Lesson video

Hello, everyone, and welcome to your final lesson on Vikings and Anglo-Saxons.

My name is Mrs. Tipping, and in this lesson today we are going to tackle the following question, how was Britain conquered between 950 AD to 1066? In this lesson, we'll learn about how the Danes conquered Britain for a short period before learning about the Battle of Hastings.

So let's get started.

Now, for this lesson, it's a good idea to make sure that you're set somewhere comfortable without any distractions so that you can capture all the knowledge from this lesson.

And you're just going to need three things: an exercise book or paper, a pencil or pen, and your fantastic brains.

So if you haven't got those things, go and quickly get them now.

Okay.

Good job.

So we're going to start off by talking through some key words.

Then, we're going to talk about how the Danes conquered Britain for a short period of time.

And then we'll talk about what happened at the Battle of Hastings.

And we will finish our lesson with an end of lesson quiz.

So the key words.

The first word is rival.

My turn, your turn.

Rival.

A rival is a person competing with another for the same object or goal.

So if two people went for the same job, they would be rivals.

They'd be going against each other.

The next word is heir.

My turn, your turn.

Heir.

An heir is someone who takes on the roles and responsibilities of the person who died.

And that would usually be after a king or queen that died.

Someone would be their heir, taking on the roles and responsibilities afterwards.

And the third word is retreat.

My turn, your turn.

Retreat.

Retreat means to move back or away from something.

So how did the Danes conquered Britain? Okay, so we've got a timeline on the screen here.

Now, during the 10th century, which is from 900 AD to 1000.

Now, during this time, the Anglo-Saxons continued to fight back against the Danes, and by 954 AD, the Danes had lost all control of their English territories, and they retreated back to Denmark.

Now, you can see Denmark here on the map.

Have a little look.

Can you see it? Point to it.

There's Denmark.

And we've got an arrow on there.

The Danes returned to England towards the end of the 10th century.

And the English King Ethelred the Unready, he paid the Danes large sums of money to not attack his kingdom.

However, in 1002, Ethelred ordered all Danes living in English territories to be murdered.

And this day became known as the St.

Brice's Day Massacre.

So Ethelred was not a very nice king, and he clearly feared the Danes.

So, I'd like you to pause the video in a moment to answer these questions.

What did King Ethelred the Unready do to keep the Danes from attacking his kingdom? Ethelred ordered all the Danes to be murdered.

What was this day called? And when you're done, restart the video.

Here are the answers.

So he gave the Danes large sums of money to keep them from attacking his kingdom.

And the day where he ordered all Danes to be murdered was called St.

Brice's Day Massacre.

So here's that timeline again that shows how long the Anglo-Saxons were around fighting the Danes, and when the Danes left in 954 AD.

Now, they did come back, and they came back for revenge.

In 1003, Sweyn Forkbeard came to England.

And for 20 years, the son of the Danish King Harald Bluetooth had taken part in raids on England.

And finally he led a large scale invasion, and the men of the Danelow and then at the south surrendered to Sweyn.

Now, when London submitted to Sweyn, Ethelred fled to Normandy, which is in France.

And he left the whole country under Danish control.

Sweyn became King of England, but he died in 1014, giving Ethelred a chance to return back to England.

So let's pause for a quick question now.

When did Sweyn Forkbeard come back for revenge? Was it A, in 1014, B, 1015, C, 1003, or D 1004? Have a think, point to the screen, say your answer out loud or write it down.

When did he come back for revenge? The answer is C, 1003.

Good job if you remembered that.

So the Danes finally secured the throne of England in 1016 under Sweyn's son King Cnut, also known as Canute, or Cnut the Great.

In 1016, Ethelred King of England died.

King Cnut then married Emma of Normandy, Ethelred's widow.

Ethelred's son, Edmund Ironside, made a truce with Cnut, in which they agreed to divide the kingdom between them.

However, Edmund died shortly afterwards.

So Cnut became the king of the whole country.

And three years later, he also became King of Denmark and Norway.

So I'd like you to pause the video in a moment now to answer these questions.

Who led the Danes when they came back for revenge? When did the Danes secure the throne? And which countries was Cnut king of? And restart the video when you're done.

And here are some answers.

So who led the Danes when they came back for revenge? Well, that was Sweyn Forkbeard.

When did the Danes secure the throne? That was in 1016.

And which countries was Cnut king of? He was King of England, Denmark and Norway.

So good job if you got those correct.

So now let's take a look at what happened at the Battle of Hastings.

