Unit 1 The Anglo-Saxon Period

I. Historical Background

II. Anglo-Saxon Poetry III. Anglo-Saxon Prose

I. Historical Background

The English people are a complicated race.

The first inhabitants of the island were commonly known as the Celts (or Kelts). 55 BC saw the invasion of the island headed by Julius Caesar.

During the invasion these aborigines（ 土著人）Celts withdrew to the Welsh and Scottish mountains and left a great part of England to the Romans.

Not until the 5th century did the Romans withdrew. England had been made a Roman Province since 80 AD.

As the Roman legions withdrew, the Celts came back.

Originally the name Anglo-Saxon denotes two of the three Germanic（日尔曼）tribes --- Angles, Saxons and Jutes -- who in the middle of the 5th century left their homes on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic（波罗的海） to conquer and colonize distant Britain.

They lived in the northern top of Germany and the southern part of Denmark at that time. The historical date that is worth memorizing is 449 AD.

These three invading tribes came to settle down: Angles in the north of Thames, Jutes mainly in the

southwest called Kent（英国东南部郡）, and Saxons in the other places.

English literature originated in the Angles and Saxons who formed a literary tradition of their own.

Important historical events:

1. Heptarchy（七王国）:

The informal confederation（联邦）of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century, consisting of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.

2. the Vikings invasion:

Vikings, collective designation of Nordic（北欧人）people— Danes, Swedes, Norwegians—who explored abroad during a period of dynamic Scandinavian expansion from about AD 800 to 1100. Land shortage, improved iron production, and the need for new markets probably all played a part in Viking expansion. 3. King Alfred the Great: