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Beowulf

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Druids-Celtic priests; performed rituals and sacrifices to appease the gods. ... Anglo-Saxon literature, and their early translations were wildly inaccurate. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Beowulf


1
Beowulf
2
Great Britain
  • The Emergent Period 450-1100 A.D.
  • Great Britain has been settled and invaded many
    times by

3
Great Britain
  • Celts (Irish, Welsh, Scottish)
  • Romans
  • Angles (English)
  • Saxons (Northern Germany)
  • Norse (Norway)
  • Danes (Denmark)

4
The Celts and their Religion
  • Animism-the Latin Word for spirit
  • The religion of the Celts
  • The Celts saw spirits everywhererivers, trees,
    stones, fire, thunder, etc.
  • Similar to pagan religions or mythology.
  • Spirits or gods controlled everything.

5
The Celts and their Religion
  • Druids-Celtic priests performed rituals and
    sacrifices to appease the gods.
  • The Mother Goddess (Great Mother)-a very
    important spirit fertility and nature figure
  • Great Father-associated with tribe, culture,
    warriors and craftsmen

6
The Celts and their Religion
  • Marriage of the Great Mother and Great Father
    produces a world of perfect harmony.

7
The Romans Great Administrators
  • Rome conquered Great Britain in the First Century
    A.D.
  • The campaign was led by Julius Caesar and the
    Emperor Claudius

8
The Romans Great Administrators
  • Christianity took hold under the leadership of
    missionaries from Europe and the old Celtic
    religion began to vanish.
  • The Romans left Britain in 410 A.D. with many
    buildings but no government.

9
The Anglo-Saxons
  • After the withdrawal of the Romans, the people of
    the region broke into separate clans who were
    free to pursue their own interests.
  • The individual clans were weak and thus
    vulnerable to invasion by the Germanic tribes.

10
The Anglo-Saxons
  • Germanic tribes called the Angles, Saxons and
    Jutes claimed many areas and established
    competing kingdoms.
  • The new language that evolved as these three
    Germanic tribes blended with the native people is
    called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English.

11
The Anglo-Saxons
  • Christianity reemerges in 597 A.D. when St.
    Augustine converted the King (King Ethelbert of
    Kent)
  • St. Augustine founded the Cathedral at
    Canterbury, was the First Archbishop of
    Canterbury and the leader of the church in
    England.

12
The Anglo-Saxons
  • The Anglo-Saxons were not barbarians, although
    they are often depicted that way.
  • There was frequent war fare between tribes,
    clans, and established settlers vs. new invaders.

13
The Anglo-Saxons
  • The group leader was responsible for law and
    order
  • Fame, success and survival were achieved through
    loyalty to the leader.
  • Success was measured in gifts from the leader.
    (example-Beowulf is rewarded with riches for
    saving Hrothgars kingdom.)

14
The Anglo-Saxons
  • Loyal Dependency
  • Necessary for protection from vast wilderness
    invaders.
  • Sense of loyalty to the community
  • A cluster of buildings surrounded by a stockade
    fence.

15
The Anglo-Saxons
  • Anglo-Saxon Religion
  • Similar to Norse Mythology
  • Odin-very important Norse god Overcame death to
    learn the great mysteries contained in the runes
    (religious inscriptions the god of death, poetry
    and magic helped humans communicate with
    spirits.

16
The Anglo-Saxons
  • Anglo-Saxon Religion
  • Dragons important figures in Anglo-Saxon
    mythology protectors of treasure
  • Overall the Anglo-Saxon religion is based on
    virtue, bravery, loyalty, generosity and
    friendship

17
Beowulf
  • No known author can be traced.
  • Probably written in the eighth century, but
    depicts events from the fifth and sixth
    centuries.
  • It is the oldest piece of literature in all of
    Europe.

18
Beowulf
  • Its author is the Homer of Early Germanic
    culture.
  • Archaeologists have determined that the
    Anglo-Saxon societies were very much like the
    societies described in Beowulf and that many
    people would have recognized and celebrated a
    Scandinavian ancestry.

19
Beowulf
  • For much of history the poem was lost.
  • By the time of Chaucer it is unlikely that many
    could have read it.
  • By Shakespeares day only the most learned
    antiquaries could read even the simplest Old
    English, and Beowulf was most likely beyond their
    understanding.

20
Beowulf
  • It is only in the late eighteenth and early
    nineteenth centuries that scholars began to study
    Anglo-Saxon literature, and their early
    translations were wildly inaccurate.
  • It was not until after the WWI that Beowulf began
    to be widely read and studied.

21
Beowulf
  • The Geats Beowulfs clan a seafaring tribe
    residing in the south of Sweden. They appear to
    have been conquered and disappeared into history.
    Beowulf was born in 495, saves Hrothgars
    kingdom in 515 and becomes king of the Geats in
    533.

22
Beowulf
  • The Danes were Hrothgars people and residents of
    Denmark.
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