Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons · Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons Learning Objective: To explore what Britain was...
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Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons Learning Objective: To explore what Britain was like before the first Viking invasions. www.planbee.com
Transcript of Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons · Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons Learning Objective: To explore what Britain was...
Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons
Learning Objective: To explore what Britain was like before the first Viking invasions.
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When did England become England?
How is a country formed?
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Over the coming lessons, we will be exploring how England became a unified country and how the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings struggled for power over hundreds of years. To
understand what happened, we have to think a little further back...
Can you remember when the Romans came to Britain?
When did they leave?
Who lived in Britain after they left?
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In AD 43, the Romans successfully invaded parts of Britain. They built towns, cities and roads; they built aqueducts, public toilets, public baths, amphitheatres and palaces; they improved education, armies, laws, trade and industry. They also
introduced Christianity to Britain. However, the Empire collapsed and in AD 407 the last Roman soldiers left Britain.
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Eventually, these people came to rule most of England and became known as Anglo-Saxons.
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After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Saxons, a people from Germany. They came to raid the
southern coasts for riches. It was not long before Saxon families started to
settle in Britain. Other groups of people from Europe also came to settle in Britain at this time, including the
Jutes and Angles from Denmark, and the Frisians from Holland.
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The Celts (or Britons as the Romans had called them) tried to defend their lands from these new invaders but most were forced to retreat to
Scotland or Wales. This was because the Celts often fought amongst themselves, making them easy targets for the Anglo-Saxon invaders.
The period after the Romans left Britain is sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages. Why do you
think this might be?
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Additionally, most of the advances that had been made
during the Roman era had been lost. Towns, cities and roads were
not maintained and fell into disrepair. People went back to living mainly in small farming
communities and few people were educated. It was a period of
uncertainty, decline and brutality.
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For more than 500 years after the Romans left, there were almost constant battles for land and power in Britain, first between the Anglo-Saxons and the
Britons, and then between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. Battles were bloody, brutal and frequent.
A battle re-enactment
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Hastings_6.JPG
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By the year AD 600, there were seven separate kingdoms in England, each ruled by
an independent king. The kings in each kingdom were advised by a group of
powerful nobles called the Witan. The seven kingdoms were constantly battling
to try and become the most powerful kingdom and kings were always striving to become the ‘bretwalda’ or overlord of the
different kingdoms.
NorthumberlandMercia
East AngliaEssexKent
SussexWessex
Map of England circa AD 600
Looking at the map, which of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms do you think
were the most powerful?
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What do you think life would have been like for the ordinary
people living in the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms at this time?
How do you think we could find out?
