Aim:
Introducing to the class some notions about Anglo-Saxon history to help them to set Old English literature in an appropriate socio-cultural context.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the teaching unit students are going to recognize the main events that occurred in early-medieval England and to link them with contemporary socio-cultural features.
Activities:
The teacher will introduce the topic of the invasions of Great Britain, he can use some maps.
The teachers points out the main events that happened after the withdrawal of the Roman legions:
- How the Anglo Saxons arrived in Great Britain and what happened to Romano Britons.
- The areas of the island where they settled .
- The kingdoms they founded.
- The struggle of the Anglo Saxons against new invaders.
The teacher has to point out that the Anglo-Saxon era was characterised by constant warfare, because war was an important feature of Anglo-Saxon tribal society, as well as of the invading Viking raiders.
The values of this war-like people shaped their social organization and influenced their literature .
Additional tools:
The teacher may use some maps he can easily download from the web to help the students visualize the migrations of Germanic tribes into England in the early middle ages.
Images of reconstructions of Anglo-Saxons dresses, villages and military equipment may also be used to give students an idea of everyday life in early medieval Europe, he may also point put the huge difference between those times and today [L1].
