Anglo-Saxon Study Guide Flashcards
What is the price of a man. If you killed a man, you were required to pay a monetary amount to that man’s relative
Wergild
Letters based on the Greek alphabet
Rune
Area where a Saxon longboat of artifacts were taken with rich and gold
Sutton Hoo
Singing poets companion
Gleeman
God of war and sky
Tiu
Singing poets
Scop
Chief of the gods
Woden
Roman emperor that built a wall to protect the northern border
Hadrian
Goddess of the home and Woden‘s wife
Fria
Six characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry
Alliteration, Caesura, Kennings, 4 stress lines, oral, and and - stopped lines
Two categories of old English poetry and give and example of each one what
Secular/Heroic -Beowulf (achievements of warrior)
Religious/elegiac - Seafarer (laments mourning deaths and loss of the past)
Six characteristics of an epic
- Long narrative poem
- Celebrates the deeds of a hero
- Hero is larger than life and concerns eternal human problems
- Written in a serious manner
- Written in elevated language
- Hero represents widespread national, cultural, or religious values
Date of Anglo-Saxon era
(499-1066) (750-1066)
Role of religion in Anglo-Saxon life
Pagans ruled their early life
Role of warfare
Series of invasions invaded Britain and dominated their life
Role of poetry
Used for oral transmissions and performances
Civilization that introduced roads in Christianity to Anglo Saxon England
The Romans
The father of English history
Bede
Anglo Saxton mead hall’s represented
Banquet halls working, wives, and servants gather
Who invaded and conquer Britain at the battle of Hastings in 1066
The Normans
Characteristics of the heroic Ideal
Skillful, brave, and loyal
Why was fame so important to Anglo-Saxons
Since Anglo-Saxon people were pagan, the closest hope to an afterlife was fame
Heroic qualities of Beowulf
Courage, generosity, unquestioning loyalty and devotion
Why couldn’t Grendel touch Hrothgars throne
It’s protected by God
What saves Beowulfs life in the battle with Grendel’s mother
Mail coat
How did Grendel’s mother punish Hrothgar for the death of her son
She killed his best friend
Contrast Beowulf‘s battle in the lake with his battle at Herot
He uses weapons in the lake and his enemies don’t show fear
How did Grendel’s mother die
Beowulf slices her neck with a sword
What does the dragon hoard and what does symbolize
 treasure and symbolizes wealth and power
Beowulf‘s flaw
Greed for fame 
What Wiglafs fighting the dragon tells you about the importance of honor in the Anglo Saxon period.
A warrior sacrifices his own life to save the kings life. Not everyone who you think shows loyalty to you, will sacrifice their own lives to save yours. They show that they are cowards in dishonor to the family
Epic heroes embody and fight for the values of the time. Grendel represents something or someone who is trying to destroy what the Anglo Saxons value. Think about what our culture values during today’s time. Who or what threatens to destroy our values? Compare Grendel symbolic threat of destruction to that of our own.
Our culture values freedom of speech. Defamation is in is an example of what threatens to destroy our values. A person may be sued for committing a false statement that harms the reputation of another person. Grendel‘s symbolic threat of destruction and defamation both tries to harm what each other value. Defamation limits an individuals freedom of speech while Grendel’s threat keeps the epic heroes from fighting for the values of time. The values of each of the time periods Has a situation that acts as an obstacle from being able to express their values completely. They both can fight against the values. For example, heroes can counter act Grendel to get their values back while people can file a lawsuit to defend against an opinion that was false.
