ash.p3.t8/Anglo-Saxon Synthesis Question

Grace Giberson

Katie Whitworth

Josh Roquemore

Victoria Carlos

Taci Chin-Robinson

The Anglo-Saxon people were from three Germanic nations of the Anglos, Saxons, and the Jutes, who arrived on the island of Britain and conquered the land of the Celtic people: the Scots and the Picts. The Anglo-Saxons were a warrior people and the earliest of their ancestors were generally pagan. Their slow overtaking of the island of Britain led to their eventual conversion to Christianity, aided by European missionaries. This slow conversion of religion steeped into the beliefs, rituals, and literature of the Anglo-Saxon people. This struggle of beliefs, and progression of one general consensus to another can be seen in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. In the story, the narrator is believed and understood to be a practicing Christian, but the story is telling of pagan encounters. The story of the hero Beowulf displays the warrior code of honor, but also makes no attempt of hiding the narrator’s overtly Christian beliefs. In the beginning of the poem the author reproaches the fact that people were giving offerings to pagan gods in order to rid themselves of Grendel, and goes on to hope that people should find the Christian God’s blessings in the afterlife. However the poem continues and displays Beowulf’s feats as being extremely heroic and benevolent, a trait that is seen to stem from the Anglo-Saxon code of honor and their fundamental pagan beliefs. The display that Beowulf earns his status and rises to such a position stems from the Anglo-Saxon code, that great deeds progress someone towards honor. However this is in stark contrast to the Christian emphasis on the afterlife. The conflict that the author faces in his writing is suggestive to the cultural conflict of the time where Paganism was giving way to Christianity.