Textuality » 3A Interacting
In the history of English culture the Label Middle ages refers to a period extending from the beginning of Anglo Saxon invasions in the late 4th century to the accession of the House of Tudot to the trone in 1485.
Invasion:
Historians are not sure why the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. It may have been because their land often flooded and it was difficult to grow crops, so they were looking for new places to settle down and farm. Some sources say that Saxon warriors were invited to come to England.
When the jutes,from Denmark,and the Angles and the Saxons from Northern Germany invaded Britain they defeated the original Celtic people who escaped to Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.
Language:
Anglo Saxons brought with them a common lenguage called Anglo Saxon,or Old English ,which existed in a variety of dialects.
The country and the Society:
The country was divided into seven kindoms.
In the 8th century the anglo saxons had to face a several invasion from the vikings,scandinavian tribes who came especially from denmark and norway. Anglo saxon society was based on family unit which branched out to the clan,the kindom and the tribe.the code of values was based on courages,loyalty and generosity .
Religion:
In 597 Gregory the Great decided to send a missionary called Augustine to England to found majour churches in London and York.When Augustine arrived in the south east of England he found that Ethelberth,king of kent,was the most powerful king in the south east.
Ethelberth gave him land in Chanterbury to build a church in Canterbury.
Cristianity introduced writing in documents ,whereas Anglo saxon culture was based on an oral tradition. Monasteries bacame centres on culture,where monks copied religious books by hand.