Textuality » 3A Interacting
The Anglo - Saxons came from the north of europe and they invaded Britain. The Anglo - Saxons defeated Celtic - people and they settled britain.
The Anglo - Saxons society was based on the family unit, which was branched out to the clan, the tribe and the kingdom. There were seven kingdoms. The code of values was based on the loyalty, the courage and generosity. The Anglo - Saxons were farmers, fishermen and hunter. They were ruled by a king that he assumed military power in the war. The lived in town that were originally military camp, then became centres of trade and following became a really town.
Saint Augstine was sent by the pope Gregory the Great to England to found churches. He founded the most important church at canterbury.
Christianity was very important in the history of England because it introduced classical literary and the monks copied manuscripts by hand and monasteries became centres of culture.
The Anglo - Saxons was based on an oral tradition and it was the fusion of two culture: one the literary form, arts by the Anglo - Sanxons, other the classical literary and the moral values by Christianity.
The culture was both a military culture and a refined culture.
The Anglo - Sanxons spoke Old English, a fusion of some Germanic - dialects into a single language. They used kennings and circumlocution. The military culture was based on the figure of the "noble - heart" warrior.
In the 1066 William the conqueror, the ruler of normans, invaded Britain and he defeated the Anglo -saxons.
The normans introduced the feudalism and in the 1215 the king John signed the "Magna Carta". A document where the power of the king was limited by the people. Following bore the parlament but only in the 14th century there were merchants and other people who were rich but no nobles.
England was defeated by France in the "Hundred Years" war.
In the 1445 began the War of the Roses. The house of lancaster that had a white rose as his emblem and the house of york that had a red rose as his emblem fought to the accession to the throne.
The war ended with the union of the two houses.
At the top of the social scale was the king followed by the nobility followed by knights. Then were the unfree peasants. The middle class was beginning to emerge and was represented by merchants, craftsmen, traders and ... .
The craftsmen tended to live togheter in one part of town and formed guilds.
The Anglo - Normans culture was influenced by France. The nobility spoke french but the clergy spoke latin.
The peasants and the majority part spoke English.
The values were replaced by more refined ideals.