kingdom which should be praised, the work of the glory father, God, who
established the beginning of each of the wonders: first created for men’s sons
heaven as a roof; then the eternal lord, mankind’s guardian, made middle earth,
for the men of the earth (he is recalling the passage in the Genesis).
His ability to compose is regarded as a gift of God, as he never learned to do so.
Features:
The stress with the alliteration guide the poem and weaves the lines together
The nouns are often the stressed and are alliterated
For the others, like me, there is only the flash
Of negative knowledge, the night when, drunk, one
Staggers to the bathroom and stares in the glass
