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 how historians know that Christianity grew in popularity in Britain in the early fourth century.

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

These key words will be used during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The key words we'll be using today are elite, converted, Chi Ro, chapel.

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

Elite, converted, Chi Ro, chapel.

Good job.

Now, let's look in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Let's take a look at each of their definitions.

A group of people that are regarded as superior in terms of ability or quality are described as elite.

When someone has converted, they have changed their religious faith or other belief.

Chi Ro is the beginning of Christ's name In Greek.

A chapel is a small building or room used for Christian worship.

Pause the video here to make a note of these key words.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

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

When did Christianity grow in popularity? How do we know Christianity became popular.

In the first learning cycle, we'll explore when Christianity grew in popularity.

When did Christianity begin? Hmm.

That's a good question.

Well, around 2,000 years ago in the first century, Christianity began in the Roman province of Judea.

Early Christianity was based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The people who believed in this new religion were known as Christians, and they began to spread Christianity from Judea throughout the Roman Empire.

You can see on the map there, the little green spot is Judea, and then the red around it is the Roman Empire.

So you can see how from Judea spread out across all of that large empire.

Christianity became increasingly popular among the elite in the fourth century after Constantine converted to Christianity.

But why did Constantine convert? Constantine became the Roman emperor in 306 CE.

He fought his rivals to defend his throne.

In 312 CE, Constantine saw a vision of a cross in the sky and believed that this was a sign from God that it would protect him and his army in battle.

When Constantine won the battle, he converted to Christianity and entered Rome as the first Christian Roman emperor.

There's a photo of a statue of him there that you can see outside of York Minster.

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

Christianity became increasingly popular before Constantine converted.

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

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? Constantine converted and then the religion became accepted among Romans, especially the elite.

Constantine converted, and then the religion was ignored by the Romans, especially the elite.

So pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? Now press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that Constantine converted and then the religion became accepted among Romans, especially the elite, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

In 325 CE, Constantine brought together Christian bishops to try to agree the first set of rules about Christianity.

And this encouraged acceptance of the religion among the Romans.

The spread of Christianity continued over the centuries, eventually becoming the main religion in many parts of Europe.

So you can see on the map there where the religion of Christianity had spread.

First of all, in that dark blue in 325 CE.

And then by 600 CE, in the yellow sections, it spread out even further.

However, historians are not exactly sure when Christianity was introduced to Britain.

During the first century, Roman traders arrived in Britain to spread the story of Jesus along with stories of their pagan gods.

During the fourth century, British Christianity became more visible, and there are some clues that have been discovered that show this.

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

Historians know exactly when Christianity was introduced to Britain.

Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think Historians know exactly when Christianity was introduced to Britain.

If you said that's false, you're correct.

Well done.

Now, looking at these two statements, which one would help to justify your answer? There are some clues that suggest when Christianity was introduced.

There are no clues that suggest when Christianity was introduced.

Hmm.

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 there are some clues that suggest when Christianity was introduced, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to explain the growth of Christianity to your learning partner.

Try to include these words.

Judea, Constantine, converted, elite, Britain, fourth century.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to explain the growth of Christianity to your learning partner 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 have included, Christianity began around 2,000 years ago in Judea.

The religion became popular with the elite when Constantine converted to Christianity.

It became popular throughout the Roman Empire and Europe.

However, historians are unsure when Christianity was first introduced to Britain.

There are some clues that suggest it was introduced in the fourth century.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We're going explore how we know how Christianity became popular.

Historians Know about Christianity's rise in popularity from various objects that have been found.

One of those objects was found in the village of Hinton St.

Mary.

What do you think that object could be? Hmm.

Well, in 1963, a large, almost complete Roman mosaic was discovered.

It was discovered by the local blacksmith, Walter John White on the 12th of September.

The mosaic covered two rooms and is largely red, yellow, and cream in colour.

Following its discovery, the mosaic was cleared of dust and dirt by the Dorset County Museum with help from local people.

