Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton, and I will be your teacher today, guiding you right through to the end of the lesson.

Right, let's get started.

In these lessons, we will focus on a specific historical environment, the Battle of Hastings.

What can the Battle of Hastings 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 happened at the Battle of Hastings? And how do we know about it? What was the composition of both armies? What planning and strategy were deployed by the respective leaders? What influenced the outcome of the battle? And how did this impact the resulting conquest and rule of England? In today's lesson, we will focus on the Anglo-Saxon army, and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to explain the importance of housecarls and the fyrd in an Anglo-Saxon army.

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

A thegn was a member of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, men who held at least five hides of land from the king or another lord.

The Anglo-Saxon fyrd was a way of calling up men from the general population into an army for a set period of time.

A housecarl was an elite unit of the Anglo-Saxon army, a well-trained and well-equipped soldier.

A mercenary is a professional soldier who is hired to fight in an army for money.

So today's lesson is split into two parts, and we're going to focus on two sections of the Anglo-Saxon army.

We'll look at housecarls in the first part of the lesson before moving on to the fyrd.

Right, let's get started with housecarls.

In Anglo-Saxon society, the king rewarded his close followers, his thegns, with grants of land.

In return, the thegns fought for the king and governed their land.

They also organised a levy of troops from their land, the fyrd.

The image on the right's a mediaeval illustration of Edward the Confessor with his followers.

And we can imagine King Edward rewarding his close followers, granting out land with the understanding that these people would help him rule and fight for the kingdom.

Anglo-Saxon England did not have a standing army, a permanent army of paid soldiers.

In early Anglo-Saxon England, most battles were fought between quite small groups of warriors.

The king would fight together with his most trusted thegns.

If you have a look at the illustration on the right, it shows us what a typical Anglo-Saxon thegn may have looked like.

Thegns were not paid for fighting, although the king would reward them with gifts and land.

These trusted companions of the king would also be his officials, helping him to govern the kingdom.

In the 11th century, there was a period of Danish rule in England.

The Danish word housecarl was introduced for the king's household companions and bodyguards.

Housecarls were professional soldiers, they fought for a living.

They were well-trained and well-equipped.

The photo on the right shows modern-day re-enactors of Viking warriors in York.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which three of these statements are correct? A, housecarls were the king's royal companions.

B, housecarls were thegns.

C, the word housecarl came from Danish Rule.

D, housecarls were members of the fyrd.

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

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, housecarls were the king's royal companions, B, housecarls were thegns, and C, the word housecarl came from Danish rule.

Okay, let's continue.

Like Anglo-Saxon kings, Danish kings had rewarded their housecarls with gifts, but by 1066, it is possible that housecarls were paid to fight.

At this time, other European leaders, like William of Normandy, were using mercenaries in their armies.

Mercenaries were professional soldiers who fought for money.

So essentially they were like soldiers for hire.

This was different still from a standing army.

Mercenaries were recruited for specific campaigns.

They were not a permanent army.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Anglo-Saxon England had a standing army.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was false.

Anglo-Saxon England did not have a standing army.

But why do we know that that's the case? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, housecarls may have been professional soldiers but they were a bodyguard rather than an army, or B, Anglo-Saxon Kings used mercenaries to make up their armies when they went to war? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, housecarls may have been professional soldiers but they were a bodyguard rather than an army.

Housecarls were well-equipped.

They had mail coats, shields and swords, and long-handled axes.

The long-handled axes may have been used to cut through the enemy's shield wall and attack knights and their horses.

It was said that a well-trained housecarl could use their axe to slice right through a horse.

It seems likely that the housecarls fought together as a unit separate from the fyrd.

Have a look at the image on the right.

It's a detail from the Bayeux Tapestry showing a housecarl attacking a Norman Knight.

We can see the housecarl in the centre of the image in his mail coat, wielding his long-handled axe, swinging it towards a Norman knight who's on his horse.

Because a mediaeval battle usually ended if the king was killed, enemy forces would form a wedge to punch through to the king and kill him.

It was the housecarls' job to stop this from happening.

If the king was killed, housecarls were expected to fight to the death in a last stand.

So we can see here how important a king is in fighting battles in this period.

And if we have a look at the image on the right, it's a photo of a chessboard, and those of you chess players out there will know that the king is also very important in this game.

And once the king has been placed into checkmate, the game is over.

