Lesson video

Hello, and welcome back to Key Stage 3 history with me.

I'm Ms. Dawson.

We're at lesson four of our six lesson inquiry into how much England changed under the Norman conquest.

If you've already done lessons one to three, then well done.

You're in the right place.

If you haven't, then you need to go back and do those ones first, otherwise this lesson is not going to make much sense to you.

Today we're going to be looking at changes that the Normans made to the church in England, specifically how William used important archbishops to help him make big changes.

And also how he changed the way that the churches looked.

This was really important.

So what I'm going to do now is get my head out of the way of the video so that you can copy down today's title.

Put your video on pause in order to do this.

After you've copied the title down, resume the video and we'll get started.

For today's lesson, all you're going to need is a piece of paper and a pen.

You're going to need somewhere nice and quiet and calm to work without distractions.

If you haven't got those things ready, then please pop your video on pause, go and get them.

If you have very well done and let's get started.

So I'd like us to start by taking a look at another image from the Bayeux Tapestry.

Try and zoom in on some details.

What do you think's happening here? What are the important symbols that we need to be looking at in order to work out what's happening? Put the video on pause if you need to, while you look at it.

In a moment, I'm going to give you some clues so we can work out what this is.

Very well done, if you picked up on some of these details that might help you work out what this image is.

Some of us might have noticed in the background that it says William.

So this is an image of William the Conqueror.

Some of us also might've noticed that he's holding a flag, which has got a cross on it.

Clearly, this is something that we need to focus on.

But why? What might this mean? Going to tell us a quick story to give us a little bit more context into what we are looking at.

In this image, William the Conqueror is being told that Harold Godwinson is approaching to fight.

So this was just before the Battle of Hastings.

In his hand he is holding something that is called a papal banner.

The word papal comes from the term Pope.

So a papal banner is a flag that William has been given by the Pope.

Why might that have been? William of Normandy did not approve of corruption in the church.

And he had told the Pope, the biggest religious leader in Europe, that this was why he was planning to invade England, in order to fix the problems that were going on in the English church.

The Pope agreed that the church was corrupt and he responded by blessing this papal banner.

So, saying a prayer over this flag and sending it to William.

This gesture was intended to show that he approved of William's invasion in order to fix the church.

The reason that this flag, or papal banner, appears several times in the Bayeux Tapestry is because this was created by Normans in order to document their success and their victory.

And William holding this flag is a symbol, to anybody looking, that the Normans had the Pope, and therefore God, on their side and that their invasion was backed by God.

So it's very, very significant in this image that when William hears that Harold is approaching, supposedly he is holding his papal banner from the Pope.

Now that we've got a little bit more context into what's going on in this image, I would like you to practise writing up an answer describing what's happening.

So, you can see I've included some sentence starters on the left hand side of the screen.

Please feel free to use those if they are useful to you.

You can put your video on pause, write a few developed sentences, using detail from the image, and tell me what you think that means.

Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's compare your answer to the one that I wrote.

Remember my answer might look different to yours, but that does not mean that yours is wrong.

In this image, William is shown holding a papal banner.

This suggests that the Norman invasion had the support of the church.

Very well done, if you wrote anything that looks like that.

If you wrote anything that commented on the significance of William holding this flag, then that's exactly what we were looking for.

If you're not sure if you've got this quite right, please feel free to pause the video and add some details to your answer.

If not, let's move on.

In our last answer, I said that this image suggests that William had the support of the church.

It's worth us picking up on this for a moment, because we need to be really, really clear on the difference between talking about a church and the Church.

because they're not the same thing.

And so we need to be really clear on that before we move on.

Have a think about it.

What's the difference between those two terms? I'm going to tell you in just a second.

Brilliant.

Okay, so this is the definition for a church.

This is with a small c, so no capital letter here.

A church describes a building in which Christians worship.

This type of church can't have opinions or feelings, obviously, because it's a building.

For example, in a sentence: William built a new church.

This is your standard definition of the word church with a small c.

Capital letters - very important because it can completely change the meaning of the word.

So let's have a look and see how the word changes when it's got a capital C.

The Church: this describes the whole religious community, including priests, the pope, and those who worship.

In this meaning, the church can be said to have opinions or feelings because it's representing a group of people.

For example: When William invaded England, he believed that he had the support of the church.

This makes perfect sense because we've used the word 'the' and we have used a capital C.

This sentence would make no sense at all, if it said: When William invaded England, he believed had the support of a church.

So make sure that you are using the correct one in your sentences.

Please take a moment to copy down this correct definition of the Church with a capital C.

Pause your video and resume it when you're ready to move on.

Okay.

So, I've told us about the importance of capital letters when we're talking about churches.

So let's have a go at getting this in a sentence.

Both of these sentences include the word church, but one of them has a capital C, and one of them does not.

And it's very important that we know which way round to do it.

So, what you're going to do is put your video on pause, and you are going to work out and write down the correct sentences with the correct use of the term church.

After you've done that we're going to go over the answers.

So, pause your video, write down your answers and resume it when you're ready to have a look.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look and see if we've got it right.

In Anglo-Saxon England, people visited their local church every week.