It was then lifted by the British Museum and taken to the museum to be preserved.

Some of the mosaic went on show and other parts were placed in storage where they still are today.

Have a look there at that photo of the Hinton St.

Mary Roman Mosaic.

Imagine discovering such a fantastic thing.

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

When was the Roman mosaic at Hinton St.

Mary discovered? 1965, 1964, or 1963? Pause the video here, have a moment to think, and then press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

If you said 1963, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

So why was the Roman mosaic so important? Well, the mosaic was moved to the museum because it was incredibly important.

It contained what could be one of the earliest representations of Jesus Christ.

In the middle of the mosaic is a central roundel showing Jesus with two letters of the Greek alphabet that begin Christ's name in Greek, Chi Ro.

You can see it behind the head there on that photo.

These are written as though they are an X and a P in our alphabet.

Can you see them behind the head of Christ there? Looks like an X and a P.

So those are the letters in the Greek alphabet.

That's say Chi Ro.

This symbol, Chi Ro, was adopted by the Roman emperor, Constantine, after he converted to Christianity.

It could be seen on the shields of his soldiers in battle.

They painted it on.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Can you complete this sentence? Chi Ro means what? Pause the video here.

Give yourself a moment to complete this complete and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look? Chi Ro means the beginning of Christ's name in Greek.

Well done if you got that right.

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

It is evidence that Christianity grew in popularity in Britain during this time.

Has there been any other evidence found? Well, between 1948 and 1961, archaeologists excavated a Roman villa in Lullingstone, Kent.

The Roman villa is important because of the Christian evidence found at the site.

When the villa was excavated, a chapel was found beneath it.

You can see a photo there of the Lullingstone roman villa remains.

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

What was found beneath the Roman villa at Lullingstone? A grave, a chapel, a statue.

Pause the video here, take a moment to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said it was a chapel, you're correct.

Well done.

Inside the chapel, there were wall paintings and mosaics.

However, they were not all in one piece.

The archaeologists found many thousands of fragments of painted wall plaster, which when they painstakingly pieced it together, it revealed the amazing images that were once on the walls.

The paintings showed images of the Chi Ro and people in Christian prayer.

They also showed other figures telling Christian stories and images of Christian buildings.

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

Now, the wall paintings are the only known paintings in Roman Britain that show clear Christian symbolism.

These detailed images are evidence of how popular Christianity was in the Fourth century Britain.

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

The Roman mosaic and the wall paintings are evidence of Christianity's popularity.

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

Well done.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? They contain images of the Chi Ro and Christian stories.

They contain writing that tell us Christianity was popular.

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

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

How did that go? If you said they contain images of the Chi Ro and Christian stories, then you're right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Can you write two or three sentences to explain why these two objects are evidence of Christianity's popularity in Roman Britain in the fourth century? So we have the photo of the Central Roundel of the Hinton St.

Mary Mosaic, and the photo of wall paintings at Lullingstone.

So pause the video here.

Make sure you have a pen and some paper.

Give yourself enough time to write two or three sentences to explain why these two objects are evidence of Christianity's popularity.

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 the detailed images in the mosaic from Hinton St.

Mary, and the wall paintings from Lullingstone show Jesus Christ, His name, and people in Christian prayer.

These are Christian symbols and are evidence that people followed Christianity in Roman Britain in the fourth century.

Well done if you were able to write those sentences, and well done for completing this learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about Roman Christianity in Britain.

Christianity began around 2,000 years ago.

When Constantine converted, Christianity became increasingly popular among the elite across the Roman Empire and Europe.

However, historians are not exactly sure when Christianity was introduced to Britain.

Evidence that Christianity grew in popularity during the fourth century has been found in Britain.

A Roman mosaic found at Hinton St.

Mary shows the Chi Ro, one of the earliest images of Jesus Christ.

At Lullingstone, archaeologists found Christian wall paintings from a chapel within a Roman villa.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.