ANGLO-SAXONS

1
ANGLO-SAXONS

• Roman civilization can to an end in Britain with
  the invasions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
• Known together as the the Anglo-Saxons
• Between 450 and 650 AD, they sailed up rivers,
  cleared forests, settled on land, built villages
  and made native Celts their slaves
• Independent Celtic kingdoms survived in the west
• Ireland, Wales, and western Scotland
• But roots of English civilization lay in the
  laws, customs, language, and institutions of
  Anglo-Saxons

2
TAKEOVER

• Anglo-Saxons took over Britain over an extended
  period of time
• Small bands grabbing up pieces of the island
• By 450 AD, Romans had completely abandoned
  Britain and native Celts had been enslaved by the
  invaders
• Angles took over northern England
• Saxons took over the south
• Jutes took Isle of Wight and regions of Kent and
  Hampshire

3
BEOWULF

• Values of Anglo-Saxon warriors best described in
  Beowulf
• Old English epic poem
• Product of Germanic oral tradition
• Beowulf consists of three episodes
• Beowulfs battle with the monster Grendel
• The slaying of Grendels mother
• Beowulfs attempt to kill a fire-breathing dragon

Beowulf and Grendel
4
ANGLO-SAXON VALUES

• Strongest bond among Anglo-Saxon warriors was
  between man and his lord
• This was a society in which every chief and every
  king was surrounded by a company of warriors
• Later called thegns
• Thengs owed loyal service to their chief and, in
  return, he rewarded them with treasure, arms,
  gold, and land
• Survival of a kingdom depended on the ability of
  the king to win battles and thereby gain the
  treasure and land to provide booty for his men
• Greatest virtues in Anglo-Saxon society were
  courage, honor, endurance, generosity,
  battlefield prowess, and the ability to drink a
  lot

Beowulf
5
Seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms occupied Britain by
650 AD
Northumbria
What would happen between 650 and 800 AD is that
these seven kingdoms would be unified into a
single kingdom known as Anglaland (England)
Deira (Kent)
Mercia
East Anglia
Essex
Wessex
Sussex
6
ST. PATRICK

• Conversion of Ireland to Christianity was,
  according to legend, the work of St. Patrick
• Lived 390-461 AD
• Born in England
• Captured by Irish pirates as young man and spent
  several years in Ireland as a slave
• Escaped to Gaul where he spent the next 20 years
  studying in monasteries
• Returned to Ireland in 432 and spent the rest of
  life preaching and teaching there
• Mass conversion of Irish people probably mostly
  due to his efforts

7
IRISH CHURCH ORGANIZATION

• Irish Christianity developed differently than it
  did in the former Roman Empire
• Biggest difference was in organization and
  administration
• Church in old Roman Empire was divided into
  districts, each headed by a bishop who made
  headquarters in an old Roman city
• Monasteries were basic units of church
  organization in Ireland
• Each clan had its own monastery, ruled by an
  abbott who was from local chieftains family
• Bishops were little more than figureheads

8
IRISH MONASTERIES

• Irish monasteries were just a cluster of thatched
  huts surrounding a small church
• Guarded by a wooden stockade
• Monks spent most of their day in absolute silence
• Underwent frequent fasts
• Prayed for hours while immersed in cold water
• Tried to lived absolute perfect lives and were
  obsessed with finding any flaws in their daily
  behavior
• Led to frequent confessions

9
CLASSICAL EDUCATION

• Irish monks dedicated to learning
• Came from belief that a person could become a
  perfect Christian only by meditating on the Bible
  and the writings of the Church Fathers
• Problem was that the Bible was in Latin and the
  Church Fathers wrote in Greek
• Irish monks therefore studied ancient grammar
  books and learned these languages in their pure
  classical form
• Pure classical Latin therefore survived best in
  the remote island of Ireland, a place that had
  never been part of the Roman Empire

10
IRISH MISSIONARIES

• Initial reason for the spread of Irish influence
  beyond Ireland was the tendency of Irish monks to
  go into voluntary exile
• In 563, St. Columba established monastery on
  island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland
• St. Columbanus established Irish-style
  monasteries in Burgundy and Italy
• Irish monasteries in Europe helped to convert
  rural peasants to Christianity
• Irish monks were rural themselves and knew how to
  preach to peasants
• Their work led to the mass conversion of the
  rural population of Western Europe
• Irish missionaries also began to assimilate
  Germany into the religious culture of Western
  Europe

