Lesson video

Hello, welcome to history here at Oak National Academy.

I'm Mr. Newton and I will be your teacher for today.

And thank you for joining me for this topic on Anglo-Saxon and Norman England.

Right.

Let's get started.

We will be thinking about our big inquiry question, who had power in Anglo-Saxon England? This is the question we will use to investigate what England was like before the Normans invaded in 1066.

We know that the Anglo-Saxons were a warrior people, but they had also created intricate works of art and had a wealthy economy.

We have seen that the Anglo-Saxons had a hierarchical social structure, with the king, the earls, the thegns, the peasants, and the slaves.

In today's lesson, we will focus on the person at the top of Anglo-Saxon society, the monarch.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain how powerful Edward the Confessor was.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords we need to understand.

The fyrd was an army which consisted of part-time soldiers called up by thegns and earls when ordered by the king.

A shire reeve, or sheriff, was a king's legal officer who enforced laws in a shire.

Piety is strong religious faith that is shown in the way someone lives.

The Danelaw was an area in Anglo-Saxon England which had previously been invaded and settled by Danes, Vikings, and had retained some laws and customs that were different from southern England.

And finally, the Witan was a group of leading aristocrats who advised the king.

Today's lesson is split into three parts.

First, we will look at the powers of the monarch and the powers of a king such as Edward the Confessor.

Then we'll look at challenges to that power, before finally looking at the Witan.

Right, let's start with the first part of the lesson, the powers of the monarch.

An Anglo-Saxon monarch had a duty to protect their people, maintain a peaceful society, and uphold law and order.

For Anglo-Saxon kings, this usually involved being a skillful warrior, fighting off Viking invaders, and rewarding his followers.

For the people who enjoyed the peace and security the king provided, it was their duty to be loyal and serve their king.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? It was not the duty of the king to maintain peace in the kingdom.

Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, the king had a duty to uphold order and protect their people, usually by fighting off invaders, or B, the king had a duty to uphold order and protect their people, usually by personally arresting criminals? Pause the video, select the correct answer, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew that was A, the king had a duty to uphold order and protect their people, usually by fighting off invaders.

Okay, let's continue.

So Anglo-Saxon kings, such as Edward the Confessor, had the following powers.

The first power was the power of taxation, to tax people.

The king decided when taxes were paid and ensured everyone paid.

The king could use this money for himself to run the country and support his army.

Another power that the king had was military power.

The king commanded an army.

The king had the ability to order men from around the country to join his army.

They were called the fyrd.

The king also controlled money.

The king controlled how much money was produced.

If someone wanted to use money, they had to spend the king's coins.

Another power of the king was land.

So the king controlled land ownership.

The king held large areas of land.

He gave land to those loyal to him, but could also take it away.

Since most people's survival and wealth were linked to land ownership, this gave the king great control over the kingdom.

The king also had the power to make laws.

The king had the authority to create and enforce laws.

These laws kept order across his kingdom or created new taxes.

The king sent out shire reeves, sheriffs, to collect taxes and run local courts.

Another power that the king drew from was piety.

People believed that the king was appointed by God to be their rightful ruler of the land.

So we can see some of the powers of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy and the art of being an Anglo-Saxon king was how they use these powers.

Edward the Confessor, the King of England in 1060, was not a traditional warrior king.

So he relied less on his personal military strength and more on land ownership.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is fill in the correct missing words, and I've provided you with those powers of the monarchy in those boxes and you just need to fill in the blanks.

Pause the video, fill in the correct missing words, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Let's check those correct answers.

So the first one was tax, the power to decide when they should be raised.

And the next box should have read military, the power to order men from around the country to join his army, the fyrd.

The next box was money, the power to mint coins.

Next box was land, the power to reward followers with land and to take land away as a punishment.

Then the next box should have read law, to create laws and use shire reeves to enforce them.

And the final box was piety, appointed by God to be the rightful ruler of the land.

Okay, let's continue.

Edward had given large areas of land to his earls and thegns whom he relied on to protect his kingdom.

Have a look at the map.

It shows the land held by King Edward and his earls in 1065.

Look at the pie chart at the top.

The peachy orange section I've highlighted with the purple arrow, this shows the small percentage of land that Edward held.

The rest of the pie, he gave to his earls and thegns, with the understanding that they remain loyal to him.

As we've seen, Edward was not a traditional warrior king.

Instead, Edward got his legitimacy as king through his piety and lawmaking.

Edward was a respected lawmaker and his people could feel safe that he was keeping the kingdom peaceful.

People also believed Edward's piety could help prevent God from punishing England for the people's sins.