On the 6th of January, 1066, King Edward the Confessor died.

Edward died without an heir to the throne, but on his death bed, he instructed that Harold should succeed him.

Now, Harold and Edward were both Anglo-Saxons.

There were three main rivals for the throne, however.

People didn't agree that Harold should be king.

The three rivals were Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and William, Duke of Normandy.

When Harold was named king, he expected trouble from Harold and William.

He gathered his troops on the south coast and waited for William's attack, but no one came.

So, as we go through the Battle of Hastings, I would like you to pause and start building a timeline on a piece of paper.

So to start our timeline, I want you to write down some key information.

So a date and the key information about what happened, and some drawings if you want.

So from the bit that I've just read to you, what can you remember? How did this start? How has the Battle of Hastings started? So a date, key information and drawings.

Here are some key words here: heir, three rivals and throne, and that should help you remember what needs to go down.

And when you're done, restart the video.

Okay, so here's the start of my time on my piece of paper.

So the beginning of the timeline is the 6th of January, 1066.

The Anglo-Saxon King Edward died without an heir.

And the three rivals were here.

Harold Godwinson, the Anglo-Saxon, Harald Hardrada, the Viking, and William, the Norman.

So if you've got something like that, good job.

And you might have done something a bit more with your drawings.

I just drawn a little crown to remind me of what's going on.

So on the 25th of September, 1066, the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada and his Viking army landed in the north.

And he joined Harold's brother, Tostig Godwinson.

Now, to defend his crown Harold Godwinson gathered his men and raced north.

Harold's quick response surprised the Vikings.

And he defeated them at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire.

Both, Harald Hardrada and Tostig Godwinson, were killed.

So let's pause again now and add to our timelines.

You remember a key date, information and some drawings if you want.

And remember, here's some key words for you, Stamford Bridge, battle, brother.

So restart the video once you're done.

Here is a picture of mine.

So it's the 25th of September, 1066.

Harald Hardrada and his Viking army landed in the north.

And he was joined by Harold's brother, Tostig Godwinson.

But Harold Godwinson defeated them both at the Battle of Stanford Bridge, and they were both killed.

So I've drawn a little axe there.

On the 27th of September, William of Normandy and his forces landed at Pevensey on the Sussex coast.

So that was in the south.

Harold had already lost lots of men in defeating the Vikings at Stamford Bridge.

He then had to rush south, gathering reinforcements, extra men on the way to defend his throne.

Although Harold's men were tired, he chose to fight William straight away.

So let's add to our timeline again.

Remember, a date, some key information and some drawings if you want.

So Normandy is a key word, tired and reinforcements.

Can you remember what happened there? And restart when you're finished.

And here's mine.

On the 27th of September, 1066, William, Duke of Normandy and his army landed in the south.

Harold and his men rushed to fight, even though they were tired.

So I've drawn a shield and sword to go with my timeline.

On the 14th of October, 1066, the Normans arrived in Hastings by boat sailing across the English Channel.

Now, at the Battle of Hastings.

On the 14th of October, 1066, the Normans arrived in Hastings by boat sailing across the English Channel.

The battle took place on a steep hill with the Anglo-Saxons at the top and the Normans attacking from down below.

William's army totaled 15,000 men, soldiers, archers and knights on horseback.

Harold had only 5,000 men, and Harold's men were all on foot, armed with slings and spears and battle axes.

So again, let's add to our timeline.

So remember, what was the date just then? What was the key information? And can you add any drawings if you want? So here's our key words, Hastings, hill, Normans.

And restart the video when you're finished.

And here's mine.

So on the 14th of October, 1066, the Normans arrived in Hastings by boat.

The Battle of Hastings began on a steep hill.

Harold had 5,000 men, but William had 15,000.

So you can see I've drawn a little hill here with Harold and his Anglo-Saxons at the top and William and the Normans at the bottom.

Now, the Anglo-Saxons were totally outnumbered.

At the Battle of Hastings, the two armies fought and they were putting up a strong defence against the well-organized Normans.

However, Harold's army were tired, they just marched over 190 miles.

During the battle, the Normans believed that William had been killed.

But to prove that he was alive, William pushed back his helmet to show his face, and reportedly, apparently he said to his men, "Look, I am here! And with the grace of God, I will win the day." This encouraged his men to fight on.

Later in the battle, the Normans pretended to retreat.

So they pretended to move back.

And this was a wise move.

Some Anglo-Saxons left the hill to follow them, and that meant that the shield wall was broken and the Normans then turned around and attacked them again.

