Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons.

What changed after the Romans left? So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe how Christianity returned to the British Isles.

Before we start, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are: pagan, convert, missionary, practises.

I'm gonna say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Pagan, convert, missionary, practises.

Good job.

Let's think about in more detail what these keywords mean.

Here are the definitions for our keywords.

Pagan religious beliefs and practises are those that are different from the main or recognised religions.

To convert someone to a new religion means to change their religious beliefs to that of your own.

A missionary is a person sent on a religious mission, especially to promote Christianity in foreign countries.

Practises are ways of doing something, such as religious rituals like prayer.

Pause the video here to make a note of the keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Christianity's decline and the rise of paganism.

In the first learning cycle, we will explore Christianity's decline and the rise of paganism.

After the Romans left Britain, the religious views of Britain began to change.

Christianity had been popular during Roman rule, archaeologists have found evidence in Romano-British villas of artworks with Christian symbols on.

But once the Romans left, Christianity started to decline.

You can see in the image there the kind of Roman mural with Christian symbols that they might have, the archaeologists might have found.

The Anglo-Saxons brought their pagan beliefs and practises with them.

Their beliefs and practises included worshipping various gods and celebrating nature, which was very different to Christian ideas.

Roman Christians only believed in one god, whereas the Anglo-Saxons believed in many.

Some of these gods included the chief god, Woden, who was the god of wisdom, learning and poetry, Thor, who was the god of the weather, and Tiw, who was the god of war and the sky.

There were goddesses too.

Frigge was the goddess of mothers.

Freyr was the goddess of love, and Eostre was the goddess of the spring.

The impact of these beliefs can be found today in the names we use for the days of the week.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, all come from the Anglo-Saxon pagan gods, Tiw, Woden, Thor and Frigge.

Tiw's day became Tuesday, Woden's day became Wednesday, and so on.

So why did Christianity decline in Britain after the Romans left? Let's pause and check our understanding.

Is it because the Anglo-Saxons destroyed all the Christian churches.

The Romans took the Christian texts back to Rome with them.

The Anglo-Saxons brought their own pagan religious beliefs to Britain with them.

So have a chat to your partner.

What do you think? Why did Christianity decline in Britain after the Romans left? If you said, the Anglo-Saxons brought their own pagan religious beliefs to Britain with them, that is absolutely right.

Well done.

Let's take a look at this second statement.

The Anglo-Saxons had Christian beliefs when they arrived in Britain.

Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think? If you said false, that's absolutely right.

How would we justify our answer? The Anglo-Saxons had pagan beliefs and believed in one god.

The Anglo-Saxons had pagan beliefs and believed in many gods.

Which of those two sentences helps to justify our answer? Have a quick discussion with your partner, which would you choose? If you said, the Anglo-Saxons had pagan beliefs and believed in many gods, that's right, well done.

Now that brings us to our first learning task for this lesson.

You are going to need a pen and some paper for this task.

I'd like you to write a sentence to describe one difference between the Anglo-Saxon pagan religion and Christianity, to have a think, one difference between Anglo-Saxon pagan religion and Christianity.

If you'd like to pause the video now and restart it after you've written your sentence.

How was that? Shall we take a look at an example? So you could have written, the Anglo-Saxons believed in many gods, whereas Christians only believed in one god.

Well done if you wrote something similar.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

We're going to look at Augustine and the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons.

The Pope in Rome who had noticed the decline of Christianity in Britain decided to do something about it.

He chose a determined monk called Augustine to embark on a mission to make the people of the British Isles Christian again.

Augustine was a very faithful person.

if you said true, that's absolutely right, well done.

If we're gonna justify our answer, have a talk to your partner, which do you think helps to do that? He was sent by the Pope to convert the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He went to convert the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms because he felt it was his religious duty.

Hmm.

Talk to your partner.

Which of those two sentences helps to justify your answer? Good job, if you said, he was sent by the Pope to convert the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, fantastic.

This brings us to our second learning task of this lesson.

I would like you to write a short letter to Augustine from the Pope to explain what his mission is.

So you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen, and I'd like you to pause the video and have a think about what you would write in your letter to Augustine from the Pope.

What did the Pope ask Augustine to do? What was Augustine's mission? So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to write out short letter.

You could have a discussion with your partner first to think about what you are going to write, and then when you are ready, restart the video to continue.

How did that go? Did you manage to write out your letter okay? Let's take a look at what you could have written.

Remembering to start your letter with, "Dear Augustine," "The Anglo-Saxons have arrived in Britain and have brought their pagan practises with them.

This means Christianity is declining.

I am sending you on a mission to convert the Anglo-Saxon kings back to Christianity, starting with King Aethelbert of Kent.

I trust you because you are very faithful and loyal to Christianity.

Yours, The Pope." Well done if you wrote something similar in your letter.

We're now ready to move on to the final part of this lesson.

In this learning cycle, we're going to look at Scots, the Irish missionaries and the Synod of Whitby.

While the Anglo-Saxons were setting up kingdoms in Britain, the Scots, originally from Ireland, began settling in Western Scotland.

This began around 400 CE.

The Scots also followed Christian religious practises.

They had been working as Christian missionaries since around 500 CE, spreading the word of Christianity across Scotland and even in the north of England.

There was one missionary known as Columbanus, who played a big part in reintroducing Christian beliefs in places far from where Augustine travelled.

True or false? Saint Augustine was the only missionary converting people in Britain to Christianity.

Have a think.

Is that true or false? That is of course false.

He wasn't the only one.

But how do we justify our answer? Irish missionaries like St Columbanus, were also converting others to Christianity.

Scottish missionaries were also converting others to Christianity.

Which of those two sentences helps to justify your answer? Have a chat with your partner and see which one you think helps to justify our answer.

If you said Irish missionaries like St Columbanus were also converting others to Christianity, you are absolutely right, well done.

Following Augustine and the missionaries' work, Christianity was returning to the British Isles, but there was a problem.

Two main forms of Christianity were practised, the Roman way, which followed the instructions of the Pope and which Augustine had brought, and the Celtic way, which had been introduced by the Irish missionaries.

So we have the way in which was followed by the Pope and the one that Augustine had brought, and then the Celtic Way, introduced by the Irish missionaries.

These two forms had different practises and traditions.

For example, they disagreed on the date to celebrate Easter and had their own way of tonsuring, shaving their monks' heads.

Roman churches also used Latin as the language when worshipping , whereas Celtic churches used local languages.

So lots of differences.

The Synod of Whitby, an important meeting in 664 CE, was held to solve this problem.

Hilda of Whitby, a big supporter of the Celtic form, hosted the meeting at Whitby Abbey, where she was in charge.

Known for her wisdom, Hilda made sure that the meeting remained peaceful and fair, even though she personally liked the Celtic practises more than the Roman.

Let's have a look at this statement and check our understanding.

Celtic Christianity and Roman Christianity were the same.

Is that true or false? Have a think.

If you said false, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

How do we justify our answer? They disagreed on what the holy book of Christianity was, or, they disagreed over some practises, such as the dates of Easter.

Discuss this with your partner.

Which of these two sentences helps to justify your answer? If you said they disagreed over some practises, such as the dates of Easter, that's correct, good job.

Another question, just to check that we've got all of this information stored in our heads.

What was the Synod of Whitby? A violent battle between Celtic Christians and Roman Christians.

A meeting to decide the standard practises of Christianity in Britain.

A large Christian building in Whitby.

What was the Synod of Whitby? Hmm, have a think.

It was indeed a meeting to decide the standard practises of Christianity in Britain.

Well done.

Can you remember where they met? They met in Whitby Abbey.

So it wasn't a large building.

Well done.

At the Synod of Whitby, after much discussion, it was decided that Roman Catholic practises would be the ones that all British Christians would follow.

I wonder how people felt at the end after that.

So let's just make sure that that information is in our minds.

What was decided at the Synod of Whitby? That Celtic Christianity would be the form of Christianity people would follow in Britain.

That Roman Christianity would be the form of Christianity people would follow in Britain, or a mix of Celtic and Roman Christianity would be the form of Christianity people would follow in Britain.

Which is the correct answer? What was decided at the Synod of Whitby? Hmm, have a think.

If you said that Roman Christianity would be the form of Christianity people would follow in Britain, that's correct, well done.

This brings us to our last learning task of this lesson.

I would like you to pause the video here to give yourself enough time to list three differences between Roman Christianity and Celtic Christianity.

How was that? Did you manage to think of three differences? Let's have a look at what you could have written.

So firstly, they disagreed on the dates of Easter.

Secondly, Roman Christianity delivered services in Latin, whereas Celtic Christianity delivered services in local languages.

And finally, they disagreed on how monks should shave their heads.

Some interesting differences there between Roman Christianity and Celtic Christianity.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the conversion of the British Isles.

When the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons brought pagan beliefs, leading to Christianity's decline in Britain.

Augustine was sent by the Pope to convert the Anglo-Saxon kings to Christianity.

The Scots from Ireland settled in Scotland, while Irish missionaries spread Christianity across Scotland and northern England.

The Synod of Whitby in 664 CE decided that Roman practises would be the standard form of Christianity across the British Isles.

Well done.

That was a lot of information within this lesson.

And thank you so much for joining me, I really look forward to seeing you at the next lesson.

See you next time.