Lesson video

Something that I like doing in my spare time is making pottery.

I recently did a full week course and I can't wait to get back to it, as soon as things get back to normal.

Something that I've been doing in my spare time while on lockdown is yoga.

It helps me to feel really relaxed and calm during these quite uncertain times.

Can you tell me something that you like doing in your spare time? I wish I could tell all of you out there but it's lovely to know that you're out there listening.

I'm going to share my screen with you so that you can see our slides for this lesson.

You'll also have access to these slides too.

Our first unit is a history unit and it's called Mediaeval Monarchs.

It's really exciting because we're going to be learning about Kings and Queens and battles and succession, And the heirs to the throne.

Our first lesson has a key question.

And the key question is, In 1066 who was the rightful heir to the throne? I'm wondering if you know anything about 1066 and any special events that happened in that year? In this lesson, we're going to be learning about three men who are battling to become the King of England in 1066.

We'll start by learning about the King called Edward the Confessor whose death prompted Harold Godwinson, William 1 and Harold Hardrada to battle for his throne.

We will learn about the battles that took place in 1066 including the most famous battle, The Battle of Hastings.

did some of you know that, brilliant work.

In this lesson we're going to have an introduction, to history and sources.

We're going to look at the knowledge organiser and the star words for this lesson.

We're then going to read about the Pious King the potential successors and The Battle of Hastings.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper you'll need a pencil, and of course, you'll need your brain.

Pause the lesson now so that you can go and get these things.

Great, now you're ready.

Let's move on.

Of course, this is a history unit which means that we are historians.

As historians, we are going to be studying the past and just like historians in real life, we're going to be looking at sources.

There are two types of sources that we will be looking at.

Primary sources are objects from a specific period in history.

They come from that time.

While secondary sources are books, articles, videos or presentations, just like this one, about a period in history.

On your screen, you can see an image that represents a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry.

This scene is actually of The Battle of Hastings.

It was created just after The Battle of Hastings.

That means it's a primary source because it was created at the time that we're studying.

Historians use both primary and secondary store sources to learn more about the past.

On your screen, you can see our knowledge organiser.

The knowledge organiser is a collection of all the information that we're going to be looking at throughout this unit.

You can see that this includes a timeline of all the monarchs from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth 1 and the dates up from which they reigned.

There is also a column of the major monarchs.

And there is also a column that tells us the key vocabulary.

I'm wondering if you can use this knowledge organiser to create flashcards.

You can have the key date or name of the individual on the front, and the definition or piece of information on the back.

And you can use those flashcards to quiz yourself and see how many facts you can remember.

I'm wondering how many you'll remember by the time we've had our next lesson.

This is another image of the knowledge organiser, but on it you can see that I have revealed only a few bits of information.

These are the pieces of information that we're going to be looking at in today's lesson.

Pause the video, and take a closer look for yourself.

You've had a chance to have a look at that information.

We're going to move on.

Here, you can see the star words.

The star words are the key words that we're going to be using throughout this lesson.

I'm going to say them, and you can repeat the words after me.

Edward the Confessor, William 1 or William the Conqueror, Harald Hardrada, Harold Godwinson.

The Battle of Hastings.

Monarch.

A monarch is a King or a Queen.

I'm going to read through this slide.

You can track the words with me or you can read along at home as well.

The Pious King.

In 1042, Edward son of Æthelwold the unready, became King of England.

Edward was known as the Confessor because he was so religious and confessed his sins all of the time.

He even ordered for a huge new cathedral to be built.

Westminster Cathedral.

Have any of you heard or seen of Westminster Cathedral before.

He was known as a good King, who was organised and kept the country running well.

However, Edward was so pious, that means religious that he took a vow of chastity.

He vowed not to have a relationship with a woman.

He therefore had no children, and did not leave a clear successor, or someone to take over the throne after he died.

After his death there were three men who thought they should be King.

Three claims to the throne, which needed to be settled.

Pause the video now and reread that information for yourself.

