Hello, my name is Mrs. Tippin, 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 Vikings took over more and more of Britain in the 800 CE.

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 heathen, East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex.

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

Heathen.

East Anglia.

Northumbria.

Mercia.

Wessex.

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

Here are the definitions of each of our keywords.

A heathen is a person who does not belong to a widely held religion.

East Anglia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the east of England.

Northumbria was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in northeastern England.

Mercia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is the Midlands in England today.

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

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: Who were the Great Heathen Army? Where did the Vikings capture in Britain? In the first learning cycle, we will explore who the Great Heathen Army were.

Every summer, areas of wealth, usually monasteries and priories on the shores of the British Isles were raided by Vikings.

They would take the goods they had stolen back to their homelands.

And historians know about these raids because they are recorded in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle".

The raids increased during the 800 CE, and by 850 CE, the Vikings began to establish camps over the winter to continue the raids.

The camps gave the Vikings a place to live until they were nearly ready for their next raid.

They enabled the Vikings to hunt and grow food, recover from injuries, and repair their ships and weapons.

And Dublin was one of the first Viking camps established in 841 CE.

So you can see on this timeline the different places that the Vikings raided at different times.

So Lindisfarne priory in 793 CE, Yarrow in 794, Ireland in 795, Iona, Scotland in 806 CE, and then Dublin.

Dublin was raided, and then also a camp was established there in 841 CE.

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

The Vikings established camps to continue raids.

Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think? Vikings established camps to continue raids, true or false? If you said that was true, you're absolutely right.

How do we justify our answer? We have two statements here to help us: The camps were established over winter; the camps were established over summer.

Tell your partner.

What do you think? Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said the camps were established over winter, you're absolutely right.

Well done! In 865 CE, something significant changed.

A huge Viking force called the Great Heathen Army landed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent.

It's estimated the army was around 3000 men.

This was the biggest Viking army that had ever come to Britain, and it was known as the Great Heathen Army.

Now at the time of the Viking raids, Anglo-Saxon Britain was divided into four kingdoms: East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.

Have a look at the map on screen there.

Can you see where each of those kingdoms are? Can you spot the names? Northumbria and the North, East Anglia on the East Coast, Wessex in the south, and Mercia in the middle of Britain there.

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

When did the Great Heathen Army arrive in Britain? 855 CE, 865 CE, or 875 CE? Have a quick discussion with your partner.

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

What did you think? If you said 865 CE, you're absolutely right.

Well done! Now after arriving, the Great Heathen Army travelled north of Kent to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia.

Take a look at the map there.

You can see where Kent is, where they arrived on that coast, and then they travelled north to East Anglia.

The Vikings intended to use this army to take control of Britain as they would fight against the Anglo-Saxons and begin to settle on Anglo-Saxon land.

After years of successful raids, the Vikings had realised that if they captured all the kingdoms in Britain, then they could become even wealthier.

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

Can you order these three events starting with the earliest? So we have the Vikings set up winter camps to continue their raids, the Great Heathen Army travelled north to East Anglia, a huge Viking force called the Great Heathen Army arrived in Kent.

So using numbers one, two, and three, where would you put those numbers to order these events, starting with the earliest? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look? Well, the earliest event is a huge Viking force called the Great Heathen Army arrived in Kent.

The second event, the Vikings set up winter camps to continue their raids.

And then the third event, the Great Heathen Army travelled north to East Anglia.

So to see those in the correct order, we've got them here.

A huge Viking force called the Great Heathen Army arrived in Kent.

The Vikings set up winter camps to continue their raids.

And the Great Heathen Army travelled north to East Anglia.

Well done if you've got those in the right order.

It's now time for our first learning task.

In complete sentences, answer the following questions: Where did the Great Heathen Army first arrive? The Great Heathen Army travelled north to where? Why did the Great Heathen Army want to capture Britain? So make sure that you've got yourself a pen and some paper and give yourself enough time to write out complete sentences answering the following questions.

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

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at some examples? So, where did the Great Heathen Army first arrive? The Great Heathen Army first arrived in Kent.

The Great Heathen Army travelled north to where? The Great Heathen Army travelled north to East Anglia.

Why did the Great Heathen Army want to capture Britain? After years of successful raids, the Vikings had realised that if they captured Britain they could become even wealthier.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We're going to explore where the Vikings captured in Britain.

After arriving in East Anglia, the Great Heathen Army travelled further north to York in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria in 866 CE.

So take a look at the map there.