Small c.

This means people visited their building every week.

So a church, a building - small c.

Second one.

Sometimes kings could have disagreements with the Church over big decisions about how people should worship.

This one is a capital C.

Clearly, in this sentence, the word church is implied to be a group of people, because it seems to be having thoughts or feelings.

You cannot have a disagreement with a building.

So therefore, this must have been 'Church' with a capital C.

Very well done if you've got that right.

Give yourself a big tick.

If you didn't, don't panic too much, this is quite difficult, but make sure that you've written down the correct answer before we move on.

So, now that we've got to grips with our capital Cs, we need to think about why the church was so important in Anglo-Saxon England, before we then look into why it was that William wanted to change it.

So, what was so important about the Church? The Church was the centre of people's lives.

In this time people visited their church every week.

It's where they got their news.

It's where they got married.

The church provided provisions for them when they were sick.

It was part of absolutely everything.

It was a centre of community, and really, really important.

So that's the first reason.

The second reason is that there was a really widespread belief in God.

Everybody in England believed in God, heaven and hell.

And therefore, their lives were all centred around the best way to behave in order to get into heaven.

So therefore, doing what the church said was clearly very important.

As a result of this, the church was very, very wealthy.

The church owned a huge proportion of the land in Anglo-Saxon England, and were able to raise big taxes from it.

This showed how important it was considered.

And finally, the church had the control of the pope.

The pope was the most important religious figure in Europe, the head of the Catholic Church, and he was very, very important in terms of giving orders to people as to how to worship.

The people respected the pope, and they did everything that he said, and therefore they would do what local priests told them to do, because they felt that they had the backing of the Pope.

So those are the reasons why the church was really important in Anglo-Saxon England.

So now that we've had to think about why the church was so important in an Anglo-Saxon England, we must then think about why it is that William the conqueror would want to change something that was so central to people's lives when he took over.

And there were two main reasons for this.

One of which, is that William wanted to get rid of corruption.

So, William believed that priests in the church were not acting in the way that they should.

And he wanted to change that.

We're going to learn a little bit more about what this word 'corruption' means very shortly.

So don't panic if you're not sure.

The second reason William wanted to change the church, is to show the power of the Normans.

This is a big theme that's run through our entire inquiry.

When William took over in 1066, he was a foreign invader and he needed to demonstrate to these Anglo-Saxons that he was the new King, and him and the Normans were here to stay.

So, by making changes to the church, which was the most important aspect of people's lives, he was demonstrating his power.

And we'll find out a bit more about how in a second.

So now we've thought about why William wanted to change the Church, we're going to think about what he actually did.

So one of the first things - in ways in which the Church was changed - is the way that it looked.

The appearance of the church was very different.

In our first image here, we've got a picture of an Anglo-Saxon church.

It's quite small.

It's quite modest.

If we look at the picture on the right hand side, this is a cathedral that was rebuilt by the Normans; we can see a really big difference - it's much bigger, it's much grander, it's got impressive architecture - and this is what the Normans wanted to do.

They wanted to rebuild these modest churches to be tall, to be impressive, to show off their power and status to the Anglo Saxons, and to have them last for a long time, so that people would always remember the Norman conquest.

So that's one of the big changes that the Normans made to the Church of England.

The second way in which the church was changed in England, was by introducing a clear hierarchy.

I'm hoping that this image that is on the screen is slightly familiar to you.

So this term 'hierarchy', means organising something with the most important people at the top and the least important people at the bottom.

This might remind you of the feudal system, where England was organised with the King at the top, and the peasants at the bottom, who were to take orders from those above them.

This is very similar.

In the Church, there were priests at the local level, and what William and the Normans wanted is for all of these priests to obey their orders, and to make sure that the Saxon population worshipped in the way that they wanted.

So they organised, again, a strict hierarchy with different layers, each of whom had to obey whoever was above them.

Those at the top would be loyal Normans, who would be expected to obey the wishes of William, and to get those below them to do the same.

Just like in the feudal system, it was organised in such a way that it would be quite difficult to say no to what you were told to do.

Those people who tried to refuse to do what they were told, would find themselves punished, pushed out of their job, or potentially even killed.

And very famously, there were three monks in Glastonbury Abbey who tried to refuse some of these changes.

And William and his archbishops sent in Knights, and those monks were killed.

About 15 or 16 others were injured in the process.

So it sent a really clear message to those people, that they had to take orders about how to worship from the Normans.

Okay.

So, we've learned quite a lot in a short space of time about how William changed the Church in England.

So what you're going to do now, is to write up a short answer, responding to this question before we do the bigger task: William changed the Church in England by.

, and, This would have helped him to.

Use those sentence starters to help you out.

Remember, in this sentence church has got a capital C, so make sure that you use the correct meaning.

Put your video on pause, write a few developed sentences, and resume when you're ready to check your answer.

Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at my answer, and see how it compares to yours.

William changed the Church in England by knocking down old Anglo-Saxon churches and rebuilding them in stone, to be taller and more impressive.

This would have helped him to demonstrate the power of the Normans, as these new styles of churches would have reminded people that the Normans were in charge.

Well done, if your answer looