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https://view.genial.ly/609ec255279ccd0d413682fa/presentation-beowulf

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Pre-Christian religion - polytheistic belief system - Deities - sects - rituals - non-Christians

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Topic I. Prehistory: Celts- original inhabitants.

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Topic I. Prehistory: Celts- original inhabitants.

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Characteristics:
- Red-haired
- Tall
- Farmers
- Traders
- Craftsmen
- Romantic
- Artisans

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Topic I. Prehistory: Architecture. Stonehenge.

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Topic I. Prehistory: Architecture. Stonehenge.

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- Druid place of worship
- Sacrifice

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Druids:
- Religious leaders
- Ancient celts
- Priests
- Teachers
- Human sacrifice
- Knower of the oak tree

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Topic II: Romans. Architecture. Hadrian's Wall

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Topic II: Romans. Architecture. Hadrian's Wall

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Defensive fortification of the norman province Britannia.

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- Vision of God: to preach to the Irish pagans.
- Bishop.
- Opposition to the druids.

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For military reasons like free movement of armies, people and goods.

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- A knight venerated in Christianity.
- He defeated a dragon.

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- In the fifth century, Germanic warriors (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) began storming onto Britain’s shores.
- They built the foundations of English culture. The modern name England comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for “land of the Angles.”

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- Anglo-Saxons soon carved up the land into many small tribal kingdoms.
- By the end of the 7th Century, the Anglo-Saxons had come to think of themselves as one people—the English.
- The Angles settled in Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. And the Saxons in Wessex, Sussex and Essex.

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- Between 8th and 12th centuries
- The Vikings were tradesmen, farmers, seafarers, and warriors.
- Viking Era lasted which lasted from approximately 800 CE to 1050 CE
- Vikings come from Nordic Countries. They settled in Jorvik (York).
- Britain provided a better landscape and more space for the Vikings to farm and grow crops.

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- The impact of Viking raids on Europe included a greater Scandinavian influence on language in conquered areas.
- The Viking raids also left a literary legacy of sagas as well as an imprint on the DNA of local populations.

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Official religion of the Roman Empire.

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Invaded 55 B.C
- Disciplined military.
- Efficient bureaucracy.
- Political and social institutions.

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- Anglo-Saxons were loyal to their lord.
- Every group had a leader that instructed and directed the warriors.
- They were strong, intelligent, tactful, courageous, and willing to sacrifice all for glory and for their people.

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- The Mead Hall was the centre of noble life in Anglo-Saxon, and other Dark Age Germanic religions.
- It was a gathering place for the warriors of the Anglo-Saxons culture.
- The Mead Hall was off-guard to women; only men were allowed to gather there.

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- Mead is an alcoholic drink a bit like beer or wine, made by fermenting honey.
- In the Middle Ages it was usually similar to sparkling table wine.
- In the Mead Hall, Anglo-Saxons used to drink mead and celebrate victories, and listen to stories that had been passed down.

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A riddle is a type of question that describes something in a difficult and confusing way and has a clever or funny answer, often asked as a game. Anglo Saxons used them to entertain themselves and the kids.

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A scop was a professional singer who was hired to entertain guests with stories and poems about the adventures of tribal heroes. They would sing their songs about stories. It was a preservation of the historical events.

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Anglo Saxons were warriors and they would always want to show their strengths and abilities.  Wrestling was a way to show strength in contests. The simplest form of this sport was for the wrestlers to take hold of each other's arms or waists as best they could, and using the strength of their arms to throw each other off their feet and onto their backs.These wrestling matches occasionally ended in fatalities and on lesser occasions, just the odd broken or dislocated limb.

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Gleemen were the scops’ assistants. They helped with the poetry and with the instruments.

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Boast is to speak too proudly or happily about what you have done or what you own.

Anglo-Saxon warriors would usually deliver bēots in the mead hall the night before a military engagement or during the battle itself. For example, a typical warrior may boast that he will be the first to strike a blow in a battle, that he would claim a renowned sword from an enemy warrior, and so on.

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- Gaming pieces were hemispherical and made of bone, glass, clay or stone
- Who uses the 'king' wins the game if they can manage to get it into one of the corners
- The opponent wins by trapping the king

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- They made pots for everyday use
- Pots were decorated by applying clay to the surface
- Pottery was glazed with yellow or olive green glazes

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- It was worn by both Anglo-Saxon women and men
- They used gemstones and glass beads to make bracelets and necklaces
- Women of high rank used gold and silver jewelry

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King Alfred submitting his laws to the Witan

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TOPIC VIII. Anglo-Saxon Society Feudalism

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TOPIC VIII. Anglo-Saxon Society Feudalism

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The Witan, or the King's Council, was the institution that advised the king. Its authority was based on its right to choose kings. Without the Witan's support, the king's authority was questioned.

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TOPIC VIII: Anglo-Saxon Feudalism - The lower classes.

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TOPIC VIII: Anglo-Saxon Feudalism - The lower classes.

