New
New
Year 5

How we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England

I can describe the different sources of evidence that historians have used to uncover life in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

New
New
Year 5

How we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England

I can describe the different sources of evidence that historians have used to uncover life in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Most of our sources for Anglo-Saxon Britain are artefacts, supplemented by some writing.
  2. All of these sources can be used for different enquiries.
  3. By using the sources in different ways, and asking different questions, historians have inferred different things.
  4. Historians have inferred a lot about Anglo-Saxon culture and society by combining their findings from different sources.
  5. A good description of the evidence used to uncover life in Anglo-Saxon Britain will use knowledge from across this unit.

Common misconception

Students may think that for something to be taught as history, all historians have to agree on it.

Historians do not always agree about the past and what sources tell us. It is important to remember this when being historians ourselves!

Keywords

  • Modern - when something is described as modern it means it relates to the present time, not the past

  • Enquiry - an enquiry is a search for information or truth by asking questions

  • Infer - to infer something means to make conclusions based on evidence and reasoning

  • Insight - insight is an accurate or deep understanding of something

Utilise a wider range of artefacts (if available) or images of sources in a carousel activity to plan your own historical enquiry about the Anglo-Saxons.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is a person who holds religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions called?
Correct answer: a pagan
a historian
a missionary
a monarch
Q2.
Complete the sentence. A is a building where monks live and work together dedicated to religious life.
Correct Answer: monastery, Monastery
Q3.
Once the Romans left Britain, what religion went into decline?
Paganism
Correct answer: Christianity
Judaism
Q4.
Choose the correct word to finish this sentence: Missionaries were sent to Britain to Anglo Saxons to Christianity.
Correct answer: convert
force
challenge
Q5.
Which jobs were included in an Anglo-Saxon monk's daily life?
Correct answer: praying
designing buildings
Correct answer: studying
Correct answer: writing
Q6.
True or false? The Franks Casket showed only Christian imagery.
True
Correct answer: False

6 Questions

Q1.
True or false. Most of our modern knowledge and understanding about the Anglo-Saxons comes from physical artefacts.
Correct answer: True
False
Q2.
Complete the sentence. A deep understanding of a person or thing is called an .
Correct Answer: insight, Insight, insite
Q3.
What insight does the Anglo-Saxon jewellery give us about life during this period?
They used money to trade.
Correct answer: They were skilled craftspeople.
It shows us who and how they worshipped.
Warfare was important.
Q4.
Which statements are true about how historians use different sources to get an insight into their enquiries.
Historians can use multiple sources but can only ask one question about each.
Correct answer: Historians can use multiple sources and ask different questions about sources.
Correct answer: Historians can have different ideas about an artefact.
Historians have to agree on the same idea about each artefact.
Q5.
What is it called when a historian makes conclusions based on evidence and reasoning?
Correct Answer: infer, to infer, inference, inferring
Q6.
Match the source to what historians can infer from them about Anglo-Saxon life.
Correct Answer:silver bowls from Byzantium,They traded with far-away places.

They traded with far-away places.

Correct Answer:written law of codes,They could be violent at times.

They could be violent at times.

Correct Answer:well-crafted weapons,They were skilled fighters.

They were skilled fighters.

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