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 fought back against the Vikings.

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 Chippenham, Edington, Danelaw, converted.

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

Chippenham.

Edington.

Danelaw.

Converted.

Good job.

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

Here are the definitions for each of our keywords.

Chippenham is a town in southwestern England where the Vikings almost captured Alfred.

Edington is a town in southwestern England where Alfred defeated Guthrum.

The area that Alfred allowed the Vikings to rule was called the Danelaw.

When someone changes to a new religion or belief, they have converted.

Pause the video here to make a note of the 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.

How did Wessex fight back against the Vikings? The division of Britain.

In this first learning cycle, we will explore how Wessex fought back against the Vikings.

For many years, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain had been under attack from the advances of the Vikings.

So you can see here on this map the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. So you can see on this map here, the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. We have Northumbria in the north there, East Anglia on the east, Wessex in the south, and Mercia in the middle of Britain in the Midlands.

By 877 CE, the kingdom of Wessex still remained independent.

However, in the same year, the Viking King Guthrum began to attack Wessex and battles took place around Exeter.

The battles were not decisive.

Neither the Vikings or the Anglo-Saxons were victorious.

So you can see here where Exeter is within Wessex where those battles took place.

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

When did Guthrum begin to attack Wessex? 877 CE.

888 CE.

878 CE.

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

What did you think? If you said, 877 CE, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, towards the end of 877 CE, Guthrum moved his army to Gloucester for the winter to rest and plan their next attack.

At this time, King Alfred and his family travelled to his royal settlement at Chippenham where they could celebrate Christmas.

However, early in January 878 CE, Guthrum launched a surprise attack on Chippenham.

King Alfred was almost captured, but luckily, he was able to flee the attack with his family and a few followers.

They took refuge in the marshes of Athelney, Somerset.

With King Alfred in hiding, the Vikings began to take over the rest of the Wessex kingdom.

Take a look at that.

Illustration there of King Alfred in the marshes being quite terrifying.

Just enjoying Christmas with your family and then to be stormed by a surprise attack from the Vikings would've been quite terrifying.

Whilst in the marshes Athelney, Alfred was dependent on local people for food and shelter.

Because of their help, he was able to establish a fortified base where he gathered a force to prepare for an attack.

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

King Alfred fled to the marshes and gave up.

Is this statement true or false? What do you think? King Alfred fled to the marshes and gave up.

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

Well done.

Now, which of these two statements would help you to justify your answer? He lived with the local people.

He gathered a force to prepare for an attack.

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

What did you think? If you said, he gathered a force to prepare for an attack, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, in May 878 CE, Alfred rode out to challenge Guthrum and the Vikings at Edington as a Danish-held fortress.

At the Battle of Edington, Alfred's warriors fighting on foot confronted the Vikings with a dense shield wall.

The battle raged until in the words of King Alfred's biographer Asser.

Alfred overthrew the pagans with great slaughter, and smiting the fugitives, he pursued them as far as the fortress.

Alfred was victorious at the Battle of Edington and this forced Guthrum to withdraw from Wessex.

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

Using the numbers 1 to 4, can we order these events, starting with the earliest? So we have, Guthrum launched a surprise attack on Chippenham.

Alfred rode out to challenge Guthrum and the Vikings at Edington.

Viking King Gothrum began to attack Wessex.

Alfred was victorious at Edington.

So using the numbers 1 to 4 order these events, starting with the earliest.

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

What do you think? And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look? So the first one, Viking King Guthrum began to attack Wessex.

The second, Guthrum launched a surprise attack on Chippenham.

The third, Alfred rode out to challenge Guthrum and the Vikings at Edington.

And the final, fourth event, Alfred was victorious at Edington.

Well done if you are able to order these events correctly.

This brings us to our first learning task.

There is a memorial near Edington to commemorate the battle that was fought.

Write a plaque for the memorial describing how Wessex fought back against the Vikings at Edington.

You may want to include the following.

Edington, challenge, shield wall, withdraw.

There's a photo of the memorial to the Battle of Edington there.

So I'd like you to write a plaque for this memorial describing how Wessex fought back against the Vikings at Edington.

