History & Origins
Where did the three main Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) migrate from?
Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands
What was the term for the traveling oral poet or storyteller who preserved history and entertained the tribe in the mead-hall?
A Scop
What central building served as the cultural, social, and political heart of the Anglo-Saxon community, where warriors gathered to drink and feast?
The Mead-Hall
Who was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 AD to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, establishing a base in Kent?
St. Augustine of Canterbury
What is Sutton Hoo?
The 1939 Suffolk ship burial site featuring a famous helmet
Who was the West Saxon king who successfully defended England against the Danes and unified the kingdoms?
King Alfred the Great
What is the name of the largest surviving collection of Old English poetry, which includes famous elegies like 'The Wanderer'?
The Exeter Book
What was the sacred Germanic code of loyalty between a king or warlord and his warriors (thanes), where absolute loyalty was rewarded with treasure?
Comitatus
What pagan Anglo-Saxon concept refers to the absolute, unyielding power of fate or destiny that governs human life?
Wyrd
What is the Bayeux Tapestry?
The 230-foot embroidered cloth depicting the Norman Conquest.
What historic chronological record of English history was initiated during the reign of Alfred the Great?
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
What structural poetic device uses a metaphorical compound phrase in place of a single noun, such as calling the sea a 'whale-road'?
Kenning
Literally meaning 'man-price,' what legal system of reparations allowed an individual to pay financial compensation to a victim's family to prevent a bloody blood feud?
Wergild
What modern linguistic label is given to the vernacular Germanic language spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons?
Old English
What are illuminated manuscripts?
Highly decorated medieval religious texts like the Lindisfarne Gospels
In what year did the Anglo-Saxon period officially end with the Norman Conquest at the Battle of Hastings?
The Year 1066
What type of poem mourns the loss of a loved one, the past, or a fading way of life, heavily characterizing Old English poetry?
An Elegy
What were the two primary social classes below the king, representing the warrior nobility and the free peasant laborers respectively?
Thanes and Churls
Before adopting the Roman alphabet through Christian missionaries, what distinct alphabet system did Anglo-Saxons use for brief inscriptions on weapons, stone, or bone?
Runes
What is the Staffordshire Hoard?
The massive Anglo-Saxon gold and silver treasure found in 2009
What collective name is given to the seven major traditional Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex?
The Heptarchy
What is the technical term for the distinct pause or break in the middle of a line of Anglo-Saxon poetry, splitting it into two half-lines connected by alliteration?
Caesura
What council of wise men, consisting of high-ranking nobles and church officials, advised the Anglo-Saxon kings on laws and royal succession?
The Witan
What historic church council in 664 AD resolved the structural and calendar conflicts between Celtic Christianity and Roman Christianity in favor of Rome?
The Synod of Whitby
What is the Alfred Jewel?
The 9th-century gold reading pointer inscribed by King Alfred