Had the Angles and Saxons not purposefully migrated to the isles of the Britons and brought with them their already-well-developed use of language, Angelina Jolie may never have appeared in the movie Beowulf. Professor Michael D.C. Drout is at his best when lecturing on the fascinating history, language, and societal adaptations of the Anglo-Saxons. He not only presents their storytelling abilities using their own words; he does so in their own voice—the incredibly melodious Old English. Drout’s scholarship and recognized expertise on this subject is of the highest caliber.
Lecture 1 The Anglo-Saxons and Their World
Lecture 2 Language and Culture
Lecture 3 The Migration and the Germanic Past
Lecture 4 The Conversion: The School of Theodore and Hadrian
Lecture 5 The “Golden Age” and the Venerable Bede: Double Monasteries, Missionaries, Conversion, and the Making of Beautiful Books
Lecture 6 The Viking Age: Destruction and Revival
Lecture 7 King Alfred and the Rebuilding: The Rescue and Consolidation of a Kingdom
Lecture 8 The Years of Reform
Lecture 9 Anglo-Saxon Literature: Religious
Lecture 10 Anglo-Saxon Literature: Personal, Wisdom, and Riddles
Lecture 11 Anglo-Saxon Literature: Epic and Heroic
Lecture 12 The Norman Conquest and the End of Anglo-Saxon England
Lecture 13 From the Norman Conquest to the Reformation: The Use of Anglo-Saxon
Lecture 14 From Thomas Jefferson to Angelina Jolie: The Long Life of Anglo-Saxon
Dr. Drout is a superb teacher who does an outstanding job of organizing the material and presenting it in a way that is both accessible and substantive. He begins many of the lectures with an excerpt in Old English so that you can hear the authentic sound of that world. Even if you think you aren't going to be interested in this topic, I can almost guarantee that you will be once you start listening!