Pause the video here, give yourself enough time.

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, in May 878 CE, Alfred rode out to challenge Guthrum and the Vikings at Edington.

At the Battle of Edington, Alfred's warriors, fighting on foot, confronted the Vikings with a dense shield wall.

The battle raged until Alfred was victorious.

This forced Guthrum to withdraw from Wessex.

Well done for completing that learning task.

This now brings us to our second part of learning.

We are going to look at the division of Britain.

In 886 CE, Alfred drove the Vikings from London and secured it.

Shortly afterwards, Alfred arranged the marriage between his eldest daughter and the king of Mercia.

This created an alliance between Wessex and Mercia.

These two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would stand together against the Vikings.

You can see there an illustration of Aethelflaed.

That's Alfred's eldest daughter who married the king of Mercia.

After the Battle of Edington, an agreement was drawn up between King Alfred of Wessex, Guthrum and the Danes to divide Britain.

Alfred divided Britain and allowed the Vikings to control some areas.

This was a clever plan because he knew he would not be able to get the Vikings to leave Britain completely.

As too many had already settled.

It was agreed that King Alfred would control the south and the west, and the Vikings would control the north and the east.

The areas the Vikings controlled were called the Danelaw.

The Danelaw was north of a line between the River Thames and the River Mersey and included East Anglia, Northumbria, and some of Mercia.

Let's take a moment to have a look at this map of divided Britain here.

So we have the Danelaw, you can see.

So the Vikings controlled Northumbria, East Anglia, and parts of Mercia.

Can you see where that line is to divide the Danelaw boundary to the areas in which King Alfred controlled? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

The Danelaw referred to all of the Viking controlled areas of Britain.

Is that true or false? The Danelaw referred to all of the Viking controlled areas of Britain.

What do you think? Is that true or false? If you said, that is true.

You are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer.

The Vikings controlled the north and the east.

The Vikings controlled the south and the west.

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.

What did you think? If you said, the Vikings controlled the north and the east, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

As part of the peace agreement, Guthrum and 30 of his chieftains, the leaders, were baptised as Christians and they swore not to fight against Wessex again.

Guthrum converted to Christianity and took the name Athelstan.

King Alfred served as his godfather.

Guthrum's conversion to Christianity was important for two reasons.

Firstly, it reassured the people he ruled over, that they were ruled by a Christian king, not a heathen chieftain.

And secondly, Guthrum room was now recognised amongst the Christian communities.

So we can see in this illustration here of King Alfred and Guthrum.

You can see King Alfred stood up and Guthrum kneeling, almost surrendering to King Alfred.

And that's why he then converted to Christianity to become part of the Anglo-Saxon community, that Christian community.

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

Can you discuss these questions with your partner? Why did Guthrum convert to Christianity? And what did Guthrum and the chieftains swear not to do? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? How did your discussion go? Shall we have a look at some answers? So Guthrum converted to Christianity as part of the peace agreement.

And Guthrum and the chieftains swore not to fight against Wessex again.

Good job if you got those right.

This brings us to our final learning task.

With your partner, discuss whether you think Andeep's statement is correct.

King Alfred and the kingdom of Wessex fought back against the Vikings at the Battle of Edington.

After the battle, the Vikings left Britain for good.

What do you think? Discuss with your partner is Andeep's statement correct.

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

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? So this statement is incorrect.

After the Vikings were defeated at the Battle of Edington, Alfred divided Britain.

Alfred controlled the south and the west, whilst the Vikings controlled the Danelaw, areas in the north and the east.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the Anglo-Saxon fightback.

We've certainly learned a lot.

By 877 CE, Viking King Guthrum began to attack Wessex.

In January 878, Guthrum launched a surprise attack at Chippenham, which forced King Alfred to flee into the marshes.

In the marshes, Alfred raised a force to attack Guthrum.

At the Battle of Edington, in May 878, Alfred defeated Guthrum.

After the battle, Alfred allowed Guthrum to rule the Viking controlled area of Britain, known as the Danelaw.

As part of the peace agreement, Guthrum agreed to convert to Christianity, with Alfred add as his godfather.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson, today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you then.