Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about the Vikings, so you'll be able to recall anything you already know about the Vikings.

And we are going to explore the question, how do we know so much about Viking York? So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain why York was important to the Vikings.

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.

Invasion.

Strategic.

Jorvik.

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

Invasion.

Strategic.

Jorvik.

Good job.

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

Here are the definitions of each of our keywords.

Invasion means to enter a country armed and capture it.

If something is strategic, it is important for success in war or defence.

The Vikings renamed York when they captured it to Jorvik.

Pause the video here to make a note of the 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.

The Invasion of York.

The Strategic importance of York.

In the first learning cycle, we will explore the Viking invasion of York.

It's the 1st of November, all Saints' Day, 866 CE.

The people of York are celebrating the special holy day and are going about their daily business.

Until the town comes under attack.

It's a Viking invasion! Ivar The Boneless, a Viking from Denmark, and King Halfdan of Denmark, are invading the town.

They have cleverly ambushed the town when most of York's leaders are in the cathedral.

This means that the town has been left vulnerable to attack and that it's unprepared for battle.

It's not long before the Vikings have successfully taken over York.

Goodness, that would be quite terrifying to not expect a battle, an invasion, and for the Vikings to do that so easily.

Hmm.

Now, another reason that the Vikings chose to invade York is because of its location.

York was an Anglo-Saxon settlement in Northumbria.

Take a look at the map.

Can you see where York is on the map of Northumbria towards the bottom? Now, at the time of the invasion, there was civil war in Northumbria between two men fighting for the Northumbrian throne, King Aelle and King Osbert.

So both of those kings wanted to be the king of Northumbria, so they were fighting between themselves for that.

Now, this civil war made the Viking invasion of York even easier.

This was because the Kingdom of Northumbria was distracted and not prepared to fight back against the Vikings if they tried to take more Northumbrian towns.

However, not all hope was lost yet.

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

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

Now, at first, it seemed as if the kings might be able to beat the Vikings as their armies managed to break through the Viking defences.

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

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding of the Viking invasion of York.

When was the Viking invasion of York? Hmm.

What do you think? Pause the video here.

Have a discussion with your partner.

When was the Viking invasion of York? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press Play.

What did you think? If you said it was in 866 CE, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, can you discuss these questions with your partner? What did King Aelle do when the Vikings invaded? And what happened to King Aelle? Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

And when you're ready to continue, press Play.

What did you think? Well, what did King Aelle do when the Vikings invaded? King Aelle fought back with the help of King Osbert.

What happened to King Aelle? Well, unfortunately, King Aelle was defeated and killed.

Well done, if you got those correct.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Laura and Jacob are discussing the invasion of York.

Who do you agree with? Discuss with your partner.

Laura says, "It was easy for the Vikings to invade York because the leaders were unprepared and there was a civil war going on at the time." Jacob says, "It was easy for the Vikings to invade York because they had the biggest army." Hmm.

Who do you agree with? Pause the video here, have a discussion with your partner, and when you're ready to continue, press Play.

How did your discussion go? Who did you agree with? Well, in this instance, Laura is correct.

It was easier for the Vikings to invade York because the leaders were in the cathedral for All Saints' Day.

And so the town was left vulnerable to attack.

There was also a civil war in Northumbria at the time, so the kingdom was distracted and unprepared.

Well done if you agreed with Laura and found that she was correct.

Well done for completing this learning task.

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

We're going to explore the strategic importance of York.

So, we now know why it was easy for the Vikings to invade York, but why did the Vikings want to invade York in the first place? Hmm.

It's a very good question.

Well, as a growing economic centre, York was a significant target for the Vikings.

York was in an important strategic location because it was between the Ouse and Foss rivers.

So can you take a look at that photograph there of the River Ouse and the River Foss? Can you see that both of those rivers are in that image? Why do you think the location of York between the River Ouse and the River Foss made it strategic? Hmm.

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

Why do you think the location of York between those rivers made it strategic? And press Play when you're ready to continue.

Well, York stands on the confluence.

So that's where two rivers join together to form a single channel of the River Ouse and the River Foss.