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Below the earls were the peasants and the slaves who had no legal rights and required to work for the lord/master.

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Outlaws
Types of crimes: Crimes against authority-Crimes against the person-Crimes against the property- Moral crimes.
Hue and cry
Tithing

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Christianity is based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices. In the last hundred years of the Roman government, Christianity became firmly established across Britain, both in Roman-controlled areas and beyond.

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Old English.

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6th century - 597 A.D. King Ethelbert of Kent

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Wergild (also Wergeld or Weregild)
Old English = "man payment"

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If there is one thing that is a blight on modern life it is the rise of 'compensation culture'. The idea that someone else is always to blame and you are entitled to some compensation no matter what.
Our propensity to seek financial redress for any injury, insult or inconvenience is often portrayed by the press as one of the worst traits of the 21st century and is often reinforced by frequent headlines of undisclosed settlements measured in six or seven figures and mammoth payouts awarded by the courts.

Indeed, much of the time the courts do not even get a look in as financtal reward can be reaped by the mere raising of a complaint or threatening of a claim.

In Britain we like to bemoan that this is a modern disease imported from our 'cousins across the Atlantic' for whom damages appear to be an antidote to almost everything. It is they we look to blame for infiltrating our values of being 'good-sports' with such an unsavoury attitude. Whereas in those halcyon days of yore we acted with virtue and self-restraint if we were wronged by our neighbours.

However this a rather rose-tinted view, and nostalgic vision of a Britain which never was. Because those with a keen Interest in Anglo Saxon England will be quick to see the hypocrisy of such a notion. Why? Because In reality the foundation of this compensation culture lies much closer to home.

It is to the Dark Ages that we need to turn to where we find a society regulated by a strict, honour-based, feud culture.

This feud culture existed in an age prior to the emergence of a formal interventionist and regulatory state. To ensure that 'wrongs' did not go 'un-righted' it was your familial duty to avenge the slaying of kindred through a blood feud - the vengeful killing of the perpetrator.

However, this would for obvious reasons result in a cycle of spilt blood which would only serve to weaken both sides of the feud.

So an emminently practical solution evolved where it became acceptable, and equally honourable, for the guilty party to instead to pay financial compensation to the innocent party in lieu of blood, known in Anglo Saxon England as Wergeld.

Rather than viewing this payment as a penalty for the crime we need to see the Wergeld as a means to end the need for further bloodshed. That said, it also came to be extended to possessions, so that any item of property which was stolen or damaged held a compensatory value too.

it also came to be extended to possessions, so that any item of property which was stolen or damaged held a compensatory value

Whilst Wergeld was undoubtedly a more civilised alternative to feuding, it was by no means egalitarian. Quite the opposite in fact because it enshrined inequality by reinforcing the hierarchical nature of society through a three-tier system of life values worth 1200, 600 and 200 shillings respectively. Thus the killing of a peasant was worth 6 times less than the killing of an Ealdorman.

the killing of a peasant was worth 6 times less than the killing of an Ealdorman

Feud culture and Wergeld ceased to exist as kings sought to centralise their own power under a formal system of law and order and the arrival of Christianity in Britain in 597 AD provided the excuse necessary to discredit the feud system, arguing that homicide was a crime not only against God but by extension the King himself.

In 1122, nearly a century before, Magna Carta (1215), a monk in Rochester Cathedral Priory carefully copied out the laws issued by Ethelbert, the first Christian King of Kent (AD 560-515). Ethelbert's law code was the first codified statement of English law written in English and is the earliest known copy of Ethelbert's Anglo-Saxon law code. It survives within Textus Roffensis - the 'Book of Rochester'.

It's a fascinating document that aptly shows the transition from Feud culture and Wergeld to the codifying of power under a written system of law, containing as it does a list of suitable compensations ...

if an ear was struck off, 12 shillings in compensation was to be paid; if an eye was put out, compensation was 50 shillings; for the loss of the four front teeth, 6 shillings for each; if someone struck another on the nose with a fist, 3 shillings compensation was due; if a person broke into a commoner's home he was to compensate with 5 shillings; accomplices who entered after the person who broke in must pay 3 shillings and thereafter one shilling according to the order in which they broke in.
So we shouldn't be too quick to point our fingers and blame a subversive ethos from afar when in fact the roots of the compensation culture lie historically on our side of the Atlantic.
You can now see the whole book in amazing detail online here >>>

Perhaps we can also be grateful at least that our judicial systems, unlike those in the 'land of opportunity', do not ordinarily award on top of compensation vast punitive damages designed to punish and deter defendants.

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Modern Compensation Culture and the Ancient Practice of Wergeld - guernseydonkey.com

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If there is one thing that is a blight on modern life it is the rise of 'compensation culture'. The idea that someone else is always to blame and you are entitled to some compensation no matter what. But the origins of this are far older than you might think.

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Modified version of the Latin alphabet.

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Runic Alphabet: the “mother” of our modern English alphabet.

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Runes.