Moon s Day 8/24: Britain Before 1066 EQ: What was it like? Welcome! Gather paper, pen/cil, wits! Freewrite: Lost Cause Lecture/Presentation: Britain Before 1066 o Old, Middle, Modern o Stones and Stories o Tough Goths o Mythology o Ragnarök CLOZE: Britain Before 1066 (YOUR notes) ELACC12RI3: Analyze and explain how individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop ELACC12RL4-RI4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in text ELACC12W4: Produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to task, purpose, and audience ELACC12W9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis ELACC12W10: Write routinely over extended and shorter time frames ELACC12SL1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions ELACC12L6: Acquire and use general academic and domain-specific words and phrases
Freewrite (100 words): Lost Cause Suppose you were a warrior going to a battle, and you KNEW that your side would lose, and you KNEW that you would die. What would you do? Be honest about it. Of course, I will never know whether you are being honest about it.
Periods of English Language and Literature Old English (OE):???? 1066 o Sometimes called Anglo-Saxon Example: Beowulf Middle English (ME): 1066 1500s o Development from Hastings to Spenser, etc. Example: Chaucer Modern English: 1500s today o Doesn t mean just like now! Examples: Shakespeare up to now
Britain Before 1066 Stone Circles are found all over Britain and North Europe. We don t really know who built them (not aliens!), or why, but they are generally supposed to be religious/astrological sites. Stonehenge (c. 1000 BC) Rollright (FAR older)
A History of Invasions Prehistory: Celts, Picts, Druids 55 BCE: Romans o King Arthur was probably a Celtic chief vs. Romans 450 CE: Gothic tribes from Northern Europe (Germany) o Angles: East Anglia o Saxons: Essex, Wessex, Sussex o Jute/Geats (Beowulf): London area 1066: Normans (North France) Each wave of invaders pushed inhabitants farther North and West. Each wave considered predecessors inferior, so vilified Northwest. Even today, Londoners consider Northwestern folk outlandish.
Why did the Anglo-Saxons do so well? Well, whom would you bet on? Druid (modern reenactor) Pictish Warrior (artist s conception) Celtic Warrior (artist s conception) Anglo-Saxon (action figure)
Anglo-Saxon Language and Literature Saxon words tend to be short (1-2 syllables) with simple sounds, giving us our most basic English words: love, hate, life, death, skin, bone, food, drink, good, bad, big, small, etc. Saxon words are the oldest and most essential in English. Saxon poetry has short words, so does not rhyme! o Alliteration repeating beginning consonant sounds o Heavy beats, usually 4 per line; 3 of these alliterate I war with the wind, with the waves I wrestle; I must battle with both when the bottom I seek. I am strong in the strife, while still I remain; As soon as I stir, they are stronger than I. They wrench and they wrest, till I run from my foes; What was caught in my keeping is carried away. If my back be not broken, I baffle them still. Hard rocks are my helpers, when hard I am pressed; Grimly I grip them. Guess what I m called.
Saxons did not write! They composed oral poetry. o Folk literature : ORAL Literature passed from generation to generation not written down! o A favorite poem was customized by a s op, shaper, who sang to warriors in the mead hall sort of a combination bar/frat house/government building. Still not written down! o Finally written down by Christian missionaries changed Pagan poems to suit Christianity (wyrd, gods to God) MEAD HALL STUFF Anglo-Saxon/Norse Mythology Days in English have Norse names Sunday the Sun (Old English word) Monday the Moon (Old English word) Tuesday Tyr, the Norse God of War Wednesday Woden, King of Gods Thursday Thor, Hammer of the Gods Friday Frigga, Norse Sex Goddess Saturday Saturn, Roman God of Harvest Days in Spanish have Roman/Latin names Domingo Domini (the Lord) Lunes Luna (Spanish/Latin for moon ) Martes Mars, the Roman God of War) Miercoles Mercury, Messenger of Gods Jueves Jove, King of the Roman Gods Viernes Venus, Roman Sex Goddess Sabado again for Saturn Loki Trickster God doesn t get a day of the week!
Norse Mythology is very unusual especially its eschatology. Most religions teach that God(s) are eternal superbeings who create and control Nature and Fate, and live forever. Heroes or saints join God or the Gods in Paradise, and they too live forever. As for the Norse, remember yesterday s tale of Woden and the Troll King: They neither control nor create Fate or the Natural world, but are themselves subjects and their dom awaits. Norse Myth says that Gods created Order in heofan und miðgarðr ( sky and middle-earth ) after battling Dragons of Sea and Sky and Giants of Ice and Fire, natural forces of Chaos which are older and more powerful than the Gods. Norse Gods are subject to all aspects of mortality lusts, stupidity, wounds, age and finally to Fate (Wyrd). So they are flawed, and they fight, and can die and will die. So even the Gods dom is set. How can humans hope?
Heroes who die brave deaths go Valhalla, the Brave Hall in the Gods city of Asgard, in Heofan. Here they feast with the Gods until Ragnarök, at which time Loki will trick the Gods and Heroes into battle with the Dragons and Giants of Nature. Gods, Heroes, and all heofan und miðgarðr will be destroyed, leaving only fire and ice, sea and sky. So in Gothic, Anglo-Saxon battle culture, victory is never the point; mod ( brave mood, courage) is. Courage is valued for its own sake, because victory is never finally possible, even for heroes and gods. The best a warrior hopes for is a life of lof which brings him glory in life, a good reputation after death, and time in Valhalla before the collapse of everything.
CLOZE/Quiz: Britain Before 1066 You may use YOUR notes, and ONLY YOUR notes. 1. What year marks the end of the Old English period? 2. Name ONE famous prehistoric Stone Circle in Britain: 3. Anglo-Saxons and Jutes were tribes from what is now. 4. What famous poem will we read about a hero of the Jutes/Geats? 5. What best part of Britain did the Jutes/Geats claim?
6. What was the Anglo-Saxon warrior s weapon of choice? 7. Our English names for days of the week come from gods. 8. What is a mead hall? 9. List two modern English words derived from Anglo-Saxon: 10. Define alliteration: 11. What did a s op do? 12. What sort of person finally wrote down (and changed) Saxon poems? 13. Define wyrd: 14. Define eschatology: 15. What is Valhalla, and who got to go there? 16. What happens at Ragnarök?
Omit on CLOZE: 8, 11, 12 Turn In Today: Opening Freewrite: Lost Cause CLOZE: Britain Before 1066 Pick Up Today: Last week s work put in binder!