Lesson video

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

My name is Mrs. Tipping and in this lesson, we are going to tackle the following question.

What were the Viking raids? In this lesson, we will learn about the first Viking raid, the Anglo-Saxon reaction to the raids and why the Vikings were so feared.

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

Now, all you need are three things.

You need a exercise book or paper, you need a pencil or a pen and you need your fantastic brains so that you can soak up all of this learning.

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

Let's have a look at the lesson structure.

So I'm going to share some keywords to begin with.

And then we'll talk about the first Viking raid at Lindisfarne.

The next question looks at how the Anglo-Saxons reacted to the Viking raids.

Finally, we'll learn about why the Vikings were so feared.

And we'll finish with our end of lesson quiz, which we'll do at the end of every lesson.

Let's take a look at the keywords.

The first keyword is invade.

My turn, your turn, invade.

To invade means to enter a country armed and capture it.

The second word is raid.

My turn, your turn, raid.

A raid is a rapid surprise attack, usually involving stealing something.

The third word is berserkers.

My turn, your turn, berserkers.

Berserkers were Viking warriors that charged confidently into battle without armour.

And the final words are religious institutions.

My turn, your turn, religious institutions.

Religious institutions are churches, temples, mosques and other places of worship.

So let's look at where the first Viking raid was.

The Vikings first raided Britain in 793 AD.

The first place the Vikings raided in Britain was the Lindisfarne priori, on a small holy island located off the Northeast coast of England.

Here's a picture of Lindisfarne priori here.

When the people of Britain first saw the Viking long ships coming, they came down to the shore to welcome them.

However, the Vikings fought the local people, stealing treasures from churches and burning buildings to the ground.

The first places the Vikings raided were all religious institutions.

This was not purposeful but convenient as the abbeys and priories which first fell to the Vikings were located near the coast.

So you can see there on the coastline here.

Although the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives a January date for the read on Lindisfarne, other sources made clear it was in June and this would make sense as the seas would have been calmer and would have made travelling easier.

It would have been pointless to go further inland upon reaching Britain, when there were such easy targets along the edge of the coast, straight off the sea and Lindisfarne happened to be a very wealthy target.

So let's stop for a quick question.

What were all the places the Vikings raided? were they all A, banks, were they all B, religious institutions, C, farms or D, houses? What were all the places the Vikings raided? Have a think, point to the screen, say your answer out loud or write it down.

What is the correct answer? The answer is B, they were all religious institutions.

Lindisfarne was founded around 635 AD and became the most important place to visit in the area after reports of miracles linked with the bishop St Cuthbert, who led there.

It is said that after St Cuthbert's death, when the monks opened his coffin, they found his body in a perfect state of preservation.

And this raised him to sainthood.

Following this event, people would regularly come to Lindisfarne to pray to the Saint, to ask him for their prayers for hope of protection for themselves and their communities.

And in return for that protection from the Saint, they would give lots of gifts and that might be in money or in treasures, anything that they could give to the priory.

So when the Vikings raided the priory, it was especially devastating as it meant that St Cuthbert had failed to protect his people.

So, money and treasure were the main reasons the Vikings rated Lindisfarne, is this true or false? Have a think, point to the screen.

Shout your answer out loud.

What do you think, was it true or false? It was true, good job if you got that answer.

Many people donated money to the primary in order for protection from St.

Cuthbert, so there was lots of treasure that could be taken from the priory, and that's why the Vikings raided there.

So let's take a look to see where else the Vikings raided and how the Anglo-Saxons responded to those raids.

After the first invasion in Lindisfarne in 793 AD, the raids continued.

In 794 AD, Viking ships ransacked the monastery of Jarrow in Northumbria.

In 795 AD, Vikings then rated sites in Ireland.

In the same year and again in 802, they struck the monastery of Iona in Scotland.

In the third attack on Iona in 806 AD, 68 monks were killed.

And most of the rest fled to safety in the monastery of Kells in Ireland.

Soon, no area in the British Isles was safe from the Vikings.

They continued their attacks on villages and towns in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and England.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 851 AD, Anglo-Saxon King, Athelstan, fought a battle against the Vikings off a place called Sandwich, defeating the fleet and capturing nine ships.

However, in the same year, his brother, Aethelwulf of Mercia was killed by a Viking raiding party.

