History Vikings and Anglo-Saxons Year One History | LKS2 | Vikings and Anglo-Saxons | Viking Life | Lesson 4
Aim • I can identify and explain key aspects of Viking life. Success Criteria • I can identify key aspects of Viking life. • I can explain key aspects of Viking life. • I can ask and answer questions about Viking life.
Vikings in Britain Over time, many Vikings came to settle permanently in Britain. With your partner, discuss and think of answers to the following questions: 1. Why do you think the Vikings chose to settle in Britain? 2. What do you know about the way Vikings lived? 3. What customs and ways of life did they bring with them? 4. What would you like to find out about Viking life? Be ready to give feedback to the rest of the class about your ideas.
Settling Down When the Vikings first came to Britain they raided, took what they could and then went home again. In AD 850, some Vikings stayed in Britain over winter for the first time on the Island of Thanet, enjoying the milder climate and making use of the rich natural resources. In the later part of the 9 th century, Vikings started to look for places that they could take for their own and settle more permanently and by AD 866 they had taken the city of York. The Vikings went on to capture more places and many made Britain their permanent home, integrating with the local people and merging traditions and customs.
Aspects of History Social History Religious History Cultural History Social history is all Religious history is all Cultural history is all about looking at the about looking at the about looking at how the knowledge, experiences and religious experiences and daily lives of beliefs of people from traditions, arts and ordinary people from customs a group of the past. the past. people define who It explores how people they are. It also explores how worshipped their gods, people interact what gods they believed together and form in and what traditions relationships. or customs they had. The different aspects of history overlap to combine a full understanding of life in the past.
Viking Life Your challenge is to produce a poster all about a certain aspect of Viking life. This could be: • Clothes and jewellery • Religion and gods • Houses and food • Rhyme and writing • Art and craft You will need to take notes as you go through the Lesson Presentation, selecting the information that is relevant for your poster. Unfortunately, the information in this Lesson Presentation has got rather muddled up, so you will have to listen, read and think carefully to make sure you choose and record the correct information.
Viking Life Facts When the Vikings first came Vikings used whatever natural resources were available to make their houses. Typically, this to Britain they were might have been stone or wood for the walls, a pagans, which means they thatched (straw) roof and wattle and daub (stick worshipped many gods. and mud/dung) on the inside walls to keep in heat. Over time, many Vikings converted to Christianity. Most Vikings wore clothes made from wool or linen. Men wore trousers and tunics which were fastened at the waist with a leather belt. Women wore long sleeved linen dresses under a Viking metal workers made objects woollen apron type dress. from a wide range of different materials, from iron to gold. The individual letters of the Viking alphabet were called runes. There were 16 runes in total. Vikings wrote using characters from an alphabet called the futhark. The Vikings made their own bread by grinding corn into flour and then mixing it with Jewellery was worn to show off how rich a person was. water to make a dough.
Viking Life Facts The Vikings kept an open fire in their Leather was commonly houses to provide heat and a place used by craftsmen to make to cook. They hung meats and fish a wide range of objects above the fire to preserve them with such as purses, saddles for the smoke. They also preserved by horses and belts. curing (drying out with salt). Rich Vikings wore clothes As Vikings converted to Christianity made from silk (which the their customs and festivals also Vikings traded from changed, merging together the old overseas). They also had furs and new religions e.g. the pagan to wrap around themselves festival ‘Yuletide’ became ‘Christmas’. to keep warm. The Vikings believed that when the god Thor Jewellery makers engraved abstract drove his chariot pulled by goats through the animal shapes and patterns of interlace sky, he created thunder and lightning. Thor (criss-crossing) on brooches and other also had a special weapon: a hammer. items, such as the handles of swords. The Viking’s chief god was The Vikings used rhyme to tell long stories, known called Odin and his wife, the as sagas. Sagas often told about the adventures goddess of marriage and of heroic characters fighting dangerous monsters. fertility, was called Frigg.
Viking Life Facts The Vikings made dyes Excavation of Viking graves has from plants to create shown that Viking women wore different colours for their two brooches, one on each side of clothes e.g. red cloth was the chest. These were probably made by using a plant used to hold up their dresses. called madder. Most Vikings lived on farms The Vikings believed that where they grew their own crops, Odin lived in Valhalla. This such as oats and wheat. They also kept farm animals, such as was a type of heaven where cows, pigs and sheep which warriors who had died provided milk, wool and meat. bravely in battle would go. Viking runes were only made of Vikings ate from wooden bowls straight lines as these were much or plates using a spiky knife. easier to carve into stone and rock. Forks were not invented until much later in history. Bone and antler were commonly The Vikings love to make up riddles by skilfully used by skilled craftsmen to choosing words to describe a thing or object make objects such as combs and without saying its name. handles for knives.
Viking Life Facts The pagan Vikings believed in life after death, Some Vikings drank so people were buried with their possessions beer from horns which when they died so that they could use them in had been scraped out. the next life. Woodworkers could carve very intricate patterns Yorvick (York) was an important Viking into wood. Churches built by the Vikings were manufacturing centre and many craftsmen often made of wood and featured beautifully worked on the streets producing a range of item. carved scenes and interior decor. Coppergate (a place in the city of York) means ‘street of the cup-maker’. Fortune tellers were very Vikings often wore cloaks popular in Viking times. to keep warm in colder Runes were carved on small weather. These were made stones and the fortune from wool or linen and teller would pull these out sometimes leather. of a bag one at a time, reading the future as each rune was revealed.
Quizzes and Games You are going to work in pairs to play or create a game to demonstrate your knowledge about Viking life.
Aim • I can identify and explain key aspects of Viking life. Success Criteria • I can identify key aspects of Viking life. • I can explain key aspects of Viking life. • I can ask and answer questions about Viking life.
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