Notes for 2-14 in textbook

Historical Background

The Conquest of Britain

• Between 800 and 600 B.C.  two groups of Celts from Southern Europe invaded the British Isles.
• The next conquerors were the Romans in 55 B.C..
• The Roman rule of Britain lasted more than 300 years.

The Coming of Christianity

• By the fourth century, the Romans had accepted Christianity and had introduced it to Britain.
• A century later, the Celts fled the Anglo-Saxons and took their Christianity faith with them.

Danish Invasion

• Alfred’s achievements went far beyond the field of battle.
• Edwards death in 1066 lead to the end of the Anglo-Saxon period of history.

The Norman Conquest

• The Normans were descendants of Vikings who had invaded the coast of France in the ninth century.
• In return for their services, knights usually received smaller parcels of land, called manors.
• The peasants who worked the manors were the lowest class in the feudal system, the serfs.

The Reign of the Plantagenets

• Although Norman influnece continued for centuries, Norman rule ended in 1154 when Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, came to the throne as Henry II.
• Henry founded the royal house of Plantagenet and established a record as one of England’s ablest kings.

The Magna Carta

• In the Magna Carta, the king promised not to tax land without first meeting with the barons.

Lancasters, Yorks, and Tudors

• In 1399, the House of Lancaster replaced the Plantagenets on the throne. The kings were Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI.
• Through the fifteenth century the House of York contested Lancastrian rule.
• Tudor, crowned Henry VII, later married Richard’s niece, uniting the houses of York and Lancasters and ending the War of the Roses.

Decline of the Feudal System

• While royal families struggled for supremacy, the social structure of England was changing.
• Gradually, a free peasantry replaced the serfs of the Middle Ages. However, the question of social justice for the lower classes would arise again.

Literature of the Period

• Anglo-Saxon literature began not with books , but with spoken verse and incantations. The reciting of poems often occurred on ceremonial occasions, such as the celebration of military victories.
• Beowulf is an epic which tells the story of a great legendary warrior renowned for his courage, strength and dignity.
• Before the reign of Alfred the Great, all important prose written in the British Isles was composed in Latin.

Literature of the English Middle Ages

• During this period, the first true dramas emerged, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer created a vivid picture of medieval life, romances portrayed the deeds of knights, and anonymous balladeers sang of love and deeds of outlaws.
• In 1454, a German silversmith, Johann Gutenberg, perfected a process of printnig from movabe type.
• Although Chaucer completed only 22 of the 120 tales that scholars think he planned to write, the 22 have a great variety.
• Another popular poetic form was the ballad, a folk song that told a story.