Celts, Romans, Anglo-saxons, Normans

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Inglese
Download:	282
Data:	01.12.2006
Numero di pagine:	4
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

Palaeolithic: 300000 years ago. First sign in Great Britain. First population→Iberians(3000 b.C.). Stonehenge 2300 b.C. circle of monoliths and dolmens.
The Celts: they didn’t wrote anything and we know them about warrior people from Greeks and Romans; Gaels (north 7th b.C); Brythons (west, south-west 4th.b.C.). Good metal workers: gold for objects, mirrors and jewellery, iron for armours and helmets. Celtic art was abstract, Gaelic is still spoken in Wales and Scotland. King Arthur: maybe he was a military leader who fought with the Celts against Anglo-Saxons and Jutes. The Celts didn’t wrote nothing about him so he is a legend.
The Romans: Julius Caesar tried in 54 and 55 to invade Britain but he didn’t succeeded. Emperor Claudius 43 a.d. succeeded and remained in Britain until 410 a.d. Most important art is “Adrian’s Wall” 122a.d. it indicates a different vision of the empire because it is a symbol of its units.
Pagan religion & Christianity religion: they built roads and water pipes roads, the houses decorated with mosaics.
Geoffrey Chaucer: (1340/1345-1400)he belonged to middle class, he received a very good education first major writer to promote English as a literary language, he introduced metrical innovations invented the rhyming pentameter. East Midlands dialect that became the standard English used in London Oxford Cambridge because of the importance of this place as trade government education. Canterbury tales around 1387 is a narrative-descriptive poem. it is introduce by a General Prologue, 29 pilgrims setting of on a pilgrimage to Canterbury → because was founded by St.Augustine. mainly written in verse, predominant form is the rhyming couplet (2 rhyming iambic pentameters). Cross-section of medieval society: military-knights, clergy-several people (monk prioress nun friar parson), middle class-doctor merchant, trades- miller, carpenter. Dedicated knight, libertine friar, honest parson, venal doctor, domineering wife. vivid characters.
Wife of bath: theme of marriage, she is a clothmaker a business woman she outdistanced the weavers of Ypres and Ghent. Details enlarged. She wears scarlet red stockings, handkerchiefs, finest weave shoes pliable and new. She has enormous hips bold face and handsome and florid. 5 time married. Pilgrimages in Jerusalem, Rome, Boulogne, St James of Compostela and Cologne. She is very bossy and she wants to show it to everybody with a big offer or a fine expensive dress. She appears like an emancipated vain lustful aggressive vitality dominant sexually woman → scarlet red socks. Chaucer underline her dressing with irony his intention is to portray a woman whose attributes are traditional targets of ant-feminist satire.. She has a feminist point of view in the matter of marriage: husbands should always submitted to their wives. Mans must be meek young spirited in bed and governed by their wife

The Anglo-Saxons: (jutes) 5th century 449 a.d. They wrote the story of religion or pagan works. Works were written in Latin and stories like Beowulf in old English. Illuminated Manuscripts → written by monks. Society was based on Family, clan, tribe, kingdom. Country was divided into 7 kingdom. Christianity: Alfred 849-91. Edward the confessor (religion) 1042-66. Harold 1066 battle of Hastings, Normans arrived in England.
Middle age: old English and middle English. 8th – 9th century Vikings or Danes or Norsemen tried to invade English island. Old English poetry was composed orally by bards or scops the story of English poetry begins with Beowulf → long narrative epic (long narrative poem which talks about legendary heroes). Primary epic: handed down orally, Iliad odyssey. Secondary epic: were soon written down, aeneid.
They was nomads : belt buckle and shoulder clasp made of gold glass garnet enamel. In a ship was found a grave of a Anglo-Saxons king. The drawing: mead hall(meetings banckets) kitchen bower(pergolato) posts hearth thane’s table
Beowulf: long epic poem of over 3000 lines and it speaks about Beowulf the nephew of king Hygelac who went to help the king of Danes Hrothgar. Beowulf defeated an human shaped monster called Grendel. He represented all the values of the society in which people believed . (fearless, gallant, great of heart, brave, strong man).
The book of Kells: religious book produced by the monks.
Anglo-Norman or middle English period: 1066→battle of Hastings, William the conqueror, Norman invaded England, they were descended from the Vikings and speaking Norman French Pig-pork ox-beef calf-veal. Language :French: ruling class, among the nobility and aristocracy. Latin: among the clergy, only written language. English: among common people. Norman introduced the feudal system.
First conflict between King & Church: Thomas à Becket (archbishop of Canterbury) was murdered because he tried to prevent the king from gaining more power over the church (1170) king→Henry II. Second conflict between King & Barons: the nobles tried to limit the power of the king in two ways. They forced king john to sign Magna Carta in 1215 that limited the power of the king (taxation…) there is foundation of the parliament.
Heavy taxation imposed by king Richard II the last Plantagenet led to the Peasant’s Revolt 1381. the results were that the peasants won freedom and got to better wages.
War of two roses (white and red) foundation of the Tudor line.
Social scale: Nobility – Knights(gentleman farmers) – traders and craftsmen – freeman of the town . not free peasants. Woman’s place was inferior to men’s, they had to cook food and keep the house in good order. Romance came as a literature genre from France, written in verse (King Arthur, Knights of round table)
Regular clergy: they live in convents and monasteries. Monk and prioress.
Secular clergy: they live among ordinary people.
London was the greatest city in England, exporters of wool and importers of wine.
The power of the church: many fine chu8rches and cathedrals were built during the middle ages. Norman Style or Romanesque: 1066-1150 like the nave of Durham cathedral. The perpendicular style or Gothic:1350-1550 the nave of Gloucester Cathedral.