Saxons

Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 21-46. Print. Dockray-Miller, Mary. "The Masculine Queen Of Beowulf." Women & Language 21.2 (1998): 31-38. Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Leeming, David Adams. “The Anglo-Saxons.” Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 1-16. Print. Leeming, David Adams. “The Middle Ages.” Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 72-88. Print. Main, C.…

powerful tool for not only expanding Christianity, but also for expanding imperial authority. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, cemented his legacy for conversion by creating the first papal mission of any pagan people in Anglo-Saxon Britain. While Christianity had visited the island briefly, during the Roman occupation, the Anglo-Saxon’s and their paganism dominated the religious sphere on the island in the sixth century. Gregory, before becoming Pope, had long…

Middle English refers to the varieties of the English language spoken after the Norman Conquest (1066) and until the late 15th century. The Middle English period was marked by momentous changes in the English language, changes more extensive and fundamental than those that have taken place at any time before or since. Some of them were the result of the Norman Conquest and the condition that followed in the wake of that event. Others were the constitution of the tendencies that had begun to…

Bebbanberg and is taken to learn to fight the Danes. After he is captured and his father murdered by his captor, he is instructed by the Danes in the art of warfare and learns to lead his fellow warriors into battle. By the time he returns to the Saxons after Ragnar’s demise, he has become a skilled warrior and a leader of many. The storyline reveals Uhtred transition into manhood as he fights and becomes responsible for himself and his men. The author reveals to the reader during the story…

Exiled. The word that Anglo-Saxons feared to hear. Back in the 500's it was a different time in the English colonies. The language seemed nothing like it does today, America hasn't been discovered and the worst thing that could happen to you was getting exiled from your colony. Around this time a very famous story was written with the intention of giving the Anglo-Saxons an epitome of 'how to be a hero'. This story was named Beowulf. However, it started out as an orally told story and the author…

The Anglo Saxon time period was a time that included many compositions of middle and old English. Many of which were tales of King Arthur and the like. An author that stands out among the many through the Anglo Saxon era is Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer has forever gone down in history for his outstanding work using Middle English in Canterbury Tales. Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four tales in which were collected, composed, and written by Chaucer. “Chaucer had all these incentives to…

Beowulf: A Hero of His Time, As Well as Today Beowulf, without a doubt, is the perfect representation of an Anglo-Saxon hero, as well as a modern day one. The characteristics he portrays throughout Beowulf truly sums up what it means to be a hero in the Anglo-Saxon period. He takes on great challenges and goes on difficult endeavors, all while embodying the qualities of a hero in his time. An epic hero is defined as a noble and brave character in an epic poem, and they are admired…

“Beowulf” is a renowned Anglo-Saxon tale that has survived ages of being retold by first the Anglo-Saxons, then people all over the world. While the original creator of the legendary poem is unknown, it is recognized as an amazing heroic epic, made up of 3,200 lines of alternative verse that is both pagan and laced with Christian theology. The characters in the poem are not discussed very heavily; even the main hero, Beowulf, exhibits only the basic poetic epic hero qualities: courage, honor,…

In the story Beowulf, there are many side stories. One of these side stories is the story of Finn. Frisian King Finn, without warning, attacked King Hnaf’s people, the Danes, and Hnaf himself, taking out half the men in the tribe. In an attempt to settle the feud, Hengest married away Hnaf’s sister to Finn. Peace between the two remained until the Danes later revolted and killed Finn and his son in revenge. This side story is inserted in the book while the Danes and Beowulf are celebrating the…

At the University of Oxford, Tolkien served as a professor of Anglo-Saxon and English Language and Literature. Tolkien’s keen interest and emphasis for Anglo-Saxon literature and philology is evident in his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings as well as The Hobbit. Tolkien had a deep understanding of multiple Indo-European languages such as Old English, Old Norse, Finnish, Old High Herman, and several others, demonstrating a vast philological foundation to work from when it came to creating his own…