This all encouraged people to be loyal and fight for Edward because they believed it was part of God's plan for them to do this.

The image on the left is a detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing Edward the Confessor alongside Westminster Abbey, the cathedral that he had built.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following best describes Edward the Confessor? A, a powerful warrior king with little piety.

B, not a traditional warrior king who gave large areas of lands away.

C, a lawmaking king who controlled most of the land in England.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Well done if you knew that was B.

He wasn't a traditional warrior king and he gave large areas of lands away.

Okay, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is explain why each of the following provided Edward the Confessor with control over his kingdom.

So I've given you three things that I want further explanation.

So tell me something about how the army helped Edward control his kingdom.

Tell me something about the laws and piety.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Now there's many ways you could have answered this question, but compare your answer with what I have here.

So let's have a look at the first one, army.

Commanding the army gave Edward the Confessor the ability to order men from around the country to join his army, the fyrd.

Edward was a respected lawmaker and his people could feel safe that he was keeping the kingdom peaceful.

He sent shire reeves, sheriffs, to enforce his laws and run local courts.

And then the final explanation.

Edward got his legitimacy as king through his piety.

People believed he was appointed by God to be the rightful ruler.

Edward's piety could help prevent God from punishing England from its people's sins.

This encouraged people to be loyal and fight for Edward because they believed it was part of God's plan to do this.

Okay, great.

So now we understand some of the powers that an Anglo-Saxon king can have, but let's now look at some of the limitations to that power.

Let's have a look at the challenges to the power of the monarch.

So as I've mentioned, there were limitations to the power of the Anglo-Saxon monarch, and some monarchs were better than others at handling these challenges.

In many ways, despite his legitimacy, Edward the Confessor was not in a strong position as king and faced serious challenges to his power.

For starters, half of Edward's kingdom was under the Danelaw.

Have a look at the map.

You can see the red-dotted lines on the map.

These represent the borders of the Danelaw.

This area had been invaded and settled in by the Danes, the Vikings.

It included all of Northumbria, East Anglia, and most of Mercia.

Although people in the Danelaw now accepted Edward's rule, this had limits.

The Danelaw had some different laws and customs from southern England, and things were easier for an Anglo-Saxon king if the people they chose to govern the Danelaw were from that area, or at least respected its laws and customs. Another limitation to the power of an Anglo-Saxon king were the powerful earls.

Earl Godwin was the Earl of Wessex, the richest and most powerful earldom in the kingdom.

Ruling over Wessex and other earldoms, Godwin and his family had gained enormous wealth, with many thegns loyal to them.

This gave them great military power as well.

The truth was that Earl Godwin and his family were more powerful than the king.

Edward had spent most of his life, before becoming king, in exile in Normandy.

He did not have many loyal followers in England.

Therefore, Edward needed Godwin's support to rule England.

And in return, he married Godwin's daughter Edith, and made Godwin's sons the earls of much of southern England.

Have a look at the map.

The pink bits represent the land held by the Godwin family.

We can also see from the pie chart at the bottom that Godwin and his family controlled almost half of the kingdom.

The power of the king was also dependent on his ability to command allegiance from the people.

The monarch's authority depended on people who were willing to obey the king's laws, fight for the king in the fyrd, pay taxes to the king, and use the king's coins.

This did not just happen on its own.

To ensure allegiance, Edward made every boy swear an oath, a sacred promise, to be loyal to him.

An oath for Anglo-Saxons was a very serious matter.

Oath breakers risked losing their status and the respect of their community, friends, and family.

However, Edward knew people might have more loyalty to their earl than to him.

It was risky for him to challenge his earls.

So we can see Anglo-Saxon kings had to keep a careful balance of commanding allegiance from his people but also from his earls.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Edward relied on Godwin's support.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, good, and well done if you knew that was true.

But why was that true? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it true because A, Godwin was the most powerful earl in England, or B, Godwin was the greatest warrior in England? Pause the video, select the correct answer, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that Edward relied on Godwin's support because Godwin was the most powerful earl in England.

Okay, let's have another check.

How was Edward the Confessor's power limited? Was it A, by a parliament of leading men? B, by powerful earls who controlled thegns and armies.

C, he shared his power with the other kingdoms. Pause video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was B, Edward's power was limited by powerful earls who controlled thegns and armies.

Okay, let's move on to task B.

What I want you to do is create three mind-maps detailing the challenges that Edward faced as king.

So I want you to create a mind-map on the Danelaw, powerful earls, and allegiance of the people.

And this will give us a picture of the challenges that Edward faced as a king.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Now of course, there are many ways that you could have created your mind-maps.

