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Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons.
What changed after the Romans left? So, shall we get started? Let's go.
By the end of today's lesson you will be able to describe how early Anglo-Saxon Britain was made up of different kingdoms. 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 kingdom, establish, settlement.
I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.
Kingdom, establish, settlement.
Good job.
Let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.
Let's take a look at some definitions.
A kingdom is a country or area ruled by a king or queen.
To establish something means to set it up to last a very long time.
A settlement is a place where people choose to begin a community.
Pause the video here to make a note of the key words, and when you are ready to continue, press play.
These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.
The arrival and settlement of the Anglo-Saxons, different tribes and their lands, and the seven kingdoms. In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore the arrival and settlement of the Anglo-Saxons.
A new chapter for Britain began in the early 400s CE as boats carrying Anglo-Saxons arrived on its shores.
Anglo-Saxons is the name historians used for lots of different tribes from today's Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, including the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
Unlike invaders looking for treasure, these people were looking to establish a new life and a new home in Britain's fertile lands.
They had heard amazing stories of Britain's farmland, which almost sounded too good to be true.
The land had been left largely undefended after the Romans had left.
And the Britains who did live there were not as strong and fearsome fighters as the Anglo-Saxons.
And so it was easy for the tribes to quickly establish settlements in parts of Britain.
Take a look at the map here.
It shows where they came from and where they made their settlements.
We can see that the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes where they all travelled from across the sea to reach Britain.
And the colours show where they settled.
When the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, they saw a land full of opportunities.
They did not just decide to build their settlements in random spots.
They chose land that was near to water, and it was fertile, so it would be very good for farming.
They chose this excellent farmland because they wanted to stay in Britain for a long time, and so needed to be able to produce lots of food.
The Anglo-Saxon settlement soon began to grow as houses were built, fields were ploughed, and communities were established.
The settlements were the strong building blocks of the future.
Great Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Let's have a look at this drawing here of what an Anglo-Saxon settlement might have looked like.
Can you see the fields in the back there? Those are the fields they would've ploughed to produce food.
And you can see the houses that were built and how many of them there were to establish that community.
And can you see the water source that they are next to? Let's check our understanding.
When did the Anglo-Saxons begin to arrive in Britain? Was it the early 200 CE, the early 300 CE, or the early 400 CE? Take a moment to think.
Hmm.
If you said the early 400 CE, that's correct.
Well done.
So this question, what kind of land did the Anglo-Saxon tribes choose for their settlements? What do you think? Was it highlands in hills and mountains? Was it fertile lands close to water sources? Was it thick forest areas for protection? Have a discussion with your partner.
What kind of land did the Anglo-Saxon tribes choose for their settlements? If you said fertile lands close to water sources, you are absolutely right.
Well done.
This brings us to your first learning task for this lesson.
Imagine you are an Anglo-Saxon settler in Britain, who has just begun to establish their settlement.
Can you write a short diary entry discussing where you have settled in Britain and why? So you are going to need to get a pen and some paper for this task and think about what would be in your diary entry.
So you've just established your settlement.
What might you want to include in that diary entry about that settlement? If you'd like to, you could also draw some images in your diary entry too.
So pause the video to give yourself enough time to write a short diary entry.
And when you are ready to restart, press play.
How did that go? Let's have a look at what you could have written an example of a diary entry.
We have now been in Britain for a few weeks.
I was so happy to arrive here after our long journey from Norway! We have chosen a great spot for our new settlement.
It has a water source and the land is very fertile, which will mean we can produce lots of food and live here happily for a long time.
I'm really looking forward to my family's new life here.
It already seems better than back home! Well done if you've written a diary entry a bit similar to this, where it tells you where you've come from and what the settlement is like and why you chose that place to put your settlement there.
Well done for completing your first learning task.
We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.
We're going to explore the different tribes and their lands.
Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.
The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes all settled in the same parts of Britain.
