Read a passage, underline the key words to characterize the economic situation in the Old English period
The period from the 5th century till the 11th century was a transitional period from the tribal and slave-owning system of Feudalism. The basic economic unit was the feudal manor. The economic isolation of the regions as well as the political disunity of the country led to the formation of new geographical boundaries between the speech of different localities. The growth of feudalism was accompanied by the rise of regional dialectal division replacing the tribal division of Germanic settlers.
Read the following extract and define the following statements to be true or false.
a. The struggle between Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavians started in the 8th century and lasted 200 years.
b. Northumbria as the biggest kingdom stood the head of the resistance.
c. Alfred the Great was a king of Vikings.
d. Canute the Great was a king of Vikings.
e. Alfred was a strongminded but highly strung battle veteran.
f. Alfred ordered to write Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and build the Tower.
g. By the peace treaty of 878 England was divided into 2 halves.
In the 8th century raiders from Scandinavia made their 1st plundering attacks on England.
This struggle lasted over 300 years, in the course of which the half of England was occupied by invaders. Wessex governed by Alfred, the Great, stood at the head of the resistance.
Alfred «The Great»
Alfred was the fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. As king of Wessex at the age of 21, Alfred was a strongminded but highly strung battle veteran at the head of remaining resistance to the Vikings in southern England. A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted the Danes' tactics. In May 878, Alfred's army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington.
Alfred's achievements
— Alfred started a building program of well-defended settlements across southern England.
— To improve literacy, Alfred arranged, and took part in the translation (by scholars from Mercia) from Latin into Anglo-Saxon of a handful of books he thought it was most needful for men to know.
— Alfred established a legal code.
Under King Alfred of Wessex, one of the greatest figures in English history, by the peace treaty of 878 England was divided into 2 halves: the north-eastern half under Danish control called Danelaw and the south-western half united under the leadership of Wessex.
After death of Danish king Canute (1035) his kingdom broke up and England regained political independence, by that time it was a single state divided into 6 earldoms.
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BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
| Old English | ||||||
| 449 AD | 597 AD | 792 AD | 871 AD | 1000 AD |
ACTIVATING THE STUDENTS’ BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Do you remember?
What kinds of alphabets did the Proto-Germanic tribes have?
2) What did the word ‘rune’ mean?
When was Christianity introduced to Britain?
What are the names of 7 kingdoms?
Who is Beowulf? Was he a real Englishman?
DATA BASE - BEGINNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
In OE two alphabets were used: the Runic and the Latin. A few runic documents have come down to us.
The main use of runes was to make short inscriptions on objects, often to bestow on them some special power or magic. The two best known runic inscriptions in England are the earliest extant OE written records.
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