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

And we're going to explore the question, why did they come to the British Isles? So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe how the Kingdom of Wessex tried to resist the Viking invaders.

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 keywords we'll be using today are Wessex, defend, stall, bribe.

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

Wessex.

Defend.

Stall.

Bribe.

Good job.

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

Here are the definitions for each of our keywords.

Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of England.

When you defend something, you resist an attack made against it.

To stall means to stop something making progress.

A bribe means to give someone money or something else of value, often illegally, to persuade that person to do something you want.

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'll be working through together in today's lesson.

The fight for Wessex.

How did King Alfred defend Wessex? In the first learning cycle, we will explore the fight for Wessex.

In the 800s CE, the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons became neighbours in Britain.

The Great Heathen Army had captured areas in Britain in the kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia.

Wessex was the only kingdom the Vikings have not successfully invaded.

So, take a look at that map for a moment.

Can you see Northumbria up in the north, East Anglia in the East, Mercier in the Midlands there, and then down in the south of Britain, Wessex.

In 870 CE, Wessex was ruled by the young King Aethelred, supported by his younger brother Alfred.

You can see an illustration there of King Aethelred of Wessex.

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

Who was the king of Wessex in 870 CE? Alfred, Aethelred, or Aethelwulf.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready to hear the answer, press play.

What did you think? If you said Aethelred, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

The Viking invasions had become a significant problem whilst Aethelred was king.

He knew he had to do everything he could to defend Wessex from invasion.

I wonder what he decided to do.

It could not have been an easy task with the Viking army being so large and invading so many different areas of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In 871 CE, there were a number of battles between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons.

At the Battle of Englefield, the Vikings suffered great losses and the Anglo-Saxons were victorious.

This was one of the first battles in Wessex.

You can see Englefield on the map here.

Can you see how it's within the Kingdom of Wessex? So, the Anglo-Saxons were victorious during this battle.

King Aethelred and Alfred then led an army to Reading, and there was a great battle.

However, at the Battle of Reading, the Vikings defeated the Anglo-Saxons.

So, Aethelred and Alfred knew they had to try and stall the Vikings.

They had to try and stop the progress that the Vikings were making in capturing Wessex.

So they rallied troops to Ashdown to fight them.

The Battle of Ashdown was long and continued into the night, but the Anglo-Saxons eventually defeated the Vikings.

Their plan to stall the Vikings had worked.

This bought Aethelred time to prepare for another attack.

One he hoped would defeat the Vikings for good.

Now that is a lot of battles, isn't it? Starting in Englefield, then Reading and Ashdown.

And both the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons were winning those battles.

But what was going to happen next? Well, because the Viking army was so large, it was able to flee the Battle of Ashdown and split into different sections.

This meant the Viking forces could fight in different parts of Britain at the same time.

The army could also send reinforcements from one section to support another section in need.

And this made them very successful.

Can you see on the map how the Great Heathen Army travelled around Britain? You can see those different coloured lines, the different years in which those the army travelled around Britain.

They were able to be in many kingdoms at the same time, and that made them very successful being such a large army.

King Aethelred and Alfred fought well against the Vikings.

However, at the Battle of Basing, they were defeated again by the Viking army.

And the Vikings continued to push the forces of Wessex back.

And despite his efforts to try and defend Wessex, King Aethelred died in late 871 CE.

What was to happen to Wessex now after the Vikings had invaded so much and had been victorious, was Wessex about to fall? I wonder.

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

Select all the places where Aethelred and Alfred fought the Vikings in 871 CE.

Northumbria.

Reading.

Ashdown.

Basing.

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

Select all the places where Aethelred and Alfred fought the Vikings in 871.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said Reading, Ashdown, and Basing, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

The Viking army was large and that is why it was successful.

Now using what you've learned, discuss with your partner how you would expand this statement to give more detail.

So the Viking army was large, and that is why it was successful.

Hmm.

How would you expand that statement? How would you give more detail? Pause the video here, give yourself enough time, and discuss this with your partner.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer may have included, "The Viking army was successful because it was so large, it could split into different sections and fight in different parts of Britain at the same time.

