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 declined in Britain when the Romans left.

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 Anglo-Saxons, pagan, polytheistic, shrine.

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

Anglo-Saxons, pagan, polytheistic, shrine.

Good job.

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

The Anglo-Saxons are a group of people formed of the Angle, Saxon and Jutes tribes.

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

To be polytheistic means to believe in many different gods and goddesses.

A shrine is a place regarded as holy.

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

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

What happened when the Romans left Britain? Christianity's decline.

In the first learning cycle, we'll explore what happened when the Romans left Britain? The Romans left Britain in around 410 CE to defend the Roman Empire from attack.

People in Britain had been protected by the Romans for almost 400 years, so when the Romans left, they were unprepared to fight against invaders on their own.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

When did the Romans leave Britain? 410 CE, 411 CE, 412 CE? What do you think? If you said 410 CE, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

It was not long before new groups of people, called the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, began to invade and migrate to Britain.

The Angles and the Saxons were two of the largest tribes, and the Jutes were another smaller tribe.

These tribes would become known as the Anglo-Saxons.

They travelled across the sea to Britain from their homelands of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

When the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain, they brought their beliefs with them too.

The Anglo-Saxons were pagan and polytheistic.

To be pagan means to follow a religion other than one of the main religions.

So for example, they were not Christian.

To be polytheistic means to believe in many different gods and goddesses.

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

Can you match the keyword to the definition? We have pagan, polytheistic.

To believe in many different gods and goddesses.

To follow a religion other than one of the main religions.

So pause the video here and give yourself a moment to match the keyword to the definition, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look? So pagan means to follow a religion other than one of the main religions.

And polytheistic means to believe in many different gods and goddesses.

Well done, if you matched those correctly.

Each of the Anglo-Saxon gods controlled a particular part of everyday life, such as family, growing crops, love, healing, wisdom, weather and war.

The main Anglo-Saxon God was Woden.

Woden was associated with war and is often illustrated holding a spear.

You can see that illustration of the Anglo-Saxon God, Woden, there.

And you can see he's holding a spear.

Anglo-Saxon warriors offered tributes to Woden before battles, hoping for his protection on the battlefield.

The tributes could be food or important objects placed near a statue of the god.

Woden was also the god of wisdom, and Anglo-Saxons believed that the ancient runes, their system of writing, were created and given to man by Woden.

Other gods were Thunor, god of thunder, Frig, goddess of love, and Tiw, god of war.

These four Anglo-Saxon gods gave their names to the days of the week.

Tiw became Tuesday, Woden Wednesday, Thunor, Thursday, and Frig, Friday.

As well as believing in many gods, the Anglo-Saxons had many superstitions and believed in lucky charms. They thought that rhymes, potions, stones and jewels would protect them from evil spirits and sickness.

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

The Anglo-Saxons believed in one god.

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

Now, looking at these two statements here, which one of these would help to justify your answer? The Anglo-Saxons believed in many gods and goddesses, such as Woden and Thunor.

The Anglo-Saxons believed in only two gods.

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 the Anglo-Saxons believed in many gods and goddesses, such as Woden and Thunor, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Can you explain to your partner what happened after the Romans left Britain? Try to use these words.

Migrated, Anglo-Saxons, pagan, polytheistic.

Pause the video here and make sure that you have enough time to explain to your partner what happened after the Romans left Britain, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer may include, the Romans left Britain around 410 CE.

This left Britain unprepared against invaders and the Anglo-Saxons were able to invade Britain.

When the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain, they brought their pagan and polytheistic beliefs with them.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We're going to explore Christianity's decline.

As the Anglo-Saxons began to settle across Britain and take over much of the land, the number of people that followed Christianity started to decline and it became less popular.

Take a look at that map there of Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain.

You can see the pink areas are where the Angles settled, the brown areas are where the Saxons settled, and the yellow areas are where the Jutes settled.

So all of these tribes combined, who were the Anglo-Saxons, they had settled in lots of areas of Britain.

So you can see how Christianity started to decline.

