Lectures Flashcards
(155 cards)
What was the society structure of Germanic war bands like?
There is a bond between lord and retainers, the comitatus is based on reciprocity: military service and loyalty in return for feasts, protection and treasures
What is the society structure like with kingdoms that have a king?
There is a bond between king and nobleman based on reciprocity: military service for land
Who where the Witan? And what were their functions?
Witan were the nobles, they had 3 functions: advise the king, write the law code together with the king and determine who would be the next king
What did the local government consist of? Who ruled them?
The local government was a subdivision of kingdoms, divided into: earldoms, shires, hundreds. A shire is ruled by a reeve
An earldom is ruled by an earl or an ear domain. A hundreds is ruled by a thegn
What did the 3 estates consist of?
laboratores (farmers, peasants)
oratores (the clergy, pray)
bellatores (the nobles, fight)
what is a feud?
conditions of hostility between individuals or groups within one community caused by wrongs done by one side to the other
In what 3 ways can a feud be settled?
The 3 ways to settle a feud are: revenge, intermarriage and compensation
what was the role of women?
During the anglo-saxon period there was a high opportunity to learn, this was lost after the vikings came. This opportunity only came back in the 19th century.
During the 7th-8th century women were teachers, scholars, monastery head abbess was always a woman. There were female poets who wrote in Latin. Women lead armies: daughter of Alfred the great, æthelflæd.
who was Aldhelm?
Aldhelm was a Anglo-Latin poet wrote highly complex poem: De virginitate at eh bequest of the barking nuns and their abbess Hildelith
Who was Hild?
Hild was the abbes of Whitby during 614-680 and gained great renown as a teacher. She was the head of a ‘double monastery’
What did 5 of Hild’s students become?
Five of her students became bishops: Bosa in York, ætla in Dorchester, Oftfor in Worcester, John of Beverly in Hexham and York, Wilfrid in York
Who is Berhtgyð?
She is the first recorded English poet. She is mentioned in Viat Bonifatii. She also writes letters to her brother Balthard
Who is æthelflæd?
æthelflæd is a woman army leader and the daughter of Alfred the Great. She was also called: Lady of the Mercians. After the death of her husband æthelred, she was the sole ruler of parts of Mercia
æthelflæd builds strongholds, leads armies, kidnaps the Welsh queen in 916. Conquers Derby in 917
who is Lady Godiva?
Lady Godiva was the wife of Earl Leofric of Merci, a wealthy landowner and patron of various churches and monasteries. She rode a horse through the town naked to lower the taxes. She died in 1067
Church and Christianity, what happened on the important dates? 567 - 1020 (5 answers)
567: St. Augustine arrives in Canterbury
600-700: ‘Conversion’
700-800: ‘Golden age of Anglo-Saxon learning’
793-878: Viking raids ‘disrupt’ religious life
c. 960-1020: Benedictine Reform
Of what did the Clergy exist?
Regular Clergy: abbot, abbess, monk, nun
Secular Clergy: archbishop, bishop, priest, deacon
What is a diocese?
The area a bishop rules over
examples: Wulfstan over York
what was the goal of the clergy?
The goal was to try and covert Germanic tribes, examples:
Willibrord tried to convert the anglo-saxons
Bonifatius tried to convert the Frisian, but he got his head chopped off by said Frisians
What were the Saints? How were they treated?
Saints can be divided in: martyr, confessor and virgin. Saints were treated like nowadays celebrities: posters on walls = pictures of saint in church AND go to places celebrities were = saint shires
What was the function of a saint?
A Saint was the spokesperson from God, God could be contacted through a saint
what types of relics were there? what were they used for?
There were primary relics: bones, teeth, hair and secondary relics: items the saint has touched. These relics were used to get healed, and people would swear an oath on said relic
what where the monasteries centres of?
monasteries were the centres of learning: Latin, astronomy and medicine.
Monasteries were centres of wealth: nobles paid for them to pray for the nobles. Monasteries were centres of art, example of this are Lindisfarne gospels: decorated letters, start of conversion, love for animals
What is magic?
the use of ritual activities or observances which are intended to influence the course fo events or to manipulate the natural world, usually involving the use of an occult or secret body of knowledge; sorcery, witchcraft
in what forms was magic used?
Magic was used in forms such as amulets, love potions, curses, prognostication (prediction of the future), charms