You could have even created them with bullet-pointed lists.

But compare some of the points I've made here with my mind-maps with your own answers.

Okay, firstly, let's have a look at the Danelaw.

So we could have said that people in the Danelaw wanted their own local men to govern their area.

And of course, this would cause a challenge to Edward as king.

We could have said half of the country had once been controlled by Viking settlers.

And that the Danelaw had some different laws and customs from southern England.

All of this is creating challenges to an Anglo-Saxon king, such as Edward the Confessor.

Okay, let's have a look at our next factor, powerful earls.

So we could have mentioned that Edward had married Edith, Earl Godwin's daughter, and this tied him to the Godwin family.

Could have said that Edward needed the support of Godwin and his sons in order to rule.

And that Godwin and his family had many thegns loyal to them, and this gave them military power.

Finally, we could have said that Earl Godwin was just as rich as the king.

So all of these add into the factor of powerful earls challenging the power of the king.

Okay, and finally, let's look at allegiance of the people.

How does the need to have the allegiance of the people challenge the king? So firstly, people may have had split loyalties in the Danelaw.

In other words, do they feel loyal to an English king or would they rather have a Danish king? Should they follow English laws or would they rather follow Danish laws? We could have also said Edward was not a warrior king, which made him weak.

And this may have made it difficult for him to get the allegiance of the people, to command the allegiance of the people, gain their respect.

We could have mentioned that Edward had spent most of his life in Normandy, so he did not have many loyal followers in England.

Again, making it difficult to command that respect and allegiance from the people.

We could have said, to ensure allegiance, Edward made every boy swear an oath, that Edward felt the need to demand every boy make this oath to ensure their allegiance.

And finally, locals had more loyalty to their earls and thegns.

Would they fight for Edward in the fyrd? So in other words, where did the people's allegiance lie? Was it with the king, or was it with the earls, who were more local to them? So all of these act as challenges to Edward's rule as king.

Okay, excellent.

Let's move on to the third part of the lesson, the Witan.

So the Witan was a group of aristocrats who advised the monarch.

They included earls and the archbishops.

The Witan had a crucial say in selecting the successor to the throne.

They also advised the king on how to deal with threats from abroad, settle religious matters, and deal with arguments over land.

They helped the king to tackle rebels in the kingdom.

The king decided who was part of the Witan and when and where it should meet.

Now the king did not have to follow the Witan's advice, but a king like Edward needed their support if his earls and subjects were to follow his commands.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? The Witan had more power than the monarch in Anglo-Saxon England.

True or false? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because A, the Witan advised the monarch but they did not have to follow the Witan's advice? B, the Witan had no power at all, and most Anglo-Saxon monarchs did not even bother to have one.

Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Well done if you knew that it was A, the Witan advised the monarch but they did not have to follow the Witan's advice.

Okay, let's have another check here.

Which one of these was a role of the Witan in Anglo-Saxon England? A, to advise the king on various matters.

B, to collect taxes and enforce laws.

C, to launch military invasions.

Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, to advise the king on various matters.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the final task, task C.

What I want you to do here is describe two aspects of the Witan.

Discuss or explain your answer in writing.

Remember, you must provide detailed information to support each aspect.

So you can have this as a discussion or put it in writing.

The main points are you need to identify two aspects and have detailed information to back up and describe those aspects.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Now, once again, you could have answered this question in many ways and you could have chose different aspects.

But compare your answers with what I have here.

Okay, so firstly, one aspect of the Witan was that it was a group of leading aristocrats.

We've identified an aspect there.

Now let's offer some supporting information.

It included earls and archbishops.

They made important decisions such as selecting the monarch.

Let's have a look at another example here.

One aspect of the Witan was that they advised the monarch.

Again, so we've identified an aspect there.

Now let's offer some supporting information.

They advised the monarch on how to deal with threats from abroad, religious matters, and arguments over land.

They helped the king deal with rebels in the kingdom.

Okay, great.

Let's summarise today's lesson, the Anglo-Saxon monarchy.

The king had a duty to protect the kingdom, and in return, the people had a duty to be loyal and obey the laws of the kingdom.

Edward had gained respect by being pious and upholding law and order.

However, Edward the Confessor's powers were challenged by powerful earls who controlled thegns and armies.

The Witan advised the king and selected his successor.

Well done on a brilliant lesson.

Thank you for joining me as we revealed the power of an Anglo-Saxon monarch.

I hope you've learned a lot in this lesson, and I will see you next time when we continue our inquiry into who had power in Anglo-Saxon England.

See you in the next lesson.