Great.

You've read the information.

Let's move on to your first task.

Here, you can see the information that we just read on the left-hand side.

On the right hand side, you can see some questions that relate to information.

You're going to read the information, and answer the questions on your piece of paper.

Pause the video now and complete this task.

Great.

Here are the answers to those questions.

You can use a different colour pencil or pen to tick or fix your answers.

Fixing means editing or rewriting your answers so that they're correct.

Pause the video and tick or fix your answers.

Great work.

We're now going to have an introduction to the three men who thought that they had a claim to the throne.

The three men who believed that they had a claim to the throne were, Harold Godwinson, William 1 and Harald Hardrada.

I'm going to tell you some information about each of these men, and you're going to listen and think about why they thought they should be the next successor.

Think about who you agree with as I'm reading.

Harold Godwinson.

The Godwinson family were also known as The Godwins.

The Godwins were a powerful family of who had supported Edward the Confessor in becoming King.

They ruled over most of England during the end of Edward's reign.

However, Edward had lots of disputes with The Godwins.

And he even banished them to Normandy.

But The Godwins had lots of support in England.

On Edward's death bed, it's actually claimed that he named Harold Godwinson as his successor.

Not only that but Harold Godwinson, had the support of the clergy, the man of the church and the nobles across England.

William 1.

William was the Duke of Normandy, where Edward had spent much of his life before returning to England to become King.

William also claimed to have been promised the throne by Edward.

Not only that but he was the grandson of Edward's uncle.

So there was a family connection as well.

In 1064, Harold Godwinson promised to support William 1 to become King.

Not only that, but the Pope, the head of the Christian Church also backed Williams' claim to be King.

Harald Hardrada.

Harald was already a King.

He ruled over a country called Norway.

He was a Viking.

And the Vikings had ruled over much of England for a long time prior to Edward's reign.

King Cnut son, Harthcnut, was the King before Edward.

Harthacnut had promised Magnus who was Harold's father, that Magnus would become King after Harthacnut died.

However, Magnus had become too old to fight.

But Harald wanted to claim his throne as his heir.

He believed that he was the person who should rule England.

I want you to rewind the video and listen again to all three claims. Who do you think had the strongest claim to the throne? Rewind the video and listen again.

I wonder who you agree with.

Is it Harold Godwinson, William 1 or Harald Hardrada? Your second task is to think carefully about who you think should have been the rightful successor.

You're going to write the individual a letter explaining why they have the best claim to the throne.

You can see on the screen that I've given you a sentence starter to begin with.

For example, if you believe that William 1 had the rightful claim you might your letter like this.

Dear William 1, I believe that you had the strongest claim to the throne because you were promised the throne by Edward.

Not only that, but you're the grandson of Edward's uncle, you're family.

In addition, you were supposed to be supported by Harold Godwinson.

Why is he trying to take the throne now? Finally, the Pope supported your claim.

I believe that you should have been the rightful successor.

Who do you think should have been the rightful successor? Write a letter to that person explaining the reasons why you think that they have a claim to the throne.

Pause the video now and write your letter.

Great.

I wish I could read all of your letters but I'm wondering who out there chose Harold Godwinson.

Raise your hand now.

If you wrote that Harold Godwinson had the rightful claim to the throne you might have said that he had a rightful claim to the throne because his family supported Edward in becoming King.

You might have also said that Harold Godwinson was named by Edward as his successor.

You might've also said that Horald Godwinson had support from the clergy and from Nobles all across England.

Tick your sentences, if you've said any of those three points you could add those points in now, if you didn't.

Put your hand up, if you thought William had a rightful claim to the throne.

If you thought William had a rightful claim to the throne, you might have said that he was promised the throne by Edward.

You might have also said that he was the grandson of Edward's uncle.

And there was a family connection.

You might have also said that he was supported by Horald Godwinson and the Pope.

Tick those sentences, if you wrote those.

You can now include some of those points, if you didn't write those in your letter.

