Old English Poems

Question 1

Old English

Answer 1

c. 660 - 1066 AD

Question 2

Middle English

Answer 2

1066 - c. 1450 AD

Question 3

Modern English

Answer 3

c. 1450 - Now AD

Question 4

When was Old English frenchified to Middle English?

Answer 4

1066 AD

Question 5

What happened in c. 1450 AD?

Answer 5

invention of the printing press, language became standardized

Question 6

c. 1,000 BC

Answer 6

beginnings of German culture; Germanic tribes in central and northern Europe, pagan religion

Question 7

43 AD

Answer 7

Romans invade Britain

Question 8

98 AD

Answer 8

Tacitus published his book “Germania;” an explanation of Germanic tribes

Question 9

Important topics in “Germania”

Answer 9

1. Thula - spoken poetry about the tribe’s heroes
2. Comitatus - fundamental social organization of the tribes; the relationship between a lord / tribal chief and his warriors

Question 10

If a warrior lost his lord in battle, he was

Answer 10

disgraced, lost his social identity, a wanderer

Question 11

c. 400 AD

Answer 11

Romans withdraw from Britain, leave it undefended

Question 12

c. 450 AD

Answer 12

Master Narrative - Angles and Saxons from Denmark were mercenaries hired by the Britons to defend the Britons, Anglo-Saxons push Britons out of main England
True Narrative - Anglo-Saxons were poor immigrants who lived among the Britons

Question 13

597 AD

Answer 13

Augustine and 40 missionaries were sent by the Pope to England and evangelized them, latin Bible

Question 14

Christianity brings what?

Answer 14

literacy, in 597 AD, England was literate because of the Bible

Question 15

c. 660 AD

Answer 15

Caedmon wrote “Caedmon’s Hymn”

Question 16

c. 744 AD

Answer 16

the Pope banned stone crosses in fields, the “Dream of the Rood” was written before c. 744 AD as it was chiseled on the edges of a stone cross in a field (Ruthwell Cross)

Question 17

Oct. 14th 1066 AD

Answer 17

Battle of Hastings, England is conquered by the Normans / the French, english language is frenchified

Question 18

Who mostly spoke French after 1066 AD?

Answer 18

nobles, french was the high-culture language, not the common people’s language

Question 19

Monks do two things:

Answer 19

work and pray

Question 20

what is significant about “Caedmon’s Hymn”?

Answer 20

1. first piece of literature in English
2. first dream vision in English

Question 21

Who is the speaker of “Dream of the Rood”?

Answer 21

an Anglo-Saxon warrior who has lost his lord in battle, feels disgraced but takes comfort in Jesus, the Lord of Mankind

Question 22

How was Jesus portrayed for the first 1,000 years of Christianity?

Answer 22

as a warrior, “runs” to the cross and his death, this warrior nature helped convert the Germanic tribes to Christianity