Lesson video

Hello and welcome back to Key Stage Three History, with me, Ms. Dawson.

We're at our sixth and final lesson of our inquiry into how much England changed during the Norman Conquest.

Well done, if you've done lessons one to five already, that means that you are in the right place.

If you haven't completed those lessons yet, then you need to go back and do that first.

Otherwise today's lesson, isn't going to make huge amount of sense to you.

Today we are going to be trying to answer the question, did the Norman Conquest annihilate one kind of England? Don't worry if you're not sure what that means, I'll explain it to you in a moment.

For now, I'm going to get my head out of the way of the screen, so you can pause the video and copy down today's title.

Once you've done that you can resume it because we'll be ready to get started.

Off we go.

All right, for today's lesson the equipment that you're going to need are, a piece of paper, a pen, a ruler and a pencil.

As we're tying together all of our previous learning in the final lesson of this inquiry, I think it could be helpful for you if you had your notes from your previous lessons.

Very well done if you're set up already to go with all of those things.

If you're not, put your video on pause, go and get your equipment and make sure you've got somewhere calm and quiet to work, then resume the video when you're ready.

Let's take a moment to study this image from the Bayeux Tapestry.

By now, we might be familiar with what this is depicting.

This has been claimed by some to be one of the most important historical events in English history.

Have a look at it.

Why do you think that that is? So of course, this image depicts the Battle of Hastings.

And today we're going to be looking at a view that's been put forward by a famous historian on the Battle of Hastings.

After the Battle of Hastings, one kind of England was annihilated and another set up in its place.

What could this mean? What words do we need to zoom in on in order to make sense of this statement? Well done if you've focused on the word annihilated.

We need to know what that means before we can move on, and consider whether or not this statement is true.

So for something to be annihilated, it means completely destroyed.

So after the Battle of Hastings, one kind of England was completely destroyed, completely unrecognisable and another was set up in it's place.

Now, that's quite a tricky statement to understand but I'm going to ask us to have a go on picking, what Simon Schama means when he says that the Norman Conquest annihilated one kind of England.

You may want to draw on your previous learning in order to help you answer this question.

So you can use my sentence starters on the left-hand side of the screen.

I want you to put your video on pause, and I want you to answer what you think Schama means when he says the Norman Conquest annihilated England.

And why do you think that he might say this? Develop the sentences and then resume the video once you're ready to check your answers.

Off you go.

Well done, welcome back.

Remember your answer might look different to mine but that's not a problem at all.

Let's compare and see what we wrote.

Schama has suggested that the Norman Conquest annihilated one kind of England.

This might mean that England had completely changed under the Normans.

You might think this because the Normans made big changes like building castles, and setting up the feudal system.

Very well done, if you noted that Schama's argument about England being annihilated, means that it was changed, completely changed.

And this is something that we're going to think about today.

Again, very well done if you used any evidence to back up why he might say this.

Remember, that your answer could be different but still be correct.

So give yourself a tick if you wrote anything that looks like that.

If you didn't get it quite right, you can pause the video and add some details to your notes.

Let's move on.

So this is an example of what we would call a historical debate.

So this is something, this is a viewpoint that's been put forward.

It's what this particular historian thinks about the Battle of Hastings.

An historical debate you can either agree or disagree with what somebody says.

So today we're going to think like historians and we're going to have a think about whether or not we agree with this statement.

And in discussing whether or not we agree with this statement, we're going to be answering our inquiry question, how much did England change during the Norman Conquest? So far, we've looked at changes to land, the lives of women, the introduction of castles, changes to religion, tax and today we're going to be pulling all of that together and deciding for ourselves how much had changed.

So if you remember under the Norman Conquest, the feudal system was established.

Now the Anglo-Saxons did have a hierarchy, which had the king at the top and the peasants at the bottom.

So this was not completely different to what had come before.

However, it is really important for us to note that in the feudal system, William distributed land to Norman nobles and he introduced the use of knights, in order to maintain order throughout the country.

So there were some changes here.

We learned in our second lesson, that life changed quite a lot for some of the women who experienced the Norman Conquest.

In particular Anglo-Saxon noble women, who had lost their husbands at the Battle of Hastings tended to be forced to marry Norman Lords, in order to embed the feudal system, so that that land ownership went to Normans.

So for those women, that would have been a really big change.

We will remember that the landscape of England changed quite dramatically, because as soon as the Normans came over in 1066, they started building motte-and-bailey castles.

In fact, it was one of the very first things they did when they landed in Pevensey.

And they continued to build them all over the country.

This was in order to attack, conquer and control the Anglo-Saxon population, and to defend themselves against any rebellions.

So this is an example of quite a big change under the Norman Conquest.

Now religion's an interesting one because in some ways we could say, that it hadn't changed a huge amount.

