Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I am really looking forward to learning with you today all about the Anglo-Saxons.

And we're going to explore the question, "How do we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England?" So, shall we get started? Let's go! By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what archaeologists and historians think they have found out about Christianity in Anglo-Saxon Britain from buildings and artefacts.

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

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these down.

The keywords we'll be using today are pagan, monastery, manuscript, imagery.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me: Pagan, monastery, manuscript, imagery, good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these words mean.

Here are the definitions of each of our key words.

A pagan is a person holding beliefs.

A pagan is a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions.

A monastery is a building where monks live and work together dedicated to religious life.

A manuscript is a handwritten document, usually from ancient or mediaeval times.

Imagery is a way of describing pictures and patterns that can be seen on items. 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 we will be working through together in today's lesson.

Early Christian sites, monasteries and learning, pagan and Christian imagery.

In the first learning cycle, we will explore early Christian sites.

Before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, Britain was part of the Roman Empire.

During this time, Christianity was introduced to Britain.

However, this began to change when the Romans decided to leave Britain.

After the Romans left, there was a period of confusion and change.

During this time, the Anglo-Saxons started arriving and brought their own pagan beliefs and gods with them.

Instead of worshipping just one God, like Christians do, they worshipped many gods.

As the Anglo-Saxon settled and established their kingdoms, the belief in Christianity that had been growing during the Roman times began to decline.

Without Roman supports and with the growth of the pagan Anglo-Saxon religion, the Christian churches and communities faced many challenges, and the influence of Christian teaching declined.

However, the story of Christianity in Britain did not end there.

Soon missionaries was sent to convert the Anglo-Saxons back to Christianity.

These missionaries came from other parts of Europe where Christianity had continued to spread such as Ireland and Rome.

They taught the Anglo-Saxons about Christianity.

And over time, many Anglo-Saxon kings converted to Christianity, so they changed to Christianity.

If a king converted to Christianity, this was very important as the decisions of kings often influenced everyone else around them and encouraged more people to become Christian.

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

Write the missing keyword.

"Without Roman support and with the growth of the Anglo-Saxon religion, Christianity in Britain declined.

So what word goes in that missing space there? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press Play.

How did that go? If you said pagan, so, "Without Roman support and with the growth of the pagan Anglo-Saxon religion, Christianity in Britain declined," you are correct, well done.

What's about the missing word in this sentence? "With the arrival of to Britain, many Anglo-Saxons began to convert to Christianity." Mm, so what goes in that missing space there, what word? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? If you said missionaries, "With the arrival of missionaries to Britain, many Anglo-Saxons began to convert to Christianity," you are absolutely right, well done.

And with the return to Christianity, religion in Britain began to change again.

The Anglo-Saxons started to build churches in the 600s CE.

Interestingly, archaeologists and historians have found evidence that some of these early Christian churches were built on sites that had been important for pagan worship.

This choice of location was probably a way to make it easier for people to change to Christianity.

You can see in that photo there of an Anglo-Saxon style church.

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

"All Anglo-Saxon churches were built on new land." Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said that's false, you are absolutely right.

Now, which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? "Historians believe that the Anglo-Saxons did not build churches at all." "Historians believe that the Anglo-Saxons built churches on old Pagan sites." Hmm, what do you think? Pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? If you said, "Historians believe that the Anglo-Saxons built churches on old pagan sites," you are absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to sort these events into order starting with the earliest by numbering them.

The first one has been done for you.

So you can see the number, 1, next to "The Romans leave Britain." So we have these other events.

"Missionaries convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity." "Christianity declines in Britain." "The Anglo-Saxons arrive in Britain." "The Anglo-Saxons begin to build churches on old pagan sites." So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to order these events using the numbers, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at the answers? So your answers should include the first one, which was, "The Romans Leave Britain." The second event, "The Anglo-Saxons arrive in Britain." The third event, "Christianity declines in Britain." The fourth event, "Missionaries convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity." And the final event, "The Anglo-Saxons begin to build churches on old pagan sites." Well done for completing that learning task.

We are now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

We are going to explore monasteries and learning.

In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, Christian monasteries were not just places for prayer.

They were also centres of education and knowledge.

These monies provided a rare space for learning.

You can see this photo here of the remains of the monastery at Jarrow Abbey and St.

Paul's Church.

Christian monks living in the monasteries were among the few in society who were taught to read and write.

A famous example of this is Bede, a monk who started his learning life at the age of seven at Jarrow Abbey.

The remains of this monastery can still be seen today.

Bede's education led him to become one of Anglo-Saxon Britain's most important writers.

His works, especially his manuscript about the history of Britain, have given historians lots of information about life at that time.

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

"Not many Anglo-Saxons could read or write." Is that statement true or false? What do you think? If you said it's true, you're absolutely right.