So can you see on that image of the map there of York, you can see the River Ouse on one side and the River Foss on the other.

And can you see how they join together to form a single channel towards the bottom? Now, this important strategic location made York easy to defend as the rivers provided natural defences in case of enemy attack.

Now, York's location on the confluence also made it an important point for trade and communication as ships could easily come and go from the town.

Now, York had access to the North Sea Coast via the Ouse and Humber rivers, which meant the town could easily trade its own resources such as wood for more exotic items from northern Europe and beyond.

The Vikings knew that with their superior skills in shipbuilding and navigation, and their trading contacts across the world, they could make York a thriving trading centre.

And this is exactly what they did.

Archaeological finds from Viking York show evidence of trade across the globe.

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

The River Ouse and Foss made York a strategic location.

Hmm.

Is that true or false? What do you think? Well, if you thought that that was true, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

How do we justify our answer? We've got two statements here.

York's location was easy to defend and good for trade.

York's location was hard to defend and bad for trade.

Hmm.

Have a quick discussion with your partner.

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

How did your discussion go? What did you think? If you said that York's location was easy to defend and good for trade, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

York was made the capital of Viking territory in Britain.

It is thought that when the Vikings settled in York, they found the Anglo-Saxon name for York, Eoforwic, difficult to pronounce.

So they decided to change it to Jorvik.

Historians believe that Eoforwic means wild boar settlement whilst Jorvik is thought to mean wild boar creek.

The Vikings also used the same name Jorvik for their kingdom in Britain.

York already had strong defensive walls that the Romans had built in 71 CE.

The Vikings restored the old Roman walls and Jorvik quickly became the main Viking city in Britain.

Large parts of the Roman and Viking walls can still be seen in York today.

Take a look at that photo of the York city walls there.

You can see, still see those walls today if you go and visit York.

The Viking development of York through the bringing of global trade and strengthening its defences made Jorvik a popular place for people to travel to and settle in.

Jorvik now offered more job opportunities and better protection from potential attack, and as a result, the population of Jorvik grew to 10,000 people after the Viking invasion, making it the second largest population in Britain after London and the main Viking city in Britain.

Wow, that's a lot of people, isn't it? To increase by just because of that amazing trade and that protection that the Vikings brought.

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

Can you discuss these questions with your partner? Why did the Vikings change York's name? What did the Vikings do to the Roman walls? Why did the population of Jorvik grow? Hmm.

So take some time now, pause the video here and 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? Why did the Vikings change York's name? Well, it is thought that when the Vikings settled in York, they found the Anglo-Saxon name difficult to pronounce so they changed it to Jorvik.

What did the Vikings do to the Roman walls? The Vikings restored the old Roman walls to improve Jorvik's defences.

Why did the population of Jorvik grow? Well, Jorvik's population grew because it became a popular trading centre.

Well done if you're able to discuss and answer these questions with your partner.

This now brings us to our final learning task.

I would like you to write one paragraph to explain the strategic importance of York for the Vikings.

You may want to include the following words: Rivers.

Trade.

Roman walls.

Natural defences.

Okay, so take some time now.

Grab yourself a pen and some paper and make sure that you are able to try and use some of those words within your paragraph to explain the strategic importance of York for the Vikings.

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

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could have included, York was in an important strategic location for the Vikings because it was between the Ouse and Foss rivers.

The rivers not only provided natural defences, but also acted as important trade and communication routes.

The old Roman walls were also a key defence for the city of York and the Vikings restored these to provide further protection.

Well done if you were able to write a paragraph similar to that one, including all of those points around the strategic importance of York for the Vikings.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Now, before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about York's importance to the Vikings.

We've certainly learned a lot.

York was a major settlement in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.

The Vikings captured York in 866 CE because it was in an important strategic location between the Ouse and Foss rivers.

York's location was good for trade and made it easy to defend as it had natural defences.

The Vikings renamed York to Jorvik, and it quickly became the main Viking city in Britain.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

It was certainly interesting learning about York's importance to the Vikings.

I look forward to seeing you for the next lesson.

See you next time.