England remained Catholic, the Pope remained a huge authority on the Catholic religion throughout Europe, and people continued to go to church every week and view the church as the centre of everyday life.

So in some ways there weren't huge changes.

However, we can see that there were big changes to the way that churches looked.

And the Normans tore down and rebuilt Anglo-Saxon churches in this grand stone style, so that they could show off their power.

And they could use them to dominate the landscape, in a similar way to castles.

We also saw that Archbishop Lanfranc organised the church into a stricter hierarchy, in order to make sure that people were doing what William wanted.

So we did see some changes however, overall perhaps the changes to religion weren't as dramatic as some of the other changes.

Tax was another big issue that was looked at in the Norman Conquest and we looked at the setting up of the Domesday Book.

Now we know the Domesday Book was one of the most important historical records, and the first of its kind.

However, it is important for us to know that before the use of the Domesday Book, taxes were levied in a very similar way.

For lots of people, they were just paying their taxes to somebody different.

William had particularly tried to make sure that although he taxed the Saxons as much as he could to fund his castles, he did want them to be of similar level to taxes that were levied under Edward the Confessor, in order to prevent there being too much rebellion.

So similarly there were partial changes to tax but it was not necessarily a complete and radical change.

Now as I was talking through those reminders of our previous lessons, we might've noted that I was talking about change in different ways.

So we're focusing on change and continuity.

Continuity comes from the word continue, and it means to stay the same.

Change means something is different.

But change doesn't always happen in the same way.

Sometimes you can have partial changes, so where some things stay the same and some things change.

And sometimes you can have really dramatic change, where things are radically different.

And in order for us to understand how much changed under the Norman Conquest, we need to think about using these terms. So let's have a practise.

On your screen in front of you, I have given you three statements about life after the Norman Conquest.

One of them is an example of little or no change, one of them is an example of partial change, and one of them is an example of dramatic change.

Can you work out which one is which? Pause your video, take a moment to work out the level of change.

And once you've done that, resume it so we can check the answers.

Off you go.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look and see how you did.

Very well done if you noted that the statement which says farming was still very important and the way that this was done stayed the same.

This is an example of no change or what we would call continuity.

Because things continued to stay the same.

Our example of partial change, peasants now paid their taxes to a Norman Lord rather than an Anglo-Saxon one.

This is an example where something slightly different is happening but in some ways the old system is remaining.

And our example of dramatic change.

Castles and new churches were built all over the country so the land looked completely different.

Well done if you got that one correct and noted it as an example of dramatic change.

Give yourself a tick if you got those right.

If you didn't, don't panic, take the time to correct it now.

We're ready now to go on to our written task.

I'm going to read you the comprehension questions and then I'm going to direct you to the worksheet where you will find the answers.

Question one, whose lives did not change that much after the conquest? Question two, how did the landscape of England change? Question three, how big were the changes to land ownership? Question four, explain one way that the church stayed the same.

Question five, why did language cause tension between Saxons and Normans? Question six, why did William make changes to the law? Question seven, in what ways were the lives of peasants changed? And a challenge question, was there more change or continuity in the lives of peasants? And you can use these sentence starters in order to help you answer this question.

Now that we've read through the comprehension questions together, you're ready to give them a go.

Remember, the answers to the questions are all contained within the text on the worksheet.

So you need to read it carefully, before you try and answer the questions.

Also remember to try and challenge yourself by writing in full sentences with lots of detail to support your answers.

Once you've done your best, resume the video and we'll check the answers.

Off you go.

Welcome back, well done.

Let's take a look at the answers and see how we did.

Question one, whose lives did not change that much after the Norman Conquest? The correct answer is ordinary people.

A more detailed answer in full sentences is, after the Norman conquest, the lives of ordinary people often didn't change that much.

Well done, give yourself a tick if you've got that correct.

Question two, how did the landscape of England changed? The correct answer is that the Normans built castles and churches.

A better answer with more detail is the landscape of England looked completely different after the Norman Conquest.

This is because the Normans built motte-and-bailey castles all over the country.

They also pulled down many of the old Anglo-Saxon churches and rebuilt them in stone.

Well done if you used full sentences and detail to support your answer.

If you missed something, please feel free to pause the video and add some details.

If not, let's move on.

Question three, how big were the changes to land ownership? The correct answer is that, they were very big for the Saxon nobles who lost their land.

A more detailed answer says, after the Norman Conquest, the changes in land ownership were very big for Anglo-Saxon nobles.

By 1087, there were only two big English landowners left in England.

All the rest of them lost their land after the Battle of Hastings.

Very well done, if you manage to use specific supporting detail, like only two landowners left.

Let's move on.

Question four, explain one way that the church stayed the same.

Acceptable answer is that it was still really important.

A better answer with more detail is, after the Norman Conquest, the church was still very important to the Anglo-Saxons.

The church had been very central to Anglo-Saxon everyday life and it continued to be so under the Normans.

