Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

I'm Mr. Newton and I will be your teacher for the entirety of this lesson guiding you right to the end.

Right, let's get started.

We'll 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 have created a wealthy economy with their agricultural industry and international trade, and this had boosted development in the towns and villages.

We know that the king held great powers over the lords, the army and land ownership.

However, we also saw how the king had limits to his powers.

Edward the Confessor had relied on his earls, such as the Godwins.

He gave them land and in return they helped him to rule the country.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain what the uprising against Tostig in 1065 reveals about who held power in Anglo-Saxon England.

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

An uprising is an act of opposition, sometimes using violence, by many people in one area of a country against those who are in power.

Danegeld was a tax raised to give to the Danes, the Vikings, to prevent further invasions.

Housecarls were the elite soldiers that guarded important people.

Nobles were people with a high rank in Anglo-Saxon society.

Earls, bishops, thegns, et cetera.

So today's lesson is split into three parts.

Firstly, we'll look at the causes of the uprising against Earl Tostig.

Then we'll go on to look at the actual events, before finally finishing with the consequences of the uprising.

Right, let's start with what caused an uprising against Earl Tostig.

As you will remember, Tostig Godwinson had been given the large northern earldom of Northumbria in 1055, and this was as part of the rising influence of the House of Godwin.

Northumbria was strategically important because it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish or Viking invaders.

Northumbria was also in the Danelaw.

If you have a look at the map, you can see the red dotted lines which show the borders of the Danelaw.

This was the area that had been invaded and settled by Danes leading to different laws and customs from Southern England.

The previous Earl of Northumbria had been from the area, and this is what the people of the Danelaw preferred.

By the 1060s, there were increasing complaints which eventually led to an uprising against the rule of this southern earl, Tostig.

Okay, let's check for understanding.

What was the Danelaw? Was it A, a set of laws established by Tostig in Northumbria? B, a region in Northern England influenced by Danish laws and customs? Or C, a region in Southern England influenced by Danish laws and customs? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, great, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was B, a region in Northern England influenced by Danish laws and customs. Okay, let's have another check.

I want you to complete this sentence with the correct name.

Pause the video, insert the correct name, and then come right back.

Okay, great, welcome back.

Let's read how that sentence should look.

"Tostig Godwinson had been given the large northern earldom of Northumbria in 1055 as part of the rising influence of the House of Godwin." Okay, let's continue.

Let's use this map to take a closer look at the causes of the uprising against Tostig.

Tostig was from Wessex, in the South, and was seen as an outsider who didn't respect the Danelaw's customs. This is one of the causes of the resentment of Tostig in Northumbria.

So Tostig spent much of his time at King Edward's court in the South.

Meanwhile, the Scots raided Northumbria and Tostig did not retaliate.

Tostig also introduced new taxes to Northumbria.

Now, the Danelaw had always paid lower taxes.

They did not pay Danegeld.

This was a tax raised to give to the Danes to prevent further invasions.

But Tostig introduced taxes in Northumbria which included the Danegeld.

Furthermore, Tostig abused his powers.

He was accused of stealing from the Church, killing his rivals and seizing their lands.

In 1064, Tostig invited two of his rivals to York to discuss peace where he double crossed them and had them murdered.

Soon after, their lord travelled south to complain at King Edward's court.

But Tostig's sister, Queen Edith, ordered his assassination.

This was the final event that triggered the uprising.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following actions contributed to Tostig's unpopularity? Select two correct answers.

A, introducing southern-style taxes.

B, murdering rivals.

C, respecting Danelaw customs. D, stealing land from Scotland.

Pause the video, select two correct answers, and come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was a A, Tostig introduced southern-style taxes, including the Danegeld, and B, murdering rivals and stealing land and things like that.

This made him very unpopular in Northumbria.

Okay, let's move on to Task A.

What I want you to do is read the following paragraph and highlight the following in the text.

So you can see I've given you a paragraph at the bottom and I want you to highlight the following things.

