Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about the Vikings and how the Vikings settlement changed Britain.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain why Aethelflaed's story has often been forgotten, and how in recent years, historians have tried to retell it.

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 loyal, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, annals, prejudice.

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

Loyal, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, annals, prejudice.

Good job.

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

To be loyal means to give or show firm and constant support to a person or place.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a historical document that contains a collection of annals.

Annals are a record of events year by year.

Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Pause the video here to make a note of the keywords and their definitions.

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.

Who was Aethelflaed? Why has her story been forgotten? In the first learning cycle, we will explore who Aethelflaed was.

Andeep is wondering, do we know anything about Aethelflaed's early life? Well, Aethelflaed was the daughter of King Alfred of Wessex and Ealhswith, a noblewoman from Mercia.

You can see an illustration of Queen Ealhswith here.

Aethelflaed was born around the 870s CE.

Lucas is wondering, why don't we know when she was born exactly? Well, we do not know the exact date of her birth because she did not appear on the pages of history until her marriage in the 880s.

When Aethelflaed was growing up, she was surrounded by religion, scholarship, and devotion to family and country.

She became well-educated, and having grown up watching her father battle against the Vikings, she had an understanding of successful military strategy.

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

Is this statement true or false? Aethelflaed had no education.

Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said that that's false, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now let's take a look at these two statements here.

Which would help to justify our answer? She was only taught religion and devotion to country.

She was surrounded by religion, scholarship, and devotion to family and country.

Take a moment to pause 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 she was surrounded by religion, scholarship, and devotion to family and country, you are absolutely right.

So she had quite a rich education.

In the late 880s CE, Aethelflaed fled married King Aethelred of Mercia, and the two kingdoms of Wessex and western Mercia joined forces and became strong together.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Aethelflaed's marriage meant two kingdoms could join and become stronger.

Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said that it is true, you are absolutely right.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify your answer? The marriage strengthened the kingdoms of Northumbria and western Mercia.

The marriage strengthened the kingdoms of Wessex and western Mercia.

Pause 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 marriage strengthened the kingdoms of Wessex and western Mercia, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

The married couple worked alongside Aethelflaed's father, King Alfred of Wessex and continued to build burhs as a form of defence against potential Viking attacks.

King Aethelred and Aethelflaed improved and rebuilt Mercian towns which had been damaged or destroyed during Viking battles.

You can see there an illustration of an Anglo-Saxon burh.

So this is what they continued to build in order to protect those Mercian towns.

Aethelflaed reigned over Mercia with her husband for 24 years, but she also ruled for a further eight years on her own after Aethelred died.

During those eight years, she fought the Vikings and United Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms with her brother Edward, who had become the new king of Wessex.

By 918 CE, Aethelflaed and Edward had led successful campaigns that took back land from the Vikings.

They established more burhs to protect the towns and cities under their control.

York was the only Viking stronghold that the brother and sister had not been able to capture by the time Aethelflaed died in 918 CE.

Take a look at that map there of the recaptured Viking lands.

You can see the dots on the map are all of the lands that they took back and at the top there in the north, the Kingdom of York was the only one they had not yet managed to capture by the time Aethelflaed had died in 918 CE.

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

For how many years did Aethelflaed rule Mercia on her own? Nine years, eight years, or 24 years? Pause the video here and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

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

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

In chronological order, write a biography about the life of Aethelflaed.

A good biography will include information about her family and education, information about her marriage, information about how long she ruled information about her achievements as a leader.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time.

Make sure that you have a pen and some paper so that you can write a short biography about the life of Aethelflaed.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example answer? So your answer may have included Aethelflaed was born around the 870s CE and was the daughter of King Alfred of Wessex and Ealhswith.

She was well educated and had a good understanding of successful military strategy.

She married King Aethelred of Mercia, and this united the two kingdoms. She ruled for 24 years with her husband, and for eight years on her own.

Aethelflaed fought the Vikings and united Anglo-Saxon kingdoms alongside her brother Edward.

By the time of her death in 918 CE, they had successfully taken back land from the Vikings apart from York.

Well done for completing that learning task.

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

We're going to explore the question, why has her story been forgotten? Aethelflaed's story is remarkable for the time as it was not common to see a strong female ruler during this period.

Despite how special her story is, it was almost completely forgotten.

In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Aethelflaed story is barely mentioned even though it contains annals, which was supposed to record events year by year.

There are many different versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

But Aethelflaed is only mentioned in one version, and it is to record her death, none of her successes against the Vikings.

Historians have debated why she has been excluded from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

It could be because female leaders like Aethelflaed have often been left out of written history as was prejudice towards women ruling.

Rather than write about her success and the respect she gained, written sources likely erased her from history so as not to undermine the male leaders who came after her, especially if these male rulers were not very good at ruling.

