Our Anglo-Saxon unit is complete! I am very proud of the work these students have accomplished by reading the full text of "Beowulf." In verse translation, no less! This is something that I hope each student will recognize as quite an achievement.
Now, we transition to the Medieval period, which will occupy our attention until the end of the quarter. The Norman influence in England through the ascension to the English throne of William the Conqueror cannot be understated. The mixing, blending, and, at times, competition of Anglo-Saxon and Norman cultures yielded aesthetic developments in literature, the evolution of Old English into Middle English, and was responsible for the fascinating developments in the ideas of individual rights and the relationship of church and state. What winds up getting realized 500 years later at the birth of our nation and the writing of our Constitution truly hails all the way back to the ideas being circulated during the Medieval period in England. Exciting stuff.
We started our unit by creating individual coats of arms. Heraldry symbolizes the virtues of the bearer through an elaborate system of visual codes. Coats of arms were used during the Medieval era to identify family groups. Each student researched and composed their own beautiful designs.
Our literary reading begins with Anglo-Norman romances, adventure tales of King Arthur and his knights. These stories are closely related to "Beowulf;" they are hero stories which reveal the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons and, at the same time, new French attitudes. Just as "Beowulf" shows us how Christianity came to play a part in England, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Le Morte d'Arthur" show the transitioning times as England comes to be ruled by French nobility.