Firstly, I want you to highlight the points made about causes.

Perhaps you could choose a colour such as red to highlight those points.

Secondly, I then want you to highlight the evidence used to support the points.

Again, perhaps choose a different colour such as yellow.

And finally, I want you to highlight the explanations of significance, or why it's important.

So get your highlighters out or your coloured pens and go through that paragraph indicating where the points, the evidence and the explanations are.

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

Okay, great, welcome back.

Okay, let's go through the paragraph.

"One cause of the uprising against Earl Tostig was that he was seen as an outsider from the South of England." And you can see I've highlighted this as a point.

This is one of the key points or the causes of the uprising, that Tostig is seen as an outsider linked to the south.

"Northumbria was in the Danelaw and the people preferred to be ruled by a local leader who respected their laws and customs." And as I've already mentioned, that's clearly the evidence which backs up the point made of Tostig being an outsider.

The fact that Tostig was not from the Danelaw and Northumbria, these people preferred to be ruled by a local leader.

Okay, let's read on.

"Tostig introduced new southern-style taxes." So now this represents a further point, so another cause for the resentment in Northumbria and eventual uprising.

So let's see the evidence to back that up.

"This created much anger among the Northumbrians who were used to paying lower taxes.

As a result, there was already a lot of resentment and anger against Tostig before he started murdering his rivals." So the final sentence there, just giving that explanation of the significance or the importance of those points and evidence of why we're saying those things.

Those points and evidence are important because they cause the resentment which will lead eventually to an uprising against Earl Tostig.

Okay, great, now we have some context, some background information of that bubbling resentment towards Earl Tostig.

Now let's move to the second part of the lesson and discover what's happened in the uprising.

So I've got another map here and we can use this map to take a closer look at the events of the uprising against Earl Tostig.

In October 1065, a group of 200 armed rebels led by Northumbrian Danes attacked York, the capital of Northumbria.

Typically, Tostig was in the South of England, so the rebels killed Tostig's housecarls and looted all his weapons and coins.

The rebels invited Morcar, the Earl of Mercia's brother, to replace Tostig.

Now the rebels have been talking to the Earl of Mercia about their grievances.

Earl Edwin of Mercia had a brother, Morcar.

The rebels invited Morcar to replace Tostig.

The Earldom of Mercia, the only earldom not controlled by the Godwins, supported the uprising because it would take power away from the House of Godwin.

The uprising soon spread across Northumbria and anyone who was suspected to be a supporter of Tostig was killed.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What event marked the beginning of the uprising against Tostig in 1065? A, assassination ordered by Queen Edith.

B, Edward the Confessor's death.

C, rebels attacking York.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was C, rebels attacking York.

Okay, let's have another check.

Why did the Earldom of Mercia support the uprising? Was it A, to object to earls taking money from taxes? B, to reduce the influence of the House of Godwin? C, to support King Edward's policies? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was B, to reduce the influence of the House of Godwin.

So we can see a bits of politics at play here, a bit of rivalries amongst the different houses and the earls in the country.

Clearly the House of Godwin had huge influence in Anglo-Saxon England at that time, and the Earldom of Mercia saw the resentment in Northumbria as an opportunity to cause havoc in a rival earldom.

Okay, let's move on to Task B.

Below are three features of the 1065 uprising against Tostig.

What I want you to do is provide detailed information to support each feature.

So you can see I provided you with three features and I want you to use your knowledge from the lesson to back up those features with extra, detailed, factual information and evidence.

Show me how much you know about each feature.

Now, you don't need to write an essay, but we're just looking for a sentence or two to support each feature.

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

Okay, great, welcome back.

Now, there's many ways that you could have supported each of those features.

Have a look at what I've got here.

So the first feature was, "One feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was the attack on York." So we are looking for a bit more detail about what's happened at York, and this is to show me that you know your stuff.