Put your hand up, if you thought that Harald Hardrada had a rightful claim to the throne.

If you said that Harald Hardrada had a rightful claim to the throne, because Vikings had previously ruled over England or the Harthacnut had promised his father Magnus the throne, and therefore Magnus was the rightful heir.

You can tick those sentences.

If you didn't include those points, you could include them in your letter now.

Tick or fix the points in your letter now.

You can pause the video while you do that.

Great.

Let's continue with our lesson.

This is one of my favourite parts of this story.

The Battle of Hastings itself.

On this slide you can see a map of the United Kingdom.

This shows us the points at which Harald Hardrada and William 1 landed in England to battle for the throne.

I'm going to retell the events of 1066.

Listen carefully, and think about the key moments in the story.

Harald Hardrada with his Norwegian fleet, invaded England from the North.

Can you see the purple line on the map? Put your finger on the point at which Harald Hardrada invaded England.

Great.

He allied his forces alongside those of Harold Godwinson brother, Tostig.

Tostig actually fought against his own brother, Harold Godwinson.

Can you believe it? Hardrada and Tostig defeated a hastily gathered army of Englishman at The Battle of Fulford on the 20th of September 1066.

Amazingly, Harold Godwinson was able to rush his forces from London to York covering 200 miles in just a week.

Can you put your finger on the brown line that shows Harold Godwinsons' journey from London to York? Great work.

His army surprised Harold and Tostig in York.

Just five days after the first Battle of Fulford, Harold Godwinson army defeated Harald Hardrada and Tostig in The Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Harald and Tostig were both killed in battle.

This meant that Harold Godwinson had successfully defeated one out of the three claimants, alongside his own brother.

That tells you just how much he wanted that throne.

At this point, Harold Godwinson and his army were exhausted.

They travelled 200 miles to York and they'd fought in a gruesome battle.

But they didn't have time to rest because while they were recovering William 1 landed his invasion forces in the South of England at Pevensey on the 28th of September 1066.

Can you see the dark blue line that shows how William's journey from Normandy to Pevensey.

put your finger on that line now? Great.

Harold's exhausted army then had to travel from York down to Hastings.

This was a distance of 270 miles.

Can you see the red line? Track with your finger down the red line so that you can see the journey that Harold Godwinson's army had to make.

Harold and Williams forces met and fought in The Battle of Hastings On the 14th of October 1066.

In the middle of the battle William's troops began to retreat but this was merely a trick.

At their retreat, Harold Godwinson army chased after the fleeing Norman army, but without a clear plan of what they were going to do.

This is where it all went wrong for Horald Godwinsons' army.

As the Norman troops quickly turned and encircled the disorganised Anglo-Saxon army.

At some point in the confusion Harold Godwinson was killed.

Some believe he died from an arrow through his eye while others believed he was attacked by knights.

I would like you to rewind the video and listen to the story of The Battle of Hastings again.

Rewind the video now and relisten to the story.

you've re-listened to The Battle of Hastings retelling.

You can see on this slide, that there are 10 events all about the events of 1066.

Based on my retelling, how it go up, ordering these events from one to 10.

The first and the 10th have been done for you.

Pause the video now and rewrite each event numbering them one to 10 on your piece of paper.

I wonder how many of these events you placed in the correct order? Let's check now.

Did you get them all right? Give yourself a pat on the shoulder if you did.

Pause the video so that you can check your answers.

Great work, everyone.

Before I leave you today, I wanted you to go back to the Bayeux Tapestry.

Which I mentioned at the beginning of this lesson.

It's a primary source that historians have used to study the events of The Battle of Hastings.

Now you've ordered the events.

You might want to draw an image next to each event to help you to remember it in more detail.

The Bayeux Tapestry was created as a depiction of the battle.

You can find scenes like this one online.

You might want to look it up so it will help you to draw your own images.

This lesson is now finished.

You're now going to complete a short quiz to see how much of the key information you've remembered from this lesson.