Just like in mediaeval battles, if the king is killed, many of his soldiers might lose hope and flee the battlefield, believing that the battle has been lost.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What evidence can we gain from the Bayeux Tapestry about housecarls? Discuss with a partner.

So you can see here, I've given you the detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing a housecarl attacking a Norman knight, and I want you to use that to have a discussion.

And I want you to draw some clues or some evidence about what it says about housecarls.

Pause the video, discuss this with your partner, and then come right back.

Okay, excellent.

Welcome back.

Now, you could have discussed many things, but you may have discussed what I have here.

So first of all, we can tell from the Bayeux Tapestry that they're fighting on foot.

We can also see that they were well-equipped.

You can see the chainmail, armour, helmet, good weapons.

We've got the long-handled axe, and we can see they were a threat to Norman knights.

And we can see the housecarl in the centre of the picture holding the long-handled axe, swinging it towards the Norman knight on his horse.

And we can also see some housecarls fought in the shield wall.

We can see the shield wall on the left of the picture.

Okay, let's move on to Task A.

What I want you to do here is write two paragraphs explaining the importance of housecarls in an Anglo-Saxon army.

Remember to support your explanations with evidence from the Battle of Hastings.

You could use the following starter sentences in your answer.

And you can see I've given you some sentence starters.

Housecarls were important in an Anglo-Saxon army because.

And then, this was very important because.

And then, for example.

So those sentence starters are really trying to get you to focus on how you structure your answer.

Making sure that you answer that question.

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

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

So there's many ways you could have answered that, but compare your answer with the model answer that I've got here for you.

Let's read the first sentence.

"Housecarls were important in an Anglo-Saxon army because they were professional soldiers who were trained and equipped for war." So immediately there in the first sentence, we've signposted to the reader what the paragraph is going to detail.

Okay, that's great, but remember the question was asking us to explain the importance of housecarls.

And you can see I've highlighted the next sentence in purple.

This was very important because.

Last sentence starter is helping us to focus in on the importance of housecarls in an Anglo-Saxon army, to focus in on what the question is asking us to write.

So, "This was very important because this meant that they were the best fighting force in the Anglo-Saxon army and so the king would be able to use them for the most challenging and most critical parts of the battle." So that part is really focused in on why housecarls being professional soldiers makes them important in the Anglo-Saxon army, the king could use them in critical parts of the battle, et cetera.

But again, perhaps that's not clear on its own.

What do we mean by that? What critical part of the battle is it referring to? So this is where the next sentence is gonna clarify and explain that.

For example, in the Battle of Hastings, their role included using their long-handled axe to attack knights and their horses.

Okay, so hopefully you've seen how those sentence starters really helped to structure that paragraph, making sure that we're always focusing in and honing in on the central focus of the question.

Okay, let's read the next paragraph.

And what I want you to do is, while I'm reading it, take note of how the paragraph is really answering that question.

"Housecarls were important in an Anglo-Saxon army because they made up the bodyguard for the king and the other members of the royal family.

This was very important because in the mediaeval period, battles often ended when a king was killed.

For example, this was what happened in the Battle of Hastings after the death of King Harold." Okay, excellent.

We reached the halfway point of the lesson.

Let's now have a closer look at the fyrd.

Originally, all free men, not enslaved people, were required to take part in military service when summoned.

This was what was known at the time as the fyrd.

The general fyrd would be made up of ordinary peasants, ceorls, they had no military training and no military equipment or weapons.

If you have a look at the mediaeval illustration on the right, it shows peasants ploughing the land.

And we can imagine what the ordinary peasants, ceorls, who made up the general fyrd.

Over time, a system developed that historics called the select fyrd.

Every five hides of land needed to provide one man for the fyrd.

One hide of land was enough to support one family.

Five families would raise the money to equip their fyrd man with military equipment and provisions for his time in the fyrd.

In other words, this system, come together five areas of land or five hides, and the king demanded that one man from that area, those five hides, needed to provide one man to serve in the select fyrd.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

How did the select fyrd work? A, all free men had to join the fyrd when called to do so.

B, each hide of land had to supply one man to the fyrd.

C, every five hides of land supplied one man for the fyrd.

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

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was C, every five hides of land supplied one man for the fyrd.

Okay, let's continue.

The select fyrd had advantages.

Only one man from the five hides had to leave his fields.

Everyone else could keep farming.

