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The “Anglo-Saxons”: History, Legacy and Myth
February 17, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
In April 2021, a congresswoman from Georgia moved to declare the United States an “Anglo-Saxon nation” (the House of Representatives suppressed the move). And in September, the French president withdrew France’s ambassador from Washington, D.C., enraged at what he called the U.S. preference for alliance with “the Anglo-Saxon world” over its 250-year alliance with France. These offhand and seemingly innocuous comments raise a number of interesting questions. Why do references to medieval English peoples collectively known as “Anglo-Saxons” appear so frequently in modern times? Is it just shorthand for the English-speaking nations of the world, or is there more to it than that? Who were the Anglo-Saxons anyway, and what, if any, is their significance for us today, a thousand years after they were soundly defeated and brutally suppressed by their Norman conquerors? This course will examine these questions and more—discovering as we do just who and what the Anglo-Saxons were and why they remain an important thread in the complex story of Western culture.
Class 1, Jan. 27: The Germanic invasions of Britain and the rise of the seven “Anglo-Saxon” kingdoms, ca. 400-800
Class 2, Feb. 3rd: The Viking invasions and the emergence of a centralized “English” (or “Anglish”) monarchy, ca. 800-1066
Class 3, Feb. 10th: Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon king, and the Norman Conquest of 1066: Legacy of the Anglo-Saxons
Class 4, Feb. 17th: The evolution of the modern myth of the “Anglo-Saxon nations”
Requirements: There are no requirements for taking this course other than an interest in the topic. There will be weekly readings that will be provided by the instructor. Students will also be invited to watch a recent Netflix video, The Dig, before the first class if possible. And those interested will be invited to watch a video production (provided by the instructor) of Beowulf as it would have been performed (not read) in a 9th-century English hall.
Instructor: Dr. Mary Magray (click link for bio)
Offline Registration: Download PDF Registration Form, complete and mail in with payment.