Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Britain after the Romans.

And we're going to explore the question, how did Christianity survive in the British Isles? So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain why Christianity in the British Isles survived the Romans departure? Before we start, I would 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 key words we'll be using today are pagan, monastery, missionary.

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

Pagan.

Monastery Missionary.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at each of their definitions.

Pagan means a religion other than one of the main world religions.

A monastery is a building lived in by a community of monks who follow religious vows.

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

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that'll be working through together in today's lesson, Christianity after the Romans, Ireland's monasteries, Ireland's missionaries.

In the first learning cycle, we'll explore Christianity after the Romans.

When the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, the future of Christianity was uncertain.

It was not long after the Romans left that the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain.

Although Christianity had increased in popularity under Roman rule, not all Britons had fully accepted it.

As the Anglo-Saxons began to settle across Britain, they brought their pagan beliefs with them.

You can see in that illustration there of the Anglo-Saxons sailing across to Britain, bringing with them those pagan beliefs.

In the areas where the Anglo-Saxons settled, many Roman British Christians mixed Christian ideas with old pagan beliefs.

So the influence of the pagan beliefs saw Christianity begin to decline in these areas.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you complete the sentence below? Christianity began to decline because.

Why did it begin to decline? Pause the video here.

Give yourself a moment to complete this sentence.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? If you said Christianity began to decline because of the influence of pagan beliefs, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, did Christianity completely disappear in Britain? That's a good question.

Well, historians have discovered clues that show Christianity survived in the areas where the Anglo-Saxons did not settle.

These clues show us that Christianity was still popular in some places in the 4th century.

These are images of the clues.

Do you know what they are? Take a look at these images.

Have a think.

This first image is a photo of the wall paintings at Lullingstone.

This second image shows a photo of the Hinton St.

Mary Roman mosaic.

Now, in 1963, a large, almost complete Roman mosaic was discovered at Hinton St.

Mary.

The mosaic has been dated to the 4th century, and it is an important clue for historians.

In the middle of the mosaic is a central roundel showing what could be one of the earliest representations of Jesus Christ.

It has two letters of the Greek alphabet that begin Christ's name in Greek, Chi Rho, behind.

Have a look there.

Can you see that central roundel right in the middle of that photo of Hinton St.

Mary Roman mosaic, and that's the image of Jesus Christ.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How does Roman mosaic show that Christianity survived in Britain? It had an image of a Roman emperor.

It had an image of Woden.

It had an image of Christ.

Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said it had an image of Christ, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Another clue was a chapel found beneath a Roman villa in Lullingstone, Kent.

Archaeologists excavated the site and found paintings and mosaics.

The wall paintings are the only known paintings from Roman Britain that show clear Christian symbolism.

You can see a photo of the wall paintings at Lullingstone there.

Let's take a moment to pause.

The mosaics and wall paintings are evidence that Christianity survived in Britain.

Is that true or false? What do you think? True or false? If you said that's true, you're correct.

Now, looking at these two statements, which of them would help to justify your answer? They show that Christianity.

They show that Christian symbolism dating back to the 4th century was not destroyed.

They show that pagan symbolism dating back to the 4th century was not destroyed.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said they show Christian symbolism dating back to the 4th century was not destroyed, then you are right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Laura has made a statement about Christianity in Britain.

Could you add more detail to it using what you've learned? Christianity survived in Britain after the Romans left.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a think about what extra detail you could add to this statement, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So you could have added this extra detail to your answer? Christianity survived in Britain after the Romans left in the areas where the Anglo-Saxons had not settled.

Clues like the Roman mosaic show us that it survived.

However, Christianity declined in the areas where the Anglo-Saxon settled and shared their pagan beliefs.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We're now going to explore Ireland's monasteries.

Although Christianity was declining in Britain, it became more popular in Ireland throughout the 5th century.

By the early 6th century, monasteries were built across Ireland, usually in isolated places.

This allowed the monks to study the Bible, copy manuscripts, and pray without distraction.

I'm taking a look at this photo of the island Skellig Michael.

This is one of the isolated places that the monasteries were built.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Fill in the missing words to complete the sentence.

Blank were built in blank places so the monks could study and pray without distraction.

Pause the video here.

Give yourself a moment to fill in the missing words to complete the sentence, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look? So the missing words, monasteries were built in isolated places so the monks could study and pray without distraction.

Well done if you got those correct.

Christianity grew in popularity and the monasteries attracted the patronage of powerful people.

Kings and rich people offered their support through valuable gifts.

This meant larger monasteries could be built and they grew in importance.

The large monasteries became important centres for learning and Christianity could be taught more widely, so the religion flourished in Ireland.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Who offered their support to the monasteries? Kings, the rich, the poor.

Pause the video here.

Have a quick discussion with your partner and then press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said the kings and the rich were those who supported the monasteries, you're correct.

Well done.

This brings us to our second learning task.

I'd like you to describe how monasteries became important in Ireland.

Use these words to help you.

6th century.

Monasteries.

Patronage.

Learning.

So pause a video here.

Give yourself enough time to describe how monasteries became important in Ireland, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example.

So your answer could include, during the 6th century, many monasteries were set up in Ireland.

As Christianity became more popular, the monasteries attracted the patronage of powerful people.

Larger monasteries were built and they became important centres for learning.

The monasteries helped Christianity to be taught widely.

Well done if you're able to describe how monasteries became important in Ireland, and well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move into the final part of our lesson.

We're going to explore Ireland's missionaries.

Missionaries such as Saint Columba and St.

Columbanus were able to spread Christianity beyond Ireland.

Saint Columba was an Irish missionary.

He travelled to the small Scottish island of Iona in 593 CE.

He set up a monastery on Iona, and from here, he spread Christianity throughout Scotland.

Saint Columba became a patron saint of Ireland, as well as a patron saint of Scotland because of his major role in converting many of the Picts and Scots to Christianity.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Saint Columba spread Christianity throughout Wales.

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

Now, looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? He spread Christianity throughout England, converting the Britons.

He spread Christianity throughout Scotland, converting the Picts and the Scots.

Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said he spread Christianity throughout Scotland, converting the Picts and Scots, then you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, St.

Columbanus was also an Irish missionary.

He travelled to Gaul, Western Europe around 590 CE.

He first set up a monastery at Annegray in France.

In 614 CE, St.

Columbanus set up a monastery in Bobbio, in Italy.

From these monasteries, St.

Columbanus was able to spread Christianity throughout Gaul.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Where did St.

Columbanus set up monasteries? Annegray.

Iona.

Bobbio.

Wales.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Where did St.

Columbanus set up monasteries? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said he set up monasteries at Annegray and Bobbio, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Can you fill in the table? How did the missionaries sent Columba and St.

Columbanus spread Christianity? Pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to fill in the table.

Make sure you have a pen and some paper.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So St.

Columba, he spread Christianity throughout Scotland from the monastery in Iona.

He converted many of the Picts and Scots.

St.

Columbanus, he spread Christianity throughout Gaul.

He set up monasteries in Annegray and Bobbio.

Well done if you're able to fill in that table, and well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about how Christianity survived the Romans' departure.

After the Romans left Britain, Christianity survived in the places where the Anglo-Saxons did not share their pagan beliefs.

Although Christianity declined in Britain, the religion grew more popular in Ireland throughout the 5th century, Christianity flourished in Ireland because monasteries were set up and became increasingly important.

The work of missionaries, like St.

Columba and St.

Columbanus, helped Ireland to spread Christianity to other places in the 6th century.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed learning about Britain after the Romans and thinking about how Christianity survived in the British Isles.

I certainly did.

I hope to see you for another unit of learning soon.

See you then.