And which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? "The few who could, were usually taught by their parents." The few who could, were usually taught in monasteries." So 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 are ready to continue.

How did that go? If you said, "The few who could, were usually taught in monasteries," you are absolutely right, well done.

The life of a monk in a monastery was dedicated to both worship and work.

A monk's day would start with morning prayers followed by copying texts, studying, and writing.

This is how manuscripts were created, and the older monks would often teach the younger ones.

Afternoons were spent gardening, cooking, or looking after the monastery itself.

In the evenings, there were more prayers before bed.

Making manuscripts was considered a very important job as they were not only religious texts, but also included stories, history, and science, and they were all written by hand.

This was a tough task and required a lot of skill and patience.

The work of these monks, including Bede's historical manuscripts, has helped historians learn more about the Anglo-Saxons.

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

What three important activities happened at an Anglo-Saxon Monastery? Learning, making manuscripts, pagan rituals, worship.

What do you think? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

What did you think? If you said learning, making manuscripts, and worship, you are absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our second learning task.

Can you write a to-do list for the daily life of a monk in a monastery.

You could use the following words to help you: Prayers, manuscripts, teach, garden.

So pause the video here, make sure you've got yourself a pen and some paper, and write a to-do list for the daily life of a monk in a monastery, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could include: Say morning prayers, copy or write manuscripts, study religious texts, work in the monastery garden or kitchen, teach younger monks reading and writing, say evening prayers.

Good job, well done for completing that learning task.

We're now gonna move on to the third part of this lesson.

We're gonna explore pagan and Christian imagery.

As well as archaeology and manuscripts, art and imagery can also tell historians about the Anglo-Saxons.

One example is the imagery on the Franks Casket, a small box made of whale bone that is believed to have been made in Northumbria around the 700s CE.

So take a look at that photo there of the Franks Casket, made of whale bone.

Its detailed carvings show a mixture of pagan and Christian imagery.

The carved panel on the front of the casket is divided into two sections.

So you can see there, pagan imagery and Christian imagery shown on the Franks Casket.

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

"The Franks casket showed only Christian imagery." Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said that that is false, you are absolutely right.

And which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? "It also featured pagan imagery." "It also featured Islamic imagery." Hmm, have a discussion with your partner, pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said, "It also featured Pagan imagery," you are absolutely right, well done.

Now, on the left half of the panel, the carvings show the Pagan legend of Wayland the Smith.

This imagery suggests that the Anglo-Saxons still valued and remembered pagan stories, even though many of them had converted to Christianity by this point.

On the right side of the panel, there is some Christian imagery, the "Adoration of the Magi." This scene shows the three wise men visiting the baby Jesus, and represents the Christian beliefs that were becoming more popular among the Anglo-Saxons.

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

What imagery is on the front of the Franks Casket? The Adoration of the Magi.

The three wise men meeting Jesus.

Anglo-Saxon pagan gods and goddesses such as Thor, Frigg, and Woden.

A battle between Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. The pagan legend of Wayland the Smith.

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

What did you think? If you said, "The Adoration of the Magi and the pagan legend of Wayland the Smith," you are absolutely right, well done.

Some historians disagree about what some of the imagery on the Franks Casket represents.

However they agree it tells us that Pagan and Christian traditions were both popular around the same time.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

"As soon as Christianity returned to Britain, pagan traditions disappeared completely." Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think? If you said that's false, you are correct, well done.

Now, which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? "Pagan beliefs became more widespread after Christianity returned to Britain." "Artefacts like the Franks Casket show pagan and Christian imagery suggesting that both beliefs stayed popular." Pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner about which of these two statements helps to justify your answer, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? If you said, "The artefacts like the Franks Casket show pagan and Christian imagery suggesting that both beliefs stayed popular," then you are correct, well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to complete the sentences to explain why the Franks Casket is an important source for historians.

So we've got: The Franks Casket is a.

It contains imagery of.

This shows historians that.

So pause the video here, and give yourself enough time to complete the sentences to explain why the Franks Casket is an important source for historians.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So, your answers could have included: The Franks Casket is a small chest, believed to be from Northumbria, that is made of whale bone.

It contained imagery of a pagan story called Wayland the Smith and the Christian story of the Three Wise Men meeting Jesus.

This shows historians that when it was made, both pagan and Christian traditions were popular in Anglo-Saxon Britain Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about religious buildings and artefacts.

Historians believe that when Christianity returned to Britain, Anglo-Saxons built churches on their old pagan sites.

Anglo-Saxon monasteries like Jarrow Abbey were centres of worship and learning.

Within monasteries, monks often wrote manuscripts such as Bede's history of Britain.

The Franks Casket shows both pagan and Christian imagery.

This suggests to historians that both beliefs were popular when it was made around the 700s CE.

Thank you for joining me in the lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.