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 describe how Athelstan united his kingdoms to create England.

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, consecrated, crown, submit, overlordship.

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

Consecrated, crown, submit, overlordship.

Good job.

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

Here are the definitions for each of our keywords.

To be consecrated, a ceremony takes place to show you are dedicated to the service and worship of God.

A crown is worn by a monarch, a king or queen, as a symbol of authority.

To submit means to accept the authority of another person.

Overlordship means to have great power or authority over other lords.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Who was Athelstan? Athelstan and the remaining kingdoms. How did Athelstan unite his kingdoms? In the first learning cycle, we'll explore who Athelstan was.

Athelstan was the grandson of King Alfred the Great and the son of King Edward the Elder.

Athelstan was also related to Aethelflaed.

She was his aunt.

She was an influential figure in his life as she worked with her brother Edward, to successfully take back Viking land.

When Athelstan was growing up, he lived with Aethelflaed, and it was at this time that Athelstan learned how to fight.

King Edward had tried to bring the kingdoms together to create a United England, but had not succeeded by the time of his death in 924 CE.

Shortly after the death of his father, Athelstan was consecrated as king of Mercia and Wessex with a crown in 925 CE.

This ceremony of putting a crown on the head of a king is called, "A coronation" And it had not happened before.

No previous king had been crowned, but they may have had a helmet placed upon their heads.

Take a look at that illustration there of Athelstan with a crown on his head.

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

Athelstan was the first king to be crowned.

Is that true or false? Hmm.

What do you think? True or false? If you think that's true, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now let's take a look at these two statements to justify your answer.

No previous kings had been crowned.

Some may have had a helmet placed upon their head.

Some previous kings had been crowned and none had a helmet placed upon their head.

Hmm, what do you think? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that no previous kings had been crowned, some may have had a helmet placed upon their head, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now Athelstan wanted to show his royal power and his right to rule by God.

Alongside the crown, he was also given a sword and a ring.

These were symbols to show an alliance between the king and the church.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

What items was Athelstan given at his coronation? Sword, ring, helmet, crown.

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

Well if you thought that he got a sword, a ring, and a crown given at his coronation, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Can you explain to your partner how Athelstan became king and why his coronation was different? So take some time, pause the video here and explain to your partner how Athelstan became king and why his coronation was different.

And press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your conversation could have gone like this.

"Athelstan was consecrated as king with a crown in 925 CE." "His coronation was different because no previous king had been crowned.

Previously, other kings had maybe been given a helmet but not a crown." Well done for completing that learning task.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're gonna explore Athelstan and the remaining kingdoms. After being king for three years in 927 CE, Athelstan marched into the last Viking stronghold of York and captured it.

This was an important moment as both his father and aunt had not been able to achieve this despite trying very hard.

And by capturing York, Athelstan became incredibly powerful.

It was around this time that Athelstan began to mint coins with the title, "Rex Anglo" Which means, "King of the English." However, when Athelstan tried to rule the remaining kingdoms of Scotland and Northumbria, they did not want to submit to him.

This was because the people in the north did not want a king from the South.

To avoid submitting to Athelstan, King Constantine of Scotland came up with a plan to form alliances with nearby Irish and Northumbrian Danes.

He did this by offering his daughter in marriage to the leader of the Danes, King Olaf Guthrithsson of Dublin.

King Constantine's attempt at an alliance worked and soon their forces were ready to fight against Athelstan.

Take a moment to pause here.

Let's take a look at this statement.

"The northern kingdoms wanted to submit to Athelstan." Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said that that's false, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now looking at these two statements, which would help to justify our answer? "The people in the north did not want Athelstan, who was from the south, as their king." "The people in the south did not want Athelstan, who was from the north, as their king." So pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the people in the north did not want Athelstan, who was from the south, as their king, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

In 937 CE, the newly formed alliance marched south to face Athelstan in battle.

At the battle of Brunanburh, Athelstan led a large army drawn from Britain to fight King Constantine of Scotland and King Olaf of Dublin.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals, which are records of events, described the battle of Brunanburh as one of the bloodiest battles ever held on British soil.

You can see an illustration of the battle there.

It looks rather gruesome.

Despite the bloodshed, Athelstan managed to defeat King Constantine and the Danes in the battle.

Athelstan then forced the rulers of Scotland and Northumbria to submit to his overlordship.

As the Welsh kings already recognised the overlordship of the king of Wessex, by winning the battle of Brunanburh, Athelstan had now confirmed his overlordship over all of Britain.