The man would be better equipped for fighting than the general fyrd.

The soldiers in the select fyrd would also have provisions to eat while on their military service.

Many members of the select fyrd would be thegns.

To be a thegn, a man had to hold five hides of land.

So it made sense that the thegn would be the man supported by those five hides.

But both the select fyrd and the general fyrd would also have included ceorls, the free men of Anglo-Saxon England.

These were peasant farmers.

Typically, a thegn was equipped with a helmet, a chainmail shirt, two shields, two spears, and a horse with a saddle.

Most would've been trained how to fight since they were boys.

Thegns rode horses to travel to battle, but they did not use them in battle.

Most fighting in the fyrd was done with spears, which could be thrown at the enemy or used from behind a shield wall.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Troops from the select fyrd were untrained and only had farming implements for weapons.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because, A, most select fyrd troops were professional soldiers, fully equipped with weapons and armour.

B, most select fyrd troops were thegns who were equipped with good armour and weapons that had military training.

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

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Well done if you knew that was B, most select fyrd troops were thegns who were equipped with good armour and weapons and had military training.

Anglo-Saxon law said the fyrd could be called out for 60 days.

After that time, they could go home.

Some Anglo-Saxon kings called out fyrds from different areas in turn, so they were not left without troops.

So we can see then that the king has a time limit of 60 days.

So he might call the fyrd in the east of England out for 60 days.

He might then call the fyrd out from the south.

It is likely that the men from the same area fought together in the Anglo-Saxon army.

The fyrd could also be used for guarding burhs, towns, and keeping watch on coasts for invasion fleets.

The standard formation for Anglo-Saxon armies was the shield wall.

The select fyrd made up the shield wall, with some housecarls also involved.

The Anglo-Saxon thegns in the front row would overlap their shields.

If you have a look at the image on the right, it's a recreation of an Anglo-Saxon shield wall on a hillside.

And we can see the thegns overlapping their shields on the front row.

Their spears would poke through the shield wall, making it very difficult to attack.

Behind them, those without armour or shields would be protected.

They could throw spears over the shield wall.

So we can see that the shield wall, although it's primarily defensive with those shields overlapping, it also had an element of attack to it.

The spears are poking through the shield wall, and those further back behind the shield wall could also throw their spears at the enemy.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which two of the following were reasons why the shield wall was an effective military formation? A, overlapping shields created a strong defensive wall, which protected unarmored troops behind it.

B, if the shield wall weakened, the enemy could break through it and attack those sheltering behind it.

C, the shield wall allowed troops to use spears to fend off attackers or throw at the enemy from behind the wall.

D, warriors could leave the shield wall and make solo attacks to terrify the enemy.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, the shield wall was an effective military formation because of those overlapping shields creating a strong defensive wall, protecting unarmored troops behind it.

And C, the shield wall also allowed troops to use spears to fend off attackers or throw at the enemy from behind the wall.

Okay, let's continue.

The shield wall was a very strong defensive feature, but, once it was broken up, its strength was lost.

Keeping the shield wall together took a lot of discipline.

Fyrd soldiers were less disciplined than housecarls.

If the enemy started to retreat or run away, fyrd troops might run after them.

After that, the shield wall would lose its strength.

So we can see then, the shield wall was a great defensive formation and had that element of attack, but it really relied on those troops, on the fyrd, staying disciplined, listening to the orders that they've been given to stand their ground, waiting for further orders for if they can move.

But sometimes in the heat of battle, some of those fyrd soldiers, who are not disciplined and not trained, may have done the wrong thing, stepped out of their formation.

And once that formation was broken, it would've been much easier for the enemy to weaken this formation, to break through the shield wall.

And perhaps as I was saying that you'll remember that this is actually what happened.

During the Battle of Hastings, the fyrd left the shield wall to chase after retreating Normans, but they were then surrounded and killed.

As a result, the shield wall was weakened.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is discuss with a partner two ways in which the fyrd was an advantage for the Anglo-Saxon armies, and two ways in which it was a disadvantage.

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

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

There's many things you may have discussed.

Let's have a look what I've got here for the advantages.

So one advantage of the fyrd, it was cheap.

The king did not need to pay for fyrd soldiers, so they weren't mercenaries or hired soldiers.

It was this system that operated within Anglo-Saxon England.

Then we've got the select fyrd system provided trained and equipped soldiers.

