King Alfred the Great
The Middle English(Anglo-Norman) period
❖ The Norman Conquest (1066): P7-13
The Norman Conquest (1066)
❖ Politically, a feudalist system was established in England; ❖ Religiously, the Rome-backed Catholic Church had a much
British Literature
The Old and Medieval Periods
Instructor Kong Xiaojing
Key points:
❖ 1. The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period ❖ 2. The Middle English(Anglo-Norman)
and Jutes
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
❖ Anglo-Saxon Conquest:
❖ By the 7th century these small kingdoms were combined into a united kingdom called England.
period
❖ 3.cer and The Canterbury
Tales
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
❖ Explain the following terms: P1-4 ❖ Britons, Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon Conquest
❖ The Angles and Saxons were heathen people. They believed in the old mythology of Northern Europe.
❖ The Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the 7th century.
❖ Left behind: laws, architecture, social system, Latin, Christianity, churches.
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
❖ Anglo-Saxon(盎格鲁-撒克逊) Conquest: ❖ Three tribe from Northern Europe: Angles, Saxon
stronger control over the country; ❖ On language, three languages co-existed in England.
French became the official language used by the king and the Norman lords; Latin became the principal tongue of church affairs and was used by the clergymen and scholars in universities; Anglo-Saxon (old English) was spoken only by the common English people.
2.1 Old English Period ❖ Beowulf 《贝奥武夫》 ❖ Beowulf is the first great
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
❖ The early inhabitants---Britons, a tribe of Celts. ❖ 700BC,Celtic（凯尔特人） people from north-
western Europe, bringing iron-working, Gaelic（盖 尔语） language.
❖ The dialects spoken by the them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo-Saxon, which is now called Old English.
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
The union of French and Anglo-Saxon (English) ❖ the need of communication ❖ the absorption of the French
II English Literature in old and medieval periods
❖ In defeat, the Britons produced a body of stories revolving a legendary ruler called Arthur who had fought heroically against the Anglo-Saxon invaders.
❖ “Britain”, the land of Britons
The Old English(Anglo-Saxon) period
❖ The Roman Occupation (55BC-410):
❖ In 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar, the conqueror.
❖ Anglo-Saxon Conquest:
❖ The native Britons (Celts) were finally confined to the mountainous region of Wales where the modern form of their language is spoken alongside English to this day.