Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name is Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

In these lessons, we will focus on a specific historical environment, Durham Cathedral.

What can Durham Cathedral tell us about the wider context of this period? What can it tell us about the background story, the people or events at the time? What is the significance of the Church and cathedrals in Norman England? Does Durham Cathedral tell us to what extent the Normans reformed the English Church does the cathedral reflect Norman culture and values? This is how we use the site of Durham Cathedral to address broader questions about Norman England.

In this lesson, we'll focus on Durham before the Norman conquest.

At this point, Edward the Confessor is king, and he relied on his powerful earls, such as the Godwins, to help him rule the country.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain the strategic importance of Northumbria and Durham and the significance of the uprising against Tostig in 1065.

Before we begin, there are a few key words that we need to understand.

Danelaw is an area of England, which had been invaded and settled by Danes leading to different laws and customs from southern England.

An earl is a leading member of both Anglo-Saxon and Norman aristocracy ruling an earldom on behalf of the king.

An uprising is an act of opposition, sometimes using violence by many people in one area of a country against those who are in power.

Today's lesson is split up into two parts.

We'll first look at the importance of Northumbria and Durham before looking at the events of the Northumbrian uprising.

Okay, let's begin the lesson with the strategic importance of Northumbria and Durham.

So Northumbria was strategically important.

It was a large northern Anglo-Saxon earldom, and it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish or Viking invaders.

These borderlands had often been disputed.

Having a look at the map on the left gives us this sense of geography.

The Scottish raided Northumbria from the north, and there was also a threat of invasion by the Danes from across the North Sea.

The red dotted lines on the map show the Danelaw area.

Northumbria was in the Danelaw.

It had been invaded and settled by Danes, leading to different laws and customs from southern England.

Durham was strategically important because it was one of the main towns in Northumbria.

The Anglo-Saxon Tostig Godwinson had been given the earldom of Northumbria in 1055.

This was part of the rising influence of the House of Godwin, a powerful Anglo-Saxon family.

The previous Earl of Northumbria had been from the area, and this is what the people of the Danelaw preferred.

However, Tostig was from Wessex in the south and was seen as an outsider who didn't respect the Danelaw's customs. As a result, by the 1060s, there were increasing complaints, which eventually led to an uprising against the rule of this southern earl Tostig.

The situation was made worse because in 1056, Tostig appointed a southerner, Aethelwine, as the Bishop of Durham.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is complete the sentence with the correct name.

Pause the video, complete the sentence, and then come right back.

Okay, great, welcome back.

Let's check how that sentence should have read.

In 1056, Tostig appointed a southerner, Aethelwine as the Bishop of Durham.

Okay, let's continue.

Durham's cathedral was situated on prominent ground in a meander of the River Wear, and the map shows the position of the cathedral.

Although at this point the cathedral was actually a church.

We can see that the church was almost totally surrounded or protected by the River Wear.

This map also shows the elevation of the ground, and Durham's church or cathedral would've had a prominent position overlooking the river.

Durham Cathedral housed the relics of St.

Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, and this made it a popular place of pilgrimage.

This meant that a town grew up around the cathedral and the growth of this town meant it could help deal with Scottish and Danish raids.

Eventually there would be unrest in Northumbria.

Let's use this map to understand the unfolding events.

So firstly, Aethelwine's appointment caused anger, especially amongst the unconsulted priests of Durham Cathedral.

Tostig, and Aethelwine also abused their powers and were accused of stealing from the church.

The priests of Durham Cathedral soon publicly protested being ruled by an outsider.

Despite this unrest, Tostig spent much of his time at King Edward's court in the south.

Meanwhile, in 1061, the Scots raided Northumbria and Tostig did not retaliate.

Tostig and Aethelwine actually had a friendship with Malcolm III, the King of Scotland.

In 1064, Tostig invited two of his Northumbrian rivals to York to discuss peace.

However, he double crossed them and had them murdered.

Soon after their lord travelled south to complain at King Edward's court.

But Tostig's sister, Queen Edith ordered his assassination.

This was the final event that triggered the uprising.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the Danelaw? A, a set of laws established by Tostig in Northumbria to control the Danish population.

B, a region in north and east England influenced by Danish laws and customs. C, a region in south and west England influenced by Danish laws and customs. Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answer was B, a region in north and east England influenced by Danish laws and customs. Durham was strategically important because, select two correct answers.

A, it could help deal with Scottish and Danish raids.

B, it was one of the main towns in Northumbria, C, it was part of Danish territory.

Pause the video, select your two correct answers and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answers were A, it could help deal with Scottish and Danish raids, and B, it was one of the main towns in Northumbria.

Okay, great, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is read the following paragraph and then highlight the following in the text.

So you'll need to highlight the points made about Northumbria.

You also need to highlight evidence used to support points, and finally highlight evidence or explanations of significance.

Why is this important? Pause the video, have a go at the task and then come right back.

Okay, let's read the paragraph together.

So, Northumbria was an important Anglo-Saxon earldom because it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish or Viking invaders.

So you can see I've highlighted the first part of that sentence in purple because the sentence clearly makes a point about Northumbria.

The second half of the sentence is highlighted in green because it's evidence to back up why Northumbria was an important Anglo-Saxon earldom because it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish raids.

The next sentence, Durham was a main town in Northumbria and important religious centre, again, that's another point, because it housed the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede.

Again, evidence to support the point that Northumbria was a religious centre, some great factual evidence naming those saints and their relics.

And then the final sentence, this meant that any Northumbrian earl or religious leader of Durham would need to defend the frontiers and show respect to the Danelaw customs, especially if they wished to avoid an uprising.

So we can see this sentence is doing a lot of work to tie up everything that's been mentioned so far in the paragraph and explaining the significance of Northumbria and the leadership of Northumbria in controlling the area, defending the frontiers, and understanding the particular cultural character of Northumbria being in the Danelaw, which would be especially important there for any leader of the area.

Okay, great, now I've got some context of Northumbria and the strategic importance of the area, including Durham.

Let's now have a look at the events that unfolded there in the Northumbrian uprising.

So let's use this map to see what happened in the Northumbrian uprising.

In October 1065, a group of 200 armed rebels led by Northumbrian nobles and supported by the Durham Cathedral priests attacked York, the capital of Northumbria.

Typically, Tostig was in the south of England, so the rebels killed Tostig's housecarls, those are his bodyguards, and looted all his weapons and coins.

The uprising soon spread across Northumbria and anyone who was suspected to be a supporter of Tostig was killed.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What event marked the beginning of the uprising against Tostig in 1065? A, assassination ordered by Queen Edith, B, Edward the Confessor's death, C, rebels attacking York.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was C, rebels attacking York.

So after the uprising had spread right across Northumbria, King Edward the Confessor sent Harold Godwinson to negotiate with the rebels.

Harold Godwinson was Tostig's brother and a very powerful earl of Wessex.

If you have a look at the left, it shows details from the Bayeux Tapestry showing how Harold might have looked when negotiating with the rebels.

The rebels rejected Edward's message to stand down and refused to stop their rebellion unless Tostig was exiled.

Tostig was furious that Edward and his brother Harold had not sent an army to help him.

Tostig accused Harold of conspiring with the rebels to take his earldom.

However, Tostig had little support amongst the Anglo-Saxon nobles with many of them blaming Tostig's, bad government of Northumbria for causing the uprising.

King Edward had actually commanded an army to be raised to put down the rebels, who had by now reached Oxford.

However, excuses were made by the nobles.

It was winter, they said, which would've made it difficult to raise an army.

It is likely though that Harold used his influence to prevent them from raising their armies.

Although he didn't want to help Tostig, he also did not want to march against his own brother.

Harold's actions might seem puzzling, however it seems Harold's ambitions to be the next king of England meant he did little to help his brother Tostig.

So since Harold aspired to be the next king of England, we can see then that he was keen to avoid a civil war.

So Harold convinced King Edward to accept the rebels' demands.

So Edward exiled Tostig.

However, despite Aethelwine's loyalty to Tostig, he kept his position as Bishop of Durham.

Okay, I want you to complete the following sentence with the correct word.

Pause the video, complete the sentence, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's see how that sentence should have read.

To avoid a civil war, Edward accepted the rebels' demands and exiled Tostig.

Okay, great, let's move on to task B.

Below I have provided two features of the 1065 uprising against Tostig.

What I want you to do is provide detailed information to support each feature.

So the features I've given you are one feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was the attack on York.

So we're gonna need some additional information to further support and describe the attack on York.

A second feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was that it spread beyond York.

And again, we just need a little bit more information to describe the spread.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, so there's quite a few ways that you may have answered that question, but compare my example answers with what you have.

So the first feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was the attack on York.

To expand that feature we could have said a group of 200 Northumbrian rebels attacked York, killing Tostig's housecarls and seizing all his weapons and coins.

So you can see there just providing a bit more detail to flesh out the feature.

And the second feature of the 1065 uprising against Tostig was that it spread beyond York.

The uprising soon spread across Northumbria.

Anyone who was suspected to be a supporter of Tostig was killed.

Okay, let's move on to the second part of task B.

What I want you to do here is explain the significance of the uprising in Northumbria against Tostig in 1065 and to help you to write that answer, I want you to consider what it tells us about the nature of the Danelaw and the importance of Northumbria and Durham.

So hopefully by thinking about those two points there that should help you explain the significance of the uprising in Northumbria.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done for having a go at that task.

So there's many ways that you could have answered that question, but let's have a read through my example answer here.

Tostig Godwinson had been given the earldom of Northumbria in 1055.

Tostig was from Wessex in the south and was seen as an outsider who didn't respect the Danelaw's customs. In 1056, Tostig appointed a southerner, Aethelwine as the Bishop of Durham.

By the 1060s, there were increasing complaints, which eventually led to an uprising against the rule of this southern earl and bishop.

This was significant because it shows us how the earldom of Northumbria, as part of the Danelaw, had such different customs and traditions to other parts of England.

It also shows us that the chance of an uprising against leaders who were not deemed understanding of these traditions was quite high.

Another reason the uprising was significant is linked to Northumbria and Durham's importance.

Northumbria was strategically important because it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish invaders.

Furthermore, Durham was important too because it was a main town in Northumbria and its cathedral housed the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede.

This shows that the uprising was significant because it affected a part of England that was both strategically important but also religiously significant.

Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson, Durham before the Norman Conquest.

Northumbria was an important Anglo-Saxon earldom because it guarded the frontiers against Scottish and Danish invaders.

Durham was one of the main towns in Northumbria and an important religious centre because it housed the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede.

Tostig Godwinson was made earl of Northumbria in 1055.

And in 1056 he appointed the southerner, Aethelwine as the Bishop of Durham.

Both were seen as outsiders who did not respect the Danelaw's customs. By the 1060s, there were increasing complaints, which eventually led to an uprising against the rule of this southern earl and bishop.

Well done on a brilliant lesson, and thank you for joining me as we delved into the broader context of Durham Cathedral.

See you in the next lesson.