Now, once the Normans had broken through Harold's ranks, they overcame his men easily.

Most of the English army were killed where they stood, and King Harold was killed by the Norman soldiers and died on the battle field.

So you see, when the Anglo-Saxons were on the top of the hill and holding their shields, they had a protective stance up on the hill.

But as soon as they moved away, then the amount of men that William had was able to overcome the amount that Harold had.

So in a moment, I'd like you to pause the video to have a go at this task.

So, first of all, I want you to pause the video to draw this table.

But make sure you've got plenty of space where the strengths and weaknesses, the empty parts of the boxes are.

Because we're going to sort some strengths and weaknesses from Harold and William into this table.

So pause the video now just to draw the table, and I'll give you more instructions in a moment.

Okay, hopefully you pause the video to draw that table.

Now, what I'd like you to do is to write each of these things into the correct spaces.

So read through these statements, who do you think they refer to and was it a strength or weakness? So for example, his men were tired.

Whose men was that? Was it Harold's men or was it William's men? And was that if the men were tired, was that a strength or was that a weakness? What do you think? So sort through all of these and put them into your table and then restart once you're finished.

And here are the answers.

So for Harold, his strengths, the battle took place on a steep hill with his army on top.

So Harold and his army on top, so that was a strength.

But his weaknesses were that his men were tired and they were outnumbered and defeated easily when their shield wall was broken.

And then for William, his strengths, his army thought he was dead, and he encouraged his army to fight on by showing his face.

And his other strength was that they pretended to retreat, and it was a wise move as that meant that the Anglo-Saxons, the opposition, moved away and they were able to attack.

But his weakness was that he was attacking from the bottom of the hill.

So that was a weakness.

So well done if you filled this table in correctly.

So Harold was defeated, and some say he was killed by a sword, others say he died when an arrow struck him in the eye.

Now, Harold's exhausted troops were left without their leader, and soon William had won the battle outright.

William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day in 1066.

It marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon rule.

And a new period of British history had begun.

After William became King of England, French became the language of the King's court.

This blended with Anglo-Saxon English, and over many centuries became the English language we use today.

So let's add the final part to our timeline now.

Remember, what's the key dates, the information and maybe some drawings to help remind you what happened.

So William, defeat and Christmas Day are some key words there.

And then restart the video once you're done.

And here's a picture of my complete timeline.

So we've got from the 6th of January, 25th of September, 27th of September, up to the 14th of October, and finally ending with the 25th of December down here.

No one knows exactly how Harold died, but William defeated the Anglo-Saxons.

And that was the end of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in England.

And he was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.

So let's take a look at something called the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered linen cloth that tells the story of the Battle of Hastings.

Now, although the end of the embroidery is missing, the story ends with the Anglo-Saxons fleeing at the end of the battle.

The Tapestry is 50 centimetres wide and an amazing 70 metres long.

No one knows for sure who created the Bayeux Tapestry.

The scenes are embroidered in wool thread.

So you can see a picture of what it looks like here.

Onto woollen cloth, there are around 10 colours of threads used on nine panels of linen that were joined together.

It was created to be displayed in the cathedral in Bayeux in Normandy in France.

Other countries have asked to loan the Tapestry, but it is yet to be moved.

So here's a picture of it, but it's actually a huge long piece of cloth.

And it's in a museum now for people to see, and you could visit it if you wanted to go to France.

So for your last task of today, what I would like you to do is select one of these moments from the Battle of Hastings and draw an image for the Bayeux Tapestry.

So imagine that you were attaching your scene to the Bayeux tapestry with that woollen coloured thread.

So you can choose one, two or three.

You can either draw the battle that took place on the steep hill, with the Anglo-Saxons at the top and the Normans attacking from down below.

So from what you've learned, what would that look like? Or during the battle, the Normans believed that William had been killed.

To prove that he was alive William pushed back his helmet to show his face.

So what would that have looked like? What would that scene have looked like? Or the third one, William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day in 1066.

What would that have looked like? So take some time drawing your Bayeux Tapestry section and add those colours.

But don't use any more than 10 colours, because that's how many colours they would have had for the woollen thread.

And then restart the video once you're done.

Okay.

Great work.

That is the end of our unit on Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and you have worked so hard, and it has been amazing to share this learning with you.

Now, I would love to see some of your learning that you've done, any of your drawings, your timelines or from anything from the previous lessons.

So if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I hope that you all take care, and we'll see you soon.

Goodbye.