In 867 AD, Osberht and Aelle, two rivals for the Northumbrian throne were engaged in battle outside York, when a Viking force arrived.

The Vikings who had assembled a great army for conquest, saw the opportunity to defeat and kill both kings.

They also killed many people inside and outside of the city before moving South.

The city became Jorvik, the Viking capital of England.

In 869 AD, the Viking army that captured Jorvik, used the area as a stable base for deeper invasions into England.

In 869, they moved from Mercia into East Anglia, where the King of the East Angles Edmund was killed in the fighting.

He was beheaded and his head was thrown away to prevent proper burial.

Much later though, his head was finally returned with his body and both were buried in the Royal Residence, which later became known as Bury St Edmunds.

In 870 AD, Dumbarton, the fortress of the Britons, was captured by Viking forces, under Ivar the Boneless and Olaf the White.

They took treasure and captives, including the king.

So a lot happened between this time.

The Anglo-Saxons tried to fight the Vikings, and the Vikings fought back.

I'd like you to pause the video in a moment and complete this task.

Summarise what happened between the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings between 793 AD to 870 AD.

Who do you think had more power, the Vikings or the Anglo-Saxons? This is how you could start your answer.

During the period of 793 AD to 870 AD, I think that, and fill the blank with Vikings or Anglo-Saxons, showed they had more power because what? What were they doing that showed that they had more power? And restart once you're finished.

Okay, hopefully you've had a go at writing your answer.

So you could have put, during the period of 793 AD to 870 AD, I think the Vikings showed they had more power because they were defeating the Anglo-Saxons on lots of different occasions, for example, and you could have explained that they raided Lindisfarne or you could have talked about how they captured Jorvik or the way that they killed numerous Anglo-Saxon kings and took over lots of different places in Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. So good job if you wrote down some examples and you understood that the Vikings at this moment, had more power than the Anglo-Saxons.

Now we're into the final par of our lesson.

Why were the Vikings feared? The Vikings were famously fierce warriors.

They set sail from their homes and raided other societies across Europe, with sudden and daring attacks.

Vikings did not wear much armour.

Some chieftains wore chainmail coats but most relied on a round, wooden shield for protection.

Unlike Roman soldiers, Viking fighters did not wear uniforms and had to supply their own clothes and weapons.

They fought using long swords and axes.

For protection, they had a round wooden shield and wore helmets made of leather or iron.

A good sword was handed down from father to son, but Vikings were also buried with their weapons when they died.

I'd like you to have a go now at this task.

So I'd like you to draw an image of a Viking in his armour.

Label the pieces he would wear and how they would be useful in battle.

So what two things did the Vikings used for protection and what were the two main weapons Vikings used.

So have a think, pause the video now and then restart when you're finished.

Okay, here is an example of a couple of images that are not drawn by me, by somebody else, of what you could have drawn.

So a Viking has a round wooden shield that he would use for protection against enemy weapons.

He would also have an iron or leather helmet, which would be great protection for his head.

And he would also have an axe or a sword, which was used to deliver deadly blows in battle.

Well done if your drawing has got those things.

Some Viking warriors went into battle wearing wolf or bear skins.

These warriors were called berserkers because they went berserk, out of control, when they charged confidently into battle.

Berserkers believed that Odin, the God of war, gave them superhuman powers and that they did not need to wear battle armour for protection.

To a Viking warrior, honour and glory in battle were the only things that lasted forever.

Warriors who died were believed to go to Valhalla.

They weren't afraid to die and this belief made them fearless opponents.

A man had to be ready to follow his chieftain or king into battle or on a raid and could be called up at any moment to fight.

So I'd like you to pause your video in a moment, to have a go at answering these two questions.

What made Vikings fearless opponents and why did the berserkers believe they did not need armour? So in a moment, pause your video and restart once you're finished.

Okay, so if you've had a go at answering those questions your answers should be like this.

What made Vikings fearless opponents? Well, they weren't afraid to die because they believe they would go to Valhalla and their honour and glory would last forever.

And why did the berserkers believe they did not need armour? Well, they believed that Odin, the God of war, would give them superhuman powers.

Well done if you got those two answers correct.

Now that is the end of our lesson.

We covered a lot so well done and for working so hard.

Thank you for joining me, and I hope to see you in your next lesson on Vikings and Anglo-Saxon soon.

Goodbye everyone and take care.