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

Can you match these keywords to their definitions? So we have Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, annals, prejudice, a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience, a historical document that contains a collection of annals, a record of events year by year.

So pause the video here and have a go at matching these keywords to their definitions and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at what they match up to? So the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a historical document that contains a collection of annals.

Annals are a record of events year by year.

Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Well done if you matched those keywords to their definitions correctly.

Another possible reason the Aethelflaed story was almost forgotten is because her brother Edward wanted to make sure that Mercia stayed loyal to him after her death.

It is likely that Edward made sure that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentioned a lot about his victories instead of Aethelflaed's.

Soon after Aethelflaed died, Edward took control of Tamworth in the kingdom of Mercia.

Edward won the trust of the Mercians and soon controlled their army.

He promised his son Athelstan, who grew up in Mercia, that he would one day be king of Mercia.

This made Edward's position as ruler of Mercia stronger.

It was not long until King Edward was also able to bring the five boroughs in the Dane law under his control too.

Edward likely wanted the Mercians to be loyal and grateful to him, not to stay loyal to his sister's impressive memory and therefore, he may have encouraged the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to skip over her achievements.

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

King Edward made sure Aethelflaed's story was told.

Is that true or false? What do you think? King Edward made sure Aethelflaed story was told.

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

Now looking at these two statements, which of these could help justify your answer? King Edward did not tell Aethelflaed's story to make sure Mercia stayed loyal to him.

King Edward did not tell Aethelflaed's story because he did not like her.

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're ready to continue? What did you think? If you said King Edward did not tell Aethelflaed's story to make sure Mercia has stayed loyal to him, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

For such a remarkable warrior Queen who achieved significant success, there is no complete biography of Aethelflaed.

However, the history of the Lady of the Mercians can be rebuilt from a fragmented text, a small chronicle written in Worcester.

These annals were written during Aethelflaed's lifetime and parts were later edited in into the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Michael Wood is a modern day historian who has tried to tell Aethelflaed's story from the small entries in these annals.

Wood has been able to build a picture of the type of leader Aethelflaed was.

The annals describe Aethelflaed in the same way that kings were described at the time with strength of character, justice and wisdom.

She was described as a very wise woman who ruled her kingdom with great knowledge and intelligence.

The annals also tell historians how Aethelflaed was able to develop a successful defence network against the Vikings.

Wood explains how there are many imaginings of her where she appears as a sort of wonder woman figure.

When Aethelflaed died, she was remembered as a valued and much loved leader by her people.

Take a look at this illustration of Aethelflaed here.

You can see her in the centre on her horse looking rather fierce and bold in a battle against the Vikings.

You can see how people have imagined her as this incredible woman.

It's important to address the prejudice that Aethelflaed was shown when her story was almost forgotten from history.

Although there is little written evidence, Aethelflaed's story is now being recognised and told.

For example, in 2018, a statue was installed in Tamworth to remember Aethelflaed and her story is now taught in schools as a key part of Anglo-Saxon history.

Without her success in taking back land from the Vikings, the foundations for England's beginning would not have been laid.

Her story is a very important part of how England began.

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

Historian Michael Wood thinks Aethelflaed's story should be told because she was a powerful ruler.

It is the story of England's beginning.

She was well educated.

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

If you said it's because it is the story of England's beginning, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Firstly, I'd like you to give one reason why Aethelflaed's story may have been forgotten.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a think about one reason why Aethelflaed's story may have been forgotten and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So one possible reason Aethelflaed's story may have been forgotten is because her brother Edward wanted to make sure that the Mercians were grateful and stayed loyal to him.

Therefore, he may have made sure that her story was not written in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Well done if you were able to give one reason.

Now, secondly, I would like you to explain to your partner how historians like Michael Wood have tried to retell Aethelflaed's story and give examples of the sources of information they have used and what these sources have revealed.

So again, pause the video here and give yourself enough time to explain to your partner how historians like Michael Wood have tried to retell Aethelflaed's story and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did your discussion go? So your answer could have included historians like Michael Wood have read annals from a small chronicle written in Worcester to build a picture of the type of leader Aethelflaed was.

The annals describe her as wise, just and intelligent.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about Aethelflaed's forgotten history.

Aethelflaed's story as a female leader is remarkable for the time, but it was almost forgotten from history.

One possible reason for this was because her brother Edward wanted to make sure that Mercia stayed loyal to him.

It's likely that Edward made sure that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentioned his victories instead of Aethelflaed's.

A small chronicle written in Worcester at the time of Aethelflaed included annals about her and helped to bring her story to light.

Michael Wood is one historian who has tried to tell Aethelflaed's story because it is the story of England's beginning.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.