11
CLEVER TACTICS

• Irish missionaries often assimilated many
  more-or-less harmless pagan practices into
  Christianity
• Figuring that peasants might be more inclined to
  accept Christianity if it contained elements that
  were part of old traditional popular culture
• Thus old pagan holidays continued to be
  celebrated under new, Christian names and for
  Christian purposes
• Christmas, Easter, and All Saints Day were all
  celebrated at the same time as old pagan holidays
• Carnival still retains strong pagan flavor
• Places that had been sacred in pagan religions
  became sacred Christian places
• Located churches on the sites of old pagan temples

12
PANTHEON OF SAINTS

• Rural people used to worshipping lots of gods,
  each with a special function
• Saints made good transitional medium for them
• Although not gods, each had a unique function
• People could pray to a saint for a special
  problems
• Saint could not do anything on his or her own but
  could intercede with God on the prayers behalf

St Luke
St Christopher
13
ENGLISH MISSIONARIES

• Irish missionaries also helped to convert
  Anglo-Saxons of England
• Was not easy but by 670 or so all of England had
  converted to Christianity
• By early 700s, English began to replace Irish
  missionaries in still pagan parts of Europe
• Most famous was St. Boniface
• Zealous, great organizers, and always worked in
  close cooperation with Rome
• Strengthened papal control in Europe

St Boniface
14
VISIGOTHIC SPAIN

• 200,000 Visigoths migrated into Spain in the 400s
  AD from southwestern France
• Established themselves as overlords of
  Hispano-Roman population by 497
• Forced native landowners to give 2/3s of their
  land to them (but did not take everything)
• By the reign of King Leovigild, the Visigoths
  controlled all of Spain and had made city of
  Toledo their capital
• 568-586

15
RELIGION

• Visigoths were never assimilated by native
  population of Spain
• Because they were Arian Christians while
  Hispano-Romans were mainstream ones
• Ultimately, King Recared converted to mainstream
  Christianity in 589
• Removed source of tension between Visigoths and
  Hispano-Romans
• Also removed prohibition against intermarriage
  between the two groups

King Recared
16
LAWS

• Visigoths at first governed themselves according
  to their own laws and let their subjects be
  governed by their older local laws
• Beginning in the reign of King Leovigild,
  Visigoths began to pass laws which were binding
  on entire population
• Collection of these new laws which combined Roman
  and Gothic measures was drawn up during reign of
  King Recceswinth (672)
• Book of Judgments
• Provided common law for all Spanish people

Crown of King Recceswinth
17
SUCCESSION

• Primary source of instability was principle of
  elective monarchy
• Resulted in bloody struggles for the crown each
  time a king died
• Sometimes a restive noble would murder a king
• Four kings murdered between 531 and 555
• Lack of stable succession resulted in ultimate
  disappearance of Visigoths as a separate people
• In 711, Arabs invaded Spain and took over without
  serious opposition because various local
  Visigothic factions were feuding over succession
  to throne

18
ARABIA

• Arabia was a no-mans land between the Byzantine
  and Persian empires
• Arid region inhabited by fierce nomadic tribes
• No central government
• Always in a state of violent anarchy
• A few isolated Christian and Jewish enclaves in
  commercial cities along the Red Sea
• But dominant religion was a primitive form of
  pagan idol worship

19
MOHAMMAD

• Semi-successful merchant born in city of Mecca in
  570
• Experienced series of vision when he was thirty
  years old
• Compiled them in a book known as the Koran
• Religion of Islam founded on the basis of these
  visions
• Mohammads god, Allah, was all-powerful and
  all-knowing
• No concept of Trinity
• Revealed himself to Man through a series of
  prophets
• Mohammad was the last prophet and the culmination
  of all the others
• Mohammads revelations were the most complete and
  perfect of them all

20
PRIME DUTY

• Emphasis on all-powerful god was influenced by
  Jewish doctrine
• Stress on immortality after death influenced by
  Christianity
• Claimed that it was prime duty of human beings to
  carry out the will of Allah
• Those who failed would go to hell
• True servants would enter heaven
• Described in great detail in Koran

21
ETHICAL COMPONENT

• All people equal in Allahs eyes
• True believers should therefore treat each other
  with justice and mercy
• Emphasized duty to help the unfortunate, the
  weak, and the poor
• Had strict dietary regulations
• Borrowed from Jewish practice
• Could not eat pork
• Banned drinking alcoholic beverages and gambling
• Required to pray five times a day
• Required to fight for their faith if need be
• Jihad (holy war)
• Death in jihad regarded as a sure way to get into
  heaven