The Army could also send reinforcements from one section to support another section in need." Well done if you are able to expand the statement to give more detail about the Viking army being so large and therefore successful.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Aethelred and Alfred fought the Vikings together to defend Wessex.

Describe what happened during the battles to your partner.

So try to include the words Reading, Ashdown, and Basing.

So what happened during those battles? Describe them to your partner.

Pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to complete this learning task.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on? Did you have a good discussion with your partner? Let's take a look at what you could have said.

So your answer may have included, "King Aethelred and Alfred led an army to Reading where there was a great battle, but the Vikings were victorious.

Aethelred and Alfred then rallied troops to Ashdown to fight the Vikings.

The Vikings fled and split their forces in half.

At Basing, Aethelred and Alfred fought the Vikings and they were defeated again." So, well done if you were able to describe what happened during the battles when Aethelred and Alfred tried to defend Wessex.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We are going to think about the question, how did King Alfred defend Wessex? Shortly after, King Aethelred's death in 871 CE, his younger brother Alfred became the king of Wessex.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Alfred became the king of Wessex in 871 CE.

Is that true or false? Hmm.

What do you think? Alfred became the king of Wessex in 871 CE.

True or false? If you said that that was true, you are absolutely right.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? Aethelred made his brother Alfred king.

Aethelred died and then Alfred became King.

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 you get on? If you said that Aethelred died and then Alfred became king, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Soon after he became king, King Alfred led a small force against the Vikings at Wilton.

Here, the Vikings, now helped by the Danish chief, Guthrum, fought against King Alfred.

King Alfred suffered major losses and the Vikings were victorious.

Now here, taking a look at this map of Anglo-Saxon and Viking battles, there are many that took place in Wessex.

We know of Ashdown and Basing, and here, you can see where the Battle of Wilton took place.

The only way Alfred could defend Wessex from being invaded completely was to offer a bribe.

It is likely the bribe involved giving coins or goods to the Vikings.

King Alfred made a deal with the Vikings, but he knew that they would not stay away from Wessex for good.

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

How did King Alfred defend Wessex? He defeated the Vikings in battle.

He bribed the Vikings.

He made friends with the Vikings.

Hmm.

What do you think? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said, he bribed the Vikings.

You are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now the bribe brought King Alfred a few years of peace as the Vikings invaded other kingdoms. Because of the bribe, Guthrum formed a close connection with Alfred, and this connection would become important in the next few years.

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

The bribe created peace forever.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to hear the answer, press play.

If you said that that's false, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? The bribe only brought a few years of peace.

The bribe brought no peace.

So, pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, which of these two statements helps to justify your answer, and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said, the bribe only brought a few years of peace.

You are absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Can you write two sentences to describe how King Alfred tried to defend Wessex? So, think about how King Alfred tried to defend Wessex.

You may want to include the following words.

Bribe, peace, kingdoms. So, pause the video here.

Make sure you've got yourself a pen and some paper.

Give yourself enough time to write two sentences to describe how King Alfred tried to defend Wessex.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Were you able to write two sentences to describe how King Alfred tried to defend Wessex? Well, let's take a look at an example, shall we? So your answer may have included something like this.

"King Alfred tried to defend Wessex by offering the Vikings a bribe.

The bribe brought Alfred a few years of peace as the Vikings invaded other kingdoms and stayed out of Wessex." So, well done if you were able to describe how King Alfred defended Wessex.

And well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about Aethelred, Alfred the Great, and Wessex.

We've certainly learned a lot about them and how they tried to defend Wessex.

In 870, Wessex was ruled by the young King Aethelred.

King Aethelred and Alfred tried to defend Wessex during a number of battles.

At the Battle of Ashdown, they tried to stall the Vikings.

In 871 CE, King Aethelred died and Alfred became king of Wessex.

The new King Alfred tried to defend Wessex at Wilton, but was defeated.

King Alfred defended Wessex by offering the Vikings a bribe.

This bribe formed an important connection with the Danish chief, Guthrum.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

See you next time.