Is that true or false? Hmm.
Take a moment to think.
Did they settle in the same parts of Britain? If you said false, that's correct.
Well done.
How can we justify our answer? The Angles settled in the north of Britain and the Saxons settled mostly along the coast, East coast.
The Angles settled in the east of Britain and the Saxons settled mostly in the south and west.
Hmm, which one of those sentences helps to justify our answer? If you said the Angles settled in east of Britain and the Saxons settled mostly in the south and west, that's correct.
Well done.
This brings us to our second learning task.
I would like you to pause the video here to give yourself enough time to complete the sentences using the correct words below.
The Saxons in the and west whereas the settled along the east coast of.
Which of these words goes into those blank spaces? Jutes, north, settled, south, Britain or Angles.
Pause the video and give yourself enough time to write the sentence out, or you could talk to your partner about where those words go in those gaps.
When you are ready to restart, press play to continue.
How did that go? Shall we have a look at where the words go? So the Saxons settled in the south and west, whereas the angles settled along the east coast of Britain.
Well done if you got those words in the correct places.
We're now ready to move onto the third part of this lesson.
We're going to look at the seven kingdoms. Let's find out about them.
By 800 CE there were seven distinct kingdoms in Britain.
Let's take a look at the map.
Here we've got Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex.
Just as we have countries today back then, these kingdoms were large areas ruled by kings or queens.
Each boasting its own unique traditions, laws, and stories.
From the protective lands of Wessex in the south to the vast stretches of the Northumbria in the north, each kingdom had its own culture and tales of bravery, wisdom, and intrigue.
Life in these kingdoms was never still, power constantly shifted between them.
At times, one kingdom would rise in power and importance, stretching its boundaries and influence.
But as the time went on so too did the fortunes and look of these kingdoms. For instance, Wessex might enjoy a time with more power only to later face challenges from Mercia or Northumbria.
The power of each kingdom would change as each one wanted more land and to be in charge over the others.
Sometimes the kingdoms also had disagreements with each other about the price of goods when trading or when and where they could cross over each other's borders.
Hmm, sounds like they had a few problems between these kingdoms. Let's take a look at this statement.
By 800 CE, the Anglo-Saxon parts of Britain were ruled by one person.
Is that true or false? What do you think? Hmm.
If you said that that was false, well done.
Can we justify our answer? So we've got two sentences.
There were seven different kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon Britain that each had their own ruler.
All the Anglo-Saxon parts of Britain were ruled by the two kings of Northumbria and Wessex.
Can you have a discussion with your partner? Which do you think helps to justify our answer? If you said there were seven different kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon Britain that each had their own ruler, that's absolutely right.
Well done.
This bring us to our final learning task of this lesson.
I would like you to pause the video here to give yourself enough time to give two reasons why the power of each kingdom was constantly changing.
Have a discussion with your partner first, and then get yourself a piece of paper and pen and maybe write those two reasons down why the power of each kingdom was constantly changing.
Hmm.
Pause the video now and have a go at giving two reasons.
And when you are ready to restart, press play.
How did that go? Shall we take a look at what you could have written? You could have written something like this.
The rulers of each kingdom may have wanted more land for their people.
That's one reason why the power of each kingdom was constantly changing.
Another reason might be the rulers may have had disagreements about how they interacted with one another when trading goods or travelling across borders.
Well done if you wrote something similar to that and for completing this final learning task.
Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about Anglo-Saxon kingdoms because we have certainly learned a lot.
The Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain in the early 400 CE and began to establish their own communities and settlements.
Can you remember where they placed their settlements? That's right, near that water source.
And so they have fertile land to grow and produce food on.
The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in different areas and by 800 CE there were seven distinct kingdoms called Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex.
Each kingdom had different rulers, laws, and traditions, but they were constantly competing with each other for power.
Thank you for joining me in today's lesson, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you for the next lesson.
See you next time.