22
CONTROL OF ARABIA

• Originally, Mohammads attack on idol worship
  aroused the hostility of people of Mecca
• Drove him out of the city in 622
• Found refuge in Medina
• Converted entire population to Islam within a
  year and became religious and political leader of
  city
• Attacked Mecca in 630, took control of it, and
  converted all inhabitants to Islam
• Using Mecca and Medina as a power base, he then
  gradually won over all the tribes in Arabia and
  united them under Islam and his political
  authority

23
UMAYYAD DYNASTY

• Mohammad died in 632 and did not name successor
• Followers selected Abu Bakr to lead Islam
• Old friend of Mohammads
• Gave him title of caliph
• Abu Bakr and the two caliphs who followed him
  founded Umayyad Dynasty
• Ruled Arab world until 750
• Briefly challenged by Ali, a son-in-law of
  Mohammads
• Defeated and Alis followers formed a dissident
  Islamic sect that became the Shiites

Abu Bakr
24
Mohammad had launched several attacks on border
regions of Byzantine Empire before he died
Abu Bakr invaded and took over Syria and
Palestine in 640 Took over Egypt in 641 Conquered
entire Persian Empire and ultimately pushed to
the borders of China
Arab armies then pushed west out of Egypt and
took over all of North Africa to Morocco Attacked
Constantinople in 674 but failed to capture city
By 700, Umayyads moved their capital to Damascus
and ruled the largest empire the world had ever
seen
25
REASONS FOR SUCCESS

• Brilliant generals and soldiers were inspired by
  a deep, sometimes fanatical, faith
• Also very lucky in the sense that their attacks
  came when both Persian and Byzantine empires had
  been seriously weakened by a long war against
  each other
• Byzantines had imposed heavy taxes on Egypt and
  Syria to recoup war debts
• Also persecuted Jews in Syria and Monophysites in
  Egypt
• Alienated people of these regions
• Arabs proved to be better rulers than Byzantines
• Never persecuted people because of their
  religious beliefs

26
Invaded Spain from North Africa in 700s and took
over Visigothic Kingdom therewith new capital at
Cordoba
Attacked Constantinople again and once again
failed First wave of Arab expansion was over and
Western Europe remained independent and
Christianas did Constantinople, Asia Minor, and
Eastern Europe
Pushed north into southern France in 720 with
goal of conquering entire country and then also
Germany Stopped at the Battle of Tours in 732 by
Frankish army led by Charles Martel Northward
expansion was stopped and the Arabs were also
eventually pushed out of southern France as well
27
A NEW DYNASTY

• Any chance the Arabs had to renew their attacks
  in the near future was ruined by a series of
  civil wars against the Umayyad Dynasty in the
  late 730s
• Umayyads overthrown in 750 and replaced by
  Abbasid Dynasty
• Moved capital to Baghdad
• Unable to maintain firm control of empire and
  many areas broke off and became independent
  Moslem states
• Such as Spain and Egypt

Abbasid palace in Baghdad
28
CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS I

• Arabic became an international language and also
  developed a great vernacular literature
• Arabian Nights
• Arabs also assimilated the more advanced cultures
  of the lands they conquered
• Adopted Persian and Byzantine administrative
  systems
• Translated Greek philosophy and science into
  Arabic and then added to by Arab philosophers,
  theologians, and scientists
• New forms of art and architecture were developed
• Based on Persiannot Greek or Roman--models

Arabic numerals
29
INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS II

• Famous schools of medicine were founded, based on
  teachings of Hippocrates
• Arabs picked up sophisticated mathematical
  concepts from India and China
• Such as decimal systme and use of zero
• Invented algebra
• Arab learning was later transmitted to Europe and
  would profoundly influence medieval thought and
  culture
• But not until after 1000 AD because Western
  scholars lacked the intellectual capacity to
  learn from another culture until that time

30
MATERIAL PROSPERITY

• Material prosperity of Arab world was at high
  level
• Especially when compared to Western Europe
• Wealthy material base of richest provinces of old
  Roman Empire were used by Arab merchants to
  produce a thriving economy
• Great cities with magnificent mosques, palaces,
  libraries, schools, hospitals, etc. were built
• At the same time a city in Europe was a group
  of wooden huts surrounded by a crude stockade