In fact, all five Welsh kings had agreed to submit to him in 928 CE by giving him a huge yearly payment.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Discuss these questions with your partner.

What was the outcome of the battle of Brunanburh? Did the Welsh submit to Athelstan after the battle? So pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner about these questions and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Shall we take a look at example answers? So the outcome of the battle of Brunanburh.

Athelstan defeated King Constantine of Scotland and the Danes at the Battle of Brunanburh.

The rulers of Scotland and Northumbria were forced to submit to his overlordship.

Did the Welsh submit to Athelstan after the battle? Well, the Welsh had already submitted to Athelstan's overlordship in 928 CE and had agreed to pay him yearly.

This brings us to our second learning task.

I'd like you to complete the flow chart of events to explain how the remaining kingdoms submitted to Athelstan.

So have a think about the event that took place in York.

Think about what happened with the Welsh kingdoms and what happened with the northern kingdoms. So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to complete the flow chart of events to explain how the remaining kingdoms submitted to Athelstan, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So, your answers could include, York, "King Athelstan captured the last Viking stronghold of York in 927 CE." Welsh kingdoms, "The Welsh kings submitted to the overlordship of King Athelstan in 928 CE and agreed to pay him yearly." The Northern Kingdoms, "King Athelstan defeated King Constantine and the Danes at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 CE." Well done for completing that learning task.

This brings us to the final parts of this lesson.

We're going to think about how Athelstan united his kingdoms. Athelstan had now achieved what his father had always dreamt of.

He had united all the kingdoms to form what we know today as England.

Because of this, some historians refer to Athelstan as the first king of England.

King Athelstan had created England by conquering any remaining Viking strongholds and by having the other kingdoms submit to his rule.

You can see in this map here, Athelstan's kingdom and overlordship.

So the darker green is his kingdom and the overlordship is in the lighter green.

Under Athelstan, the kingdoms were united by law codes, a set of rules that people had to follow, which strengthened his control.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Can you complete this sentence? "The law codes strengthened" What? How do we complete that sentence? Pause the video here and restart when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the law code strengthened Athelstan's control over his kingdom, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

One of Athelstan's law codes was introduced to control all the money in England.

It did this by keeping the weight of silver the same value.

This meant that criminals could not try to cheat people out of their silver.

Buying and selling was largely kept within the burhs, which helped towns become wealthy.

Both the charters, which are important written documents, and silver coins Athelstan issued showed the proud title "Rex totius Britanniae" Which meant, "King of All Britain." Partly as a result of the law codes and partly due to King Athelstan's rule, the newly United England thrived.

Sadly, at the height of his power, Athelstan died in 939 CE and was buried in Malmesbury Abbey.

This was a fitting burial place for him as he had been a passionate supporter of the Abbey and had provided them with a lot of money.

In later years, his remains were removed and his tomb was left empty.

Exactly where he is buried today is still a mystery to historians.

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

Discuss these questions with your partner.

How was money controlled? How did controlling money help Athelstan's people? to pause the video here and have a moment to discuss these questions with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at some answers? So how was money controlled? Money was controlled by keeping the weight of silver the same value.

And how did controlling money help Athelstan's people? Well, criminals could not try to cheat people out of their silver.

Buying and selling was also kept to burhs, which helped towns become wealthy.

Well done if you answered those correctly with your partner.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Aisha is explaining how Athelstan united his kingdoms to create England, but she has missed some information out.

Add to Aisha's explanation using evidence you've learned in this lesson.

So Aisha says, "Athelstan united his kingdoms by conquering lands to create England.

He also created law codes and controlled money to keep his people happy and wealthy." So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time and have a go at adding to Aisha's explanation using the evidence you've learned in this lesson." Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example answer? So your answer may have included, "Athelstan united is kingdoms by conquering any remaining viking strongholds and by having the other kingdoms submit to his overlordship.

This helped to create the England we know today.

Athelstan also united his kingdom with law codes which strengthened his control.

Some of the law codes controlled money, which helped towns become wealthy.

As a result, the people of the newly united England were happy under Athelstan's rule." Well done for completing that learning task.

Now, before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about Athelstan and the making of England.

In 925 CE, Athelstan was consecrated as king of Mercia and Wessex with a crown.

This was a new ceremony of coronation.

In 927, Athelstan captured the last Viking stronghold of York.

The Welsh kings submitted to Athelstan's overlordship in 928.

The rulers of Scotland and Northumbria did not submit to Athelstan until he defeated them at the battle of Brunanburh in 937.

Athelstan united his kingdoms through law codes to create what we know today as England.

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

See you next time.