So the detailed information that I provided was, "A group of 200 Northumbrian rebels attacked York, killing Tostig's housecarls and seizing all his weapons and coins." So simple as that.

Let's have a look at the second feature.

"A second feature of the 1065 uprising was that the rebels conspired with the Earldom of Mercia." So again, how can we pack out that feature, add a bit more information, a few more details, facts, evidence, et cetera? Have we got any names or places or timings or dates, anything which extends the information given in that feature? So for this one, I said, "The rebels invited Morcar, the Earl of Mercia's brother, to replace Tostig.

Mercia supported the uprising because it would take power away from the House of Godwin." And the third feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was that it spread beyond York.

And I wrote, "The uprising soon spread across Northumbria.

Anyone who was suspected to be a supporter of Tostig was killed." And you can see for this third feature, this was quite a simple one.

There's no need to provide reams of information or write essays, but I am extending the information provided in the feature.

Okay, excellent, now let's move on to the final part of the lesson where we can look at what were the consequences of the uprising against Earl Tostig.

So after the uprising had kicked off, Edward sent Harold Godwinson to negotiate with the rebels.

The rebels rejected Edward's message to stand down and refused to stop their rebellion unless Tostig was exiled.

Tostig was furious that Edward and his brother Harold had not sent an army to help him.

Tostig accused Harold of conspiring with the rebels to take his earldom.

And we can see the image on the left, and imagine how Harold might have looked negotiating with the rebels.

The problem that Tostig had was that Tostig had little support amongst the Anglo-Saxon nobles, with many of them blaming Tostig's bad government of Northumbria for causing the uprising.

They felt that Tostig was a bad earl or bad leader and he had in some way provoked this uprising.

Despite this, King Edward needed to take some kind of action because by now the rebels had reached Oxford.

So King Edward commanded an army to be raised to put down the rebels.

However, excuses were made by the nobles.

It was winter, they said, which made it too difficult to raise an army.

It is likely that Harold used his influence to prevent them from raising their armies.

Although he didn't want to help Tostig, he also did not want to march against his own brother.

King Edward was angered by Harold and the other nobles disobeying his order.

But to avoid a civil war, Edward was forced to accept the rebels' demands.

And so King Edward exiled Tostig and made Morcar the Earl of Northumbria.

Okay, let's have another check for understanding.

How did King Edward initially respond to the uprising against Earl Tostig? A, he exiled Tostig without negotiations.

B, he ordered his earls to put down the rebellion.

Or C, he sided with the rebels from the beginning.

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

Okay, welcome back, well done if you knew that was B, he ordered his earls to put down the rebellion.

What was Harold Godwinson's response to King Edward's order to put down the uprising against Tostig? A, he ignored the order to help Tostig.

B, he led an army to help Tostig.

C, he negotiated peace with Tostig.

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

Okay, welcome back, well done if you knew it was A, he ignored the order to help Tostig.

Okay, what I want you to do here is complete the sentence with the correct word.

Pause the video, insert the correct word, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew that this was the correct sentence.

"To avoid a civil war, Edward accepted the rebels' demands and exiled Tostig." So, it seems Harold's ambitions to be king meant he did little to help his brother Tostig.

There were good political reasons for Harold acting against Tostig.

Harold knew that Edward's age meant he was likely to die soon.

If Harold became king, he would want to avoid a civil war that made enemies of Mercia and Northumbria.

Tostig was also a potential rival successor to the throne, so exiling him helped Harold's ambitions.

Furthermore, Harold needed to show the Anglo-Saxon elite and the Witan that he would rule for all of England, not just for the House of Godwin.

So just weeks after the uprising, on the 5th of January, Edward the Confessor died.

His body was carried to the abbey he had rebuilt, Westminster Abbey.

Edward had no children, leaving no successor to his throne.

Look at this detail from the Bayeux Tapestry.

It shows Edward the Confessor being buried at Westminster Abbey.

We can see a funeral possession on the right.

The people are carrying Edward's body towards Westminster Abbey on the left.

