The Danish conquest
I can explain how the Vikings led by Cnut conquered England in 1016, bringing England into the North Sea Empire.
The Danish conquest
I can explain how the Vikings led by Cnut conquered England in 1016, bringing England into the North Sea Empire.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Anglo-Saxon defeat against the Vikings in the 991 Battle of Maldon led to the Danegeld.
- Aethelred provoked the Danish Vikings by ordering the massacre of all Danes during the St Brice’s Day Massacre in 1002.
- In 1016 King Cnut invaded and conquered England and became king.
- Under King Cnut, England became part of the North Sea Empire which included Denmark and Norway.
- After the early violence of invasion, Cnut's reign saw a period of peace in England.
Keywords
Viking - a member of the Scandinavian seafaring people who raided Britain from the late 8th century
Danegeld - the name of the Anglo-Saxon tax used to defend England against Viking invasions
Empire - a group of countries or territories ruled from the centre by another country or person
Common misconception
Vikings come from Norway.
Whilst Vikings did come from Norway, some of the most problematic Vikings from an English perspective came from Denmark. Vikings also came from Sweden.
To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: The Danish conquest, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: The Danish conquest, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 history lessons from the Migration: how was medieval Britain impacted by conquest and settlement? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
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Adult supervision recommended
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