Can you see where East Anglia was, and how they've travelled further north to Northumbria, where they have gone into York? Now the army, they invaded and captured York on the 1st of November 866 CE.

Ivar the Boneless, a famous and fearsome Viking from Denmark, and King Halfdan of Denmark cleverly ambushed the town when most of York's leaders were in the cathedral for All Saints Day.

This meant that the town was left vulnerable to attack and unprepared for battle.

At the time of the invasion, it was also a civil war in Northumbria between two men fighting for the Northumbrian throne, King Ella and King Osbert.

This civil war made the Viking invasion of York much easier.

During the invasion of York, King Ella of Northumbria was not captured.

So in March 867 CE, he and King Osbert joined forces to fight against the Vikings.

At first, it seemed as though the kings might be able to defeat the Vikings, as their armies managed to break through the Viking defences.

But eventually, they were defeated, and both the Northumbrian kings were killed.

Let's take a moment to pause.

York was part of which Anglo-Saxon Kingdom? Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, or Wessex? Pause the video here and give yourself some time.

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

What did you think? If you said Northumbria, you're absolutely right.

Well done! When the Great Heathen Army captured York, they used it as a base for further invasion.

The army moved into areas of Mercia, but the Mercians were able to bribe them not to attack.

A bribe is when you give money or something of value to persuade someone to do something.

So have a look at the map there.

The Great Heathen Army has travelled quite some way from Kent up to East Anglia, then up to York in Northumbria, and now back down towards Mercia.

So they're travelling quite a lot around the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, raiding and invading and settling.

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

The Vikings attacked Mercia.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said false, that's absolutely right.

And how do we justify our answer? We have two statements here to help us justify our answer: The Mercians bribed the Vikings not to attack; the Mercians fought bravely against the Vikings.

Hmm, what do you think? Have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said that the Mercians bribed the Vikings not to attack, you are absolutely right.

And remember, a bribe is when you give money or something of value to persuade someone to do something.

So I wonder what the Mercians bribed the Vikings with.

In 869 CE, the army moved from Mercia into East Anglia.

There, the Great Heathen Army killed the King of the East Angles, Edmund.

After the defeat of East Anglia, the Vikings had made huge progress in their plans to take over Britain.

The Great Heathen Army had captured areas in three of the four Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia.

They then set their sights on the final kingdom they had not yet captured: Wessex.

Take a look there, Wessex is in the south on that map.

I wonder what they had to do to prepare to capture Wessex.

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

Match the date to the correct event.

We have 866 CE, 869 CE.

We have the Vikings invaded East Anglia and killed King Edmund; the Vikings invaded and captured York in Northumbria.

What do you think? Can you match the date to the correct event? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

Shall we take a look? So, in 866 CE, the Vikings invaded and captured York in Northumbria.

In 869 CE, the Vikings invaded East Anglia and killed King Edmund.

Well done if you matched those correctly.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to write one paragraph in chronological order to describe how the Vikings used the Great Heathen Army to capture more areas of Britain.

So Sam is saying Wessex was the only kingdom the Vikings had not yet captured.

And Izzy says there are some dates here to help you, 865 CE, 866 CE, and 869 CE.

So what happened during each of those three dates? And remember that Wessex was the only kingdom the Vikings had not yet captured.

So make sure you got yourself a pen and some paper and give yourself enough time to write one paragraph in chronological order to describe how the Vikings used the Great Heathen Army to capture more areas of Britain.

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

How did that go? Did you manage to write a paragraph? Let's have a look, an example, shall we? So your answer may have included: In 865 CE, the Great Heathen Army arrived in Kent and travelled north to East Anglia.

In 866 CE, the Vikings invaded and captured York in Northumbria.

The Great Heathen Army moved into areas of Mercia, but the Mercians bribed the army not to attack.

In 869 CE, the Vikings killed King Edmund and captured areas of East Anglia.

By this point, they had captured three out of the four Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Well done if you wrote something similar, and well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the Great Heathen Army.

There were Viking raids in Britain throughout the 800s CE, and by 850 CE, they had begun to make winter camps to help prepare and recover before the next raid.

In 865 CE, a huge Viking force, called the Great Heathen Army arrived in East Anglia.

They intended to use this huge army to take over the other Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms in Britain.

By 869 CE, the Vikings had captured areas in Northumbria and East Anglia, while Mercia had bribed them not to attack.

The only Anglo-Saxon Kingdom that the Vikings had not been able to capture yet was Wessex.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today, and I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.