But why did it decline? What happened? Well, although Christianity had increased in popularity under Roman rule, not all Britons had fully accepted it.

In some parts of Britain, Christianity was stronger, such as in towns and cities.

But elsewhere, it was not always as popular.

Many Roman British Christians mixed Christian ideas with old pagan beliefs.

This meant it was easy for Anglo-Saxons to keep their pagan beliefs and to influence the Britons to believe in these too.

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

Britons had not fully accepted Christianity under Roman rule.

Is that true or false? Hm, what do you think? Britons had not fully accepted Christianity under Roman rule.

If you said that that is true, then you're right.

Well done.

And looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? The Romans convinced many Britons to convert to Christianity.

The Romans had not convinced many Britons to convert to Christianity.

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

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

What did you think? If you said the Romans had not convinced many Britons to convert to Christianity, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Evidence that Britons had not always fully accepted Christianity under Roman rule was found at Lullingstone.

When Lullingstone Roman Villa was excavated, a possible pagan shrine was discovered in the basement room.

A room was built over a cellar with a number of access routes, which suggests it was a pagan shrine that many people visited.

The shrine was probably related to the worship of a water god.

Take a look at that illustration there of a reconstruction of Lullingstone Roman Villa.

Can you see how we can see inside? You can see where there are people and what was happening inside that villa, and you can even see some of the paintings on the wall.

So that's to help us imagine what it would've looked like.

In the middle of the floor was a small well, and the room had wall paintings, including a picture of three water nymphs, which are mythological spirits of nature.

Have a little look at that photo there of a wall painting of the three water nymphs.

You can see that it's not such a clear painting anymore.

After so many years, it's not quite that easy to see those water nymphs, but can you see the heads of those nymphs sort of near the top? So those mythological spirits, they represented water and the water god.

So that's why they are known as that pagan belief.

Historians believe it was still used as a pagan shrine, even after the Christian chapel was built in its place.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Andeep has made a statement about the pagan shrine found at Lullingstone.

Is he correct? He says, "The pagan shrine found at Lullingstone is evidence that Christianity was widely accepted in Britain under Roman rule." Hmm.

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

What do you think? Is Andeep correct about the pagan shrine found at Lullingstone? And press play when you're ready to continue.

How did your discussion go? Well, Andeep is incorrect here.

The pagan shrine was evidence that Christianity was not widely accepted in Britain under Roman rule.

It was actually becoming less popular, and so it was declining.

As the Anglo-Saxons settled amongst the Britons, paganism became more widely accepted.

It is likely that most Britons chose to adopt pagan beliefs and very few followed Christianity.

And as a result, Christianity was almost completely wiped out in Britain.

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

Can you fill in the missing words to complete this sentence? Because the Anglo-Saxon pagan beliefs became widely accepted, blank Britons followed blank after the Romans left Britain.

So what is meant to go into those two blank spaces? Can you fill them with the missing words? Pause the video here.

Take some time to have a go at completing this sentence.

And press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look? So, because the Anglo-Saxon pagan beliefs became widely accepted, fewer Britons followed Christianity after the Romans left Britain.

Well done if you were able to fill in those missing words.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to use the sentence starter below to write two sentences explaining why Christianity declined when the Romans left.

So Christianity declined in Britain when the Romans left because.

So write two sentences to explain why Christianity declined when the Romans left.

Pause the video here.

Make sure you have a pen and some paper.

Give yourself enough time.

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 declined in Britain when the Romans left because the Britons had not fully accepted Christianity under Roman rule.

And, Christianity declined in Britain when the Romans left because the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain and brought their pagan beliefs with them.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the impact of the Romans' withdrawal on religion.

The Romans left Britain around 410 CE and groups, including the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes began to migrate there.

These Anglo-Saxons were pagan and polytheistic.

As the Anglo-Saxons settled across Britain, Christianity declined, becoming less popular.

Britons had not fully accepted Christianity under Roman rule and were more influenced by pagan beliefs.

For example, at Lullingstone, a pagan shrine was being used even after the Romans built a Christian chapel there.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.