Very well done if you wrote anything which looks like that, give yourself a big tick.

If you've missed something, feel free to pause the video and add some detail.

Question five, why did language cause tension between the Saxons and Normans? The correct answer is because they spoke different languages.

A better answer is language caused tension between the Saxons and Normans because they spoke different languages.

The Norman rulers spoke French, which became the language of the wealthy and powerful.

The Saxons couldn't understand them, which created tension.

Very well done if you challenged yourself by using full sentences with specific detail.

Let's move on.

Question six, why did William make changes to the law? The correct answer is to protect the Normans.

A better more detailed answer is after the Norman Conquest, there were lots of rebellions against the Normans.

This meant that William changed the law to protect them.

For example, if a Norman was found dead then everyone in the local area would have to pay a fine.

Well done if you used full sentences to develop your answer.

If you want to pause the video and add some detail to your notes, please do so now.

If you're happy with your answer, then let's move on.

Question seven, in what ways were the lives of peasants changed? The correct answer is they paid their taxes to Normans.

A better more detailed answer is after the Norman conquest, land was redistributed to Norman Nobles.

So although peasants often lived and worked on the same land, they paid their taxes to Norman Lords now rather than Anglo-Saxons.

Well done if you used full sentences.

Challenge question, was there more change or continuity in the lives of peasants? The correct answer is continuity.

A better answer with more detail, overall, there was more continuity in the lives of peasants.

This is because they tended to live and work on the same land and their everyday lives didn't change that much.

I should note here that this is something that you could have disagreed with.

You could have argued in your view that there was more change in the life of peasants as we're looking at historical debates today.

So don't panic at all, if you wrote change, if you backed it up, very well done.

So what we're going to do now is take a moment to think about things that had changed and things that had continued.

So in a moment, you're going to go back to the worksheet and you're going to look for all the details of things that had stayed the same in England under the Normans and all the details of things that had changed.

I asked you at the beginning of the lesson to make sure you had a pencil and a ruler, so you can draw a table that looks like this, that's nice and neat.

Remember, use the details from the worksheet in order to help you find answers.

So pause the video and complete the table and once you've satisfied that you've got enough detail in it, resume the video and we'll go over some answers.

Off you go.

Well done, welcome back.

Okay so, these are a list of things that I've got based on reading through the worksheet.

Your answers might look slightly different.

You may want to add some detail to yours as we go through.

Things that stayed the same, farming and peasants lives still stayed largely the same.

Religion was still very important and there was a use of the local community to stop people from breaking the law.

Things that changed, castles, churches, the feudal system, language, peasants being banned from hunting and the introduction of a fine for killing Normans.

Very well done if you spotted any of those examples of change or continuity.

If you'd like to add some more detail, you can pause the video and add detail to your notes from this slide.

You have very nearly done really well done for all your hard work so far.

So our extension activity is to think about this historical debate.

Did the Norman Conquest really annihilate one kind of England.

Had England changed completely, was it completely unrecognisable under the Normans? Let's have a think about it.

In order for you to answer this question, you need to think about whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement and we're historians so we can debate this.

You can agree with the statement, you can disagree, as long as you back it up with some evidence.

So it's really up to you, which way you want to answer this question.

I've given you some sentence starters and some key words on the screen in order to help you.

You will need to try and use full sentences with historical details to make your answer convincing.

So go ahead, put your video on pause and have a go and once you've had a go resume the video and then we will check your answer against mine.

Off you go.

Welcome back, let's have a look and see how you did.

Now I already told you that this is a question which you could either agree or disagree with.

I've written a model paragraph which disagrees.

But that does not necessarily mean if you agree with this question, the statement that you are wrong.

All you needed to do was bring some evidence to back up your point.

Let's read my model.

I disagree with this statement.

I do not think that the Norman Conquest annihilated England.

I think that lots of things stayed the same.

One reason I think this is because the lives of peasants stayed largely the same, and they made up the majority of the population of England at that time.

An example to support this is the fact that peasants tended to live and work in the same way after the conquest.

They paid taxes to a different Lord, but their experience of life and work didn't change.

Therefore, I believe that the Norman Conquest can't have annihilated one kind of England, because the lives of the majority of people didn't change.

If you have used any historical evidence to backup whatever your view is, very well done, give yourself a big tick.

This is a really difficult question, you've done very very well to have a go at answering.

So, this takes us to the end of the lesson and to the end of our six lesson inquiry into how much England changed under the Norman Conquest.

Hopefully, you've now got your own opinion on how much England changed under the Norman conquest and you can use evidence to back up your point, really well done for all of your hard work and I hope you enjoyed it.

Don't forget to complete the exit quiz.

Thanks very much, take care.

So remember to complete the exit quiz, to check on how much you've managed to learn this lesson and if you would like to, please feel free to ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Thanks very much.