LETTERATURA INGLESE

- Pre Celtic population (the Iberians) = six thousand years ago the land now called Britain
was already inhabited. The population began to burn and cut down forests to grow cereals
like wheat, barley or oats and to breed cattle, pigs and sheep. Over the course of four
centuries they changed the landscape, and from about 3000 BC they built ritual sites, large,
enclosed spaces used both for ceremonies and for defense. The most important of these is
Stonehenge, in southwest England. During the Bronze Age (2500-1000 BC) the islanders
started metalworking, producing pottery and salt as well as manufacturing leather and cloth,
which they also traded overseas. The first population who inhabited the British Isle. At that
time the British Isle was known for: Its fertile soil, Minerals, Good timber (timber = legname).
They were very good in the use of stones and minerals and they introduced agriculture (they
were farmers). The Iberians were short, had dark hair and dark eyes.

- The Celts: around 700 BC the Celts began to arrive from northwest Germany and
gradually settled in the country between 500 and 100 BC. Today their language remains
Welsh in Wales, and Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland. They were tall and muscular, with fair
skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. They were farmers, hunters, fishermen and metalworkers.
They introduced the iron plough, which made the cultivation of the soil easier. They built
massive hill forts on top of hills surrounded by ditches sometimes filled with water. These
forts were used as tribal centers and refuges in times of danger. Women were almost equal
to men: they could choose the man they wanted to marry and retained their own property,
they could also lead other warriors to war. The Druids were the Celts’ priests, they were
important not only in religion but also in justice, education and medicine. They held their
ceremonies in the heart of the forest and not in temples. The Celts worshiped the natural
elements such as the moon, the sun, rivers and trees. They considered water a holy
element: it generated life and was eventually their means of entering the world beyond
death. They believed in immortality and in the transmigration of the soul from one person to
another. For them, life after death was still spent on heart in caves, hills or lakes and this
belief was another reason for their respect for nature and its spiritual or magical dimensions.
They lived in tribes, the organization was the tribe and lived in a system which was a
pyramid:

1. At the top: DRUIDS (Celtic priests) and the WARRIOR ARISTOCRACY. They had the
same importance but different tasks
Warrior aristocracy: they had privileges and were involved in battles. They were the ones
who had to fight in battles.
Druids and warriors shared the same level because they had privileges
2. Below there were artisans and ”bards” (priests who had similar functions to the Druids but
they were specialized in singing. They celebrated the religious functions by singing. They will
then transform into court jesters, storytellers and poets (Shakespeare) —> The evolution of
the term “bard” to indicate in the Renaissance time the poets (sing a poem to entertain
people a court)
3. Below there were free common people (farmers/hunters/fisherman). They didn’t have
particular privileges.
- The Romans: Julius Caesar led a Roman invasion of Britain in 55-54 BC but the country
was not actually conquered until 43-47 AD under emperor Claudius. For about fifteen
generations Britain was part of the Roman Empire. The Romans were attracted by the rich
agriculture of the south, tin and lead in the west, the availability of slaves and Britain’s
strategic importance as an offshore base. They were looking for copper, iron, lead, silver and
gold together with slaves. The Romans, however, did not control the whole country. In 122
AD emperor Hadrian ordered a wall to be built to mark the border between the conquered
Britons and the unconquered Picts and Scots in the north. This was one of the greatest
engineering projects of the ancient world. The Romans built over 9,600 km of paved roads in
Britain, which remained in use for centuries. They also connected towns that developed as
military, administrative and trading centers. Many of these towns were originally army camps
and the Latin name castra has remained in many modern towns' names ending in -caster,
-Chester and -cester such as Lancaster, Manchester and Gloucester. The most important
town was londinium, built in the lowest bridgeable point on the Thames. The Romans also
brought their culture, the latin language and Christianity to Britain. The Romans spoke Latin,
they introduced their language in the British isle (for the first time Latin was spoken in the
British isle). Roman control of Britain came to an end in 409 AD, as soldiers were withdrawn
to defend Rome against the barbarian raiders, the romanised Celts were left alone to fight
against the Saxon invaders from the North Sea Region of Europe.
ROMAN LEGACY
- Many cities
- Paved road, aqueducts and central heating
- They introduce Latin, some nowadays words derive from Latin.
- The most important legacy of Romans —> introduction of civil law, administration and
Christianity later on

- The Anglo Saxons: over the course of the 5th and 6th centuries the British were
overwhelmed by peoples coming from the North Sea Region of Northern Europe: Jutes,
Angles and Saxons. These people are referred to as Anglo-Saxons, they settled in 410 AD.
Angles gave England the name “The land of the angles''. From 410 to 1066 (when the
Normans settled because they managed to defeat the angles). As opposed to the Romans
they changed the administration and law. They did little to keep the Romans legacy alive:
they changed the law and even introduced a new language “old English”, very different from
Vulgar Latin. Latin was preserved in the Church as part of the identity of the church. Law
was based on custom (based on a series of previous events): a system of oral traditions and
formulated according to the type of society. Laws change based on the society —>
COMMON LAW ( cases in the courts were not resolved with trials but with a series of
traditions with which that specific case was usually resolved. In this period Christianity
spread and it was brought to the British isles in 597 AD by Saint Augustine. They took part in
many battles —> the Anglo-Saxons were warriors, farmers and hunters. Under the
Anglo-Saxons reign the British Isle was divided into 7 countries: this divisor was called “the
Heptarchy”. Thanks to this division it was easier to control and to rule. Most of the
information we have about the Anglo-Saxons comes from “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles''
793 AD (a year-by-year account of all the major events of the time). The first Chronicle
describes the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England. This account gave us most of the
information we know about them. The Anglo chronicles were one of the first literary genre
Society: HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY (well-structured and divide)
- At the top there was a leader. The leader could be the chief of a family unit or a clan or the
king (leader of the society organized into tribes)
- Hereditary aristocracy (EORLS)
- Warriors (PHEGNS): possessed their lance, devoted to hunting and wars
- The peasants (CHURLS): free common people
- Slaves: people who were not free

Jobs and Houses: The house of the lord (answered to the king and responsible of the
warriors) was characterized by a central hall where the warriors were hosted, they enjoyed
spending their time partying. This was very important: it made the bond between the lord and
the warriors stronger, a bond based on loyalty
The Anglo system was based on loyalty: to the family members and to the lord.
Courage, freedom and economic independence.
They partly reintroduced pagan values, before the Christianity was spread again
- primitive practices (worshiping trees, storms...)
- They believed in pagan elements (dragons, monsters in caves...)

-Vikings (also called “Danes”)

Their English was very different from today's English.
They were a violent, fierced, aggressive population who invaded the British isle.
They came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The first Vikings raid was around 300 AD on Lindisfarne in Northumbria
They settled in the northwest of England whereas the south and southeast were under
Anglo-Saxon rule.
Were fierce and pagan (didn’t believe in God) warriors and defeated nearly all Saxon
England except for Wessex, where the presence of Anglo Saxon was so strong thank to a
king, king Alfred

Legacy: The Viking language was the old Norse, which mixed with the old English spoken by
the Angles and the Saxons.
We recognised the Viking language thanks to some suffixes:
- By = village (ex. Grimsby is the village created by Grim)
- Thorpe = hamlet or small village

Jobs: Were skilful weavers and basically they made their own clothes.
Vikings man used to wear trousers and a tunic
Vikings woman long dress and on the dress there was a pinafore
Usually made of wool, linen and animal skin.

Houses: They used to be rectangular and long.

They were made from local material: wood, stones and blocks of turf

They met an aggressive important contradiction against them: King Alfred the Great, King of
Anglos (871-899 AD)
Managed to resist the arrival of the Vikings in Wessex.
Wessex was the only one not conquered by the Vikings.
Why is king Alfred so important?
- Only one to stand against the Vikings
- He was not only a military leader (he was the symbol of strength and unity) but he also
encouraged education and scholarship in order to promote strength and unity
- Enacted the first English laws (he supported the need of the laws to be write down)
- His son and grandsons divided the the country into shires (modern counties)
Viking and Anglos met
At first opposed each other, were hostile but year after year their tradition and their language
met (11th century)
The descendants from the union between the Vikings and angels were the normans (at the
very beginning they lived in Northern France and they spoke old french. Year after year
Vikings and angles become Christian)