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ELA 12: Welcome to Anglo-Saxon England 92 Views
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Description:
It's a tale as old as time, Beauty and the er—sorry. Beowulf . Just him...and nothing else. Hey, cut the story some slack, it's like a thousand years old.
Transcript
- 00:04
When you read Beowulf for the first time, you should prepare yourself for a culture shock. [Guy gets struck by lightning from a cloud with culture written on it]
- 00:09
Heck, the story's over a thousand years old, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the characters
- 00:13
are pretty different from you and your friends.
- 00:15
And if they're not different from you and your friends then, uh…
- 00:18
you've got some…interesting… Germanic warrior friends there… [Guy in a picture with Germanic warriors]
Full Transcript
- 00:23
Anyway, assuming that's not the case, you're probably just as unfamiliar with their practices
- 00:26
and customs as they would be with iPhones and selfie sticks. [Guy using his selfie stick to take a picture of him and the warriors]
- 00:30
Though, to be fair, selfie sticks were pretty weird, even five years ago.
- 00:33
However, the more you learn about these folks, the more at home you'll be in the world of Beowulf.
- 00:38
Not that you'd want to call it home; there wasn't much in the ways of
- 00:41
indoor plumbing in Anglo-Saxon England. [Guy looking for the shower]
- 00:44
Never walk barefoot around the edges of the castle there…just…trust us. [Guy with muddy feet]
- 00:50
Okay, first things first: who are the Anglo-Saxons? Well they're descended from a mix of people who
- 00:55
were indigenous to Great Britain, as well as a whole bunch of [Great Britain circled on the map]
- 00:59
Germanic tribes that migrated from other parts of Europe. [Migration routes shown by arrows]
- 01:02
Border crossing was a lot easier in those days, what with the lack of passports, or
- 01:06
paper work, or even…borders.
- 01:08
Among these incoming Germanic tribes were some Scandinavian tribes
- 01:12
that moved to England around the fifth century.
- 01:14
We just happen to meet some members of these tribes in Beowulf. [Arrows showing the beginning and end locations of Beowulf]
- 01:18
As you might expect, these folks had some definite cultural values and traditions, many
- 01:23
of which fall under the umbrella of Germanic warrior culture… [Umbrella falls down with Germanic warrior culture written on it]
- 01:26
…because surprisingly enough, Germanic knitting culture doesn't come up much in Beowulf, so
- 01:31
we'll focus on the warrior culture. [Old guy angrily knitting]
- 01:34
For one thing, there was a very clear power structure. The ruler supreme is the lord.
- 01:38
He – and yes, it was always a he –… [Sexist stamp]
- 01:41
….would protect the people in his territory with the help of his thanes:
- 01:45
a group of men who pledged loyalty to him. [Group of Thanes appear]
- 01:48
That loyalty was guaranteed by rewarding the thanes with the spoils of war: jewelry, weapons,
- 01:54
roasted potatoes… ya know whatever they got.
- 01:56
A lord who gave his men only twigs and piles of leaves would not remain a lord for long. [Thane says he's going to kill the lord]
- 02:02
Women had a place in political affairs, too, but unfortunately more as objects than as…
- 02:07
y'know, people with actual agency. [Sexist stamp]
- 02:10
A society that treated women like objects. Real original, guys. What's next, pillaging
- 02:15
and plundering in cloaks and funny hats?
- 02:17
Haha, guess so...
- 02:19
When feuding lords were ready to make peace, one might give the other one their sister
- 02:24
as a guarantee of that peace. That sister would be called a peace weaver, but no matter [Lord hands his sister over, she has a peaceweaver name badge]
- 02:29
what you called them, it wasn't a lot of fun for the ladies. [Sexist stamp]
- 02:34
So no matter how irritating your brother might be,
- 02:36
at least he's not giving you away to a lord in exchange for peace.
- 02:41
One value that was particularly prized among German warriors – apart from loyalty to
- 02:46
your lord – was stoicism: that is, being able to endure pain or difficulties without
- 02:51
showing your emotions. [Man is hit in the eye with an arrow and doesn't react]
- 02:53
As you might imagine, Germanic warriors weren't big on talk therapy.
- 02:57
No Dr. Phil back then... [Warrior talking to Dr. Phil]
- 02:59
They also put a lot of importance on a warrior's words matching their deeds. Did you boast
- 03:04
that you're going to kill that horrible monster that's roving around the countryside?
- 03:08
Well, you'd better get out there and kill it, or you'll suffer a fate worse than getting
- 03:12
torn apart by a monster: embarrassment. [The woman is crushed by the monsters foot]
- 03:16
Now that we've got a fuller grasp on Germanic warrior culture,
- 03:18
understanding Beowulf will be a lot easier. [Guy smiling as he says he almost understands the book]
- 03:21
Definitely easier than teaching a Germanic warrior how
- 03:23
to use a selfie stick as something other than a weapon. [Warriors chasing a guy holding selfie sticks like spears]
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