There was no single process for succession in Anglo-Saxon England.

However, the role of the Witan was important in choosing the successor.

They would look for someone with the qualities of a good Anglo-Saxon monarch.

If Anglo-Saxon England was to succeed against its enemies, it needed a king who could unite all its nobles to work together.

Someone who inspired loyalty and respected the customs and laws of England.

Putting England before his family, Harold had shown himself to be a worthy Anglo-Saxon king in the eyes of many.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

The uprising against Tostig strengthened Harold's position as Edward's potential successor.

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

Okay, welcome back, well done if you knew that was true.

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

Is it true because, A, it removed a rival to the throne and allowed Harold to show that he would put England before his family? Or B, it showed that Harold was militarily powerful enough to rule over England and protect it from attack? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, the uprising against Tostig strengthened Harold's position because it removed a rival to the throne and allowed Harold to show that he would put England before his family.

Okay, let's move on to the final task, Task C.

What I want you to do is explain what the uprising against Tostig reveals about who held power in Anglo-Saxon England.

You must write a paragraph on each of the following.

The power of the earls compared with King Edward, and the power of Harold Godwinson.

So use all your knowledge from the lesson to help you write these two paragraphs.

I want to see lots of detailed information explaining what this uprising tells us about who held power in Anglo-Saxon England.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Now, there's many ways you could have answered this, and your answer may not be exactly as what I have here, but let's have a look at my example.

"The uprising against Tostig revealed that an earl could not just rule as he liked.

The power of an earl had limits in Anglo-Saxon England.

An earl had to carry out his responsibilities.

However, King Edward did not hold all the power in Anglo-Saxon England either.

Working together, the earls made excuses and did not obey King Edward's commands to raise an army to put down the uprising.

The earls and wider nobility did not want to put Tostig Godwinson back in power.

Perhaps this was to reduce the power of the House of Godwin.

Edward was forced to exile Tostig.

This shows that Edward at this time had less power than the nobles of Anglo-Saxon England." Okay, let's have a look at the second paragraph.

"Harold saw the opportunity to use the uprising to gain the power of the monarchy for himself.

He knew that to become king after Edward he needed to show the nobles and the Witan that he could rise above his House of Godwin loyalties and rule all of England fairly.

Standing by as his brother Tostig was exiled lowered the House of Godwin's power but avoided a civil war with Mercia and Northumbria.

Perhaps the House of Godwin could have won such a war and taken power over all of England by conquest.

But as Tostig's rule showed, this way of taking power often led to uprisings.

Harold wanted his power as king to come from the support of his subjects and nobles." So hopefully you can see here that the uprising revealed a lot about the power plays that take place in Anglo-Saxon England and that there's this careful balance between being a good king, being a good earl, a good ruler to the people so that they don't rebel against you, and the same can be said of the relationship between the king and his earls.

The king needed the earls to help him run the country, but it was risky in releasing his kingly powers to them because the earls could ignore the king or rebel against him.

And as this uprising has shown, King Edward was in quite a weakened position and it was the nobles of England who seemed to hold more power at this time.

Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson.

The uprising against Earl Tostig Godwinson.

Tostig Godwinson was made the Earl of Northumbria but he was an unpopular ruler who was seen as disrespectful to Northumbria's Danelaw customs. In 1065, there was an uprising against Tostig, which was supported by the Earldom of Mercia.

King Edward ordered his nobles to put down the rebellion.

However, the nobles and Harold ignored the order and Edward was forced to exile Tostig Godwinson.

These events show how the power of the earls and kings could be limited.

Shortly after the uprising, in 1066, Edward the Confessor died.

Well done on a brilliant lesson and thank you for joining me for this fascinating story about Anglo-Saxon England and the power plays leading up to what would eventually be the Norman Invasion of England in 1066.

I really hope this has sparked your curiosity in the Anglo-Saxon period and you can see that their legacy is still with us today.

Hopefully I will see you in the next unit.

See you next time.