And finally, it was an established system, easy for kings to call up the fyrd.

Okay, let's have a look at the disadvantages.

Discipline, so the fyrd were more likely to run after retreats or run away.

And as we've said before, in the heat of battle, they see the enemy running away, they may think they've won the battle, they may ignore the orders they've been told to keep in shield wall formation, and the adrenaline is running through their veins and they just run after the enemy, unfortunately, breaking the shield wall formation.

Secondly, the fyrd could only be called out for 60 days.

After that, they would go home.

So there's a time limit on the fyrd.

Oftentimes, the fyrd would need to return home to tend to their lands, to harvest their crops, for example.

Those crops are obviously central to their survival.

And the last point, the general fyrd, these peasants had no armour or proper weapons.

Okay, let's move onto Task B.

Explain in two paragraphs the importance of the fyrd in an Anglo-Saxon army.

Remember to support your explanations with evidence.

You could use the following in your answer.

So you've got the select fyrd, shield wall, 60 days, lack of discipline.

So hopefully you can see how the lesson has built up to this final task.

So use all the knowledge you've gained from the lesson to write your answer.

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

Okay, welcome back.

So, there's many ways you could have written that answer, but check your answer has similar points to the one I have here.

"One thing that was important about the fyrd in an Anglo-Saxon army is that it is likely that the select fyrd made up most of the shield wall, the most important formation in an Anglo-Saxon battle.

These were trained, well-equipped soldiers who were vital to the army's success.

The select fyrd system also delivered a large number of men to the king cheaply and efficiently.

This enabled Anglo-Saxon rulers to respond quickly to the arrival of large invasion forces.

The fyrd could also be called up for defence of coastal areas and burhs." So you can see that many of the points that have been raised about the advantages of the fyrd have been used in this answer.

Okay, let's move into the next paragraph.

"Another thing that was important about the fyrd in an Anglo-Saxon army was that it could only be called out for 60 days.

After that, they would go home.

This could leave areas undefended.

The fyrd were also not professional soldiers which meant they could lack discipline.

This might show itself in fyrd soldiers running after retreating enemy troops, which broke up the defence of the shield wall.

Similarly, fyrd soldiers would often run away if their leader was killed, signalling the end of the battle." Okay, let's move on to the second part of Task B.

Read this passage adapted from an Anglo-Saxon source.

What does it tell us about Anglo-Saxon armies? List your points.

Okay, so for this task, we're not looking for a paragraph, we're just looking for bullet point lists of points.

So try and extract the clues about what this passage says about Anglo-Saxon armies.

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

Okay, let's just remind ourselves of the passage.

"When King Harold learned that Hardrada and Tostig had landed near York, he gathered his household troops and marched north, day and night, as quickly as he could call up his levies, the fyrd.

Then Harold arrived in Tadcaster, near York, with all his levies, and there he organised his household troops into battle order.

Taking the Norwegians unaware, they fought, and countless numbers of men, both English and Norwegians, were slain." So let's have a look at some of the points you may have got from that passage.

So, in the passage, it mentions household troops, and we can take that to mean housecarls.

A second point was that Harold gathered the fyrd as he went through each area.

That showed us how the system of calling up the fyrd worked.

And then we've got the fyrd system delivered a large army quickly.

So the north of England has been invaded by the Norwegians and the Hardrada, and Harold needs to quickly call up the fyrd in that area along the way.

And then a third point we've got here is housecarls were given special roles and, in quotation marks, they've got the battle order.

So Harold is organising and placing and positioning the housecarls or the household troops into a specific battle order or position on the battlefield.

And lastly, large numbers of English casualties.

Okay, excellent.

Let's summarise today's lesson, The Anglo-Saxon Army.

The Anglo-Saxon army included different types of troops.

Men who were called up to fight in the fyrd and housecarls who were professional soldiers.

The general fyrd was all free men.

Many of these men were peasant farmers with no military training or weapons.

The select fyrd meant that a fyrd army could be made up of men who had some training and were properly equipped for war.

The fyrd had advantages and disadvantages, for example, easy to gather large armies but a time limit on availability.

Okay, well done on a brilliant lesson.

And thank you for joining me as we delved deeper into the historical environment of the Battle of Hastings, where we focused on the Anglo-Saxon army.

I really hope this has sparked your curiosity in the drama of military history, and I will see you in the next lesson.