Anglo-Saxon or Old English Period Quiz

The Anglo-Saxon or Old English Period (450-1066 AD)

• The period started after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the early 5th Century, and three Germanic tribes—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—migrated to Britain.
• The Anglo-Saxons occupied the major part of the country by 670 A.D. and the land of Anglos or Angloland—present day England—became their permanent abode.
• The language brought by the Anglo-Saxon settlers, combined with Latin and Celtic words, became Old English.
• Anglo-Saxon literature was the earliest phase of English literature, and consisted of literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England from the 5th Century AD to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry

• The Anglo-Saxons were fond of singing about battles, gods, and their ancestral heroes, which marked the beginning of English poetry in ancient England.
• The Anglo-Saxon poetry was mostly sung instead of written, which is why there are very few remnants left of it.
• Among the few remaining poems, Beowulf is the most famous, and is the first English epic poem, narrating the tale of the adventures of Beowulf, a brave hero.
• Key characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry include heroic poetry elements, Christian ideals, synecdoche, metonymy, and irony.

Anglo-Saxon Prose

• The Anglo-Saxons replaced Latin prose with English, which observed all the rules of ordinary speech in its construction.
• King Alfred the Great translated most of the famous Latin Chronicles into English.
• Aelfric, a priest, was the second famous prose writer of the Anglo-Saxon period, and his prose was easy and alliterative.

The Decline of Anglo-Saxons

• The Anglo-Saxon period flourished until the Norman Conquest of 1066.
• After the defeat of Harold, the last of Saxon kings, by William the Conqueror, the Anglo-Saxon period finally came to an end.
• The Anglo-Saxon ruling period extends roughly from 450 A.D. to 1066 A.D.