From Rome to Beowulf

•Greco-Roman contact began

before Julius Caesar’s invasions

in 54 BC.

•Greeks visited the British Isles in

as early as 400 BC

•Greek relics have been found in

English archeological sites.

•This Greecian urn may depict a

scene from the Greeks’

encounters with the Britons and

the Celts.

•Greeks were probably

trading for tin.

The Romans

conquered Briton

in 43 AD, building

roads, baths,

expansive villas

and country

homes, and a 73

mile long

battlement called

Hadrian’s Wall to

contain the fierce

Pict and Celt tribes

of the north.

Christianity took hold in Britain earlier than on the continent. In British

lore, Joseph of Arimathea (the man who owned Jesus’ tomb) came to

Glastonbury, England on the first Christian mission in 63 AD. The legend

says he brought the Holy Grail, which was either a cup, bowl, two cruets,

the spear that pierced Christ or Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s daughter

(Dan Brown’s version). It depends on which story you read.

The Roman legions pulled out of

Britain in 409 AD to defend their

continental borders against the

Visigoth’s and the Vandals,

leaving the pacified, Romanized

Britons (sub-Romans) to face

invading tribes from Ireland and

Scotland and the growing Saxon

threat on the coast of France.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz3OKvt

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98 years earlier, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity after

he defeated Maxentius at Milvian Bridge. In the eight years following

that battle, the official religion of Rome became Christianity, though it

took most of Constantine’s lifetime for it to fully take hold in the

Empire. Constantine himself wasn’t baptized until days before his

death.

Some Roman Britons stayed

behind. St. Patrick was one. He

was a soldier who had been

captured and enslaved by Gaels

(the Irish). He escaped after six

years, but returned by choice after

becoming a Christian to convert

them. Patrick launched an Irish

monastic movement that

including St. Brendan and St. Erc.

Anglo Saxons invaders came in the late 5th century from Northern

France , Germany and Denmark. The drove the Britons West into

Wales and Bristol.

The Celts and the Britons

put up a valiant effort from

the Germanic invaders, but

were eventually pushed

Westward on the Island and

suffered repeated attacks

from the Picts and the

Gaels.

The hero of the Britons was

King Arthur, a largely fictional

king who may have had his

origins in Romano-Brit soldier

who stayed when the Roman

legions left. Chrétien De

Troyes, a French poet,

solidified Arthur’s reputation in

the 12th Century. We will learn

more about this later.

The first Anglo-Saxon invaders were

pagans. Remarkable artifacts have been

discovered in their burial sites like this

glass drinking horn and the garnet pendant,

The Anglo-Saxons were

converted to Christianity,

first on the continent around

600 AD. They brought their

faith to the British Isles. The

Saxons embraced the

violent, vengeful imagery of

the Old Testament. The New

Testament was a harder sell.

This is where Beowulf

comes into play.

Beowulf manuscript AD 1000

Beowulf was a Saxon legend, transmitted orally, but

written down by an Northumbrian monk around 700 AD.

The monk emphasized Christian elements in this earlier

pagan story.

Beowulf is written in Old English, a mixture of Anglo-

Saxon with some Latinate words. Listen to this Old

English translation of a familiar piece of writing. See if you

can guess what it is.

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum

si þin nama gehalgod

tobecume þin rice

gewurþe þin willa

on eorðan swa swa on heofonum

urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg

and forgyf us ure gyltas

swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum

and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge

ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

Click here to hear Old English

DaVinci Code-ish thinking has popularized a view that Christian monks

perverted pure and wholesome Pagan culture to further the ends of the

Roman church.

For an alternate view, read this quote from noted medievalist Kemp Malone:

“The monkish author, devout Christian though he is, finds much

admire in the pagan cultural traditional which, as an Englishman,

he inherited from ancient Germania. It is his purpose to glorify this

heroic heritage, this spiritual heirloom, this precious birthright of

his nation. He accomplishes this purpose by laying stress upon

those things in Germanic tradition which agree with Christianity.

In particular, his hero in all he says and does, shows himself high-

minded, gentle and virtuous, a man dedicated to the heroic life. The

poet presents this life in terms of service: Beowulf serves his lord,

his people and all mankind, and in so doing he does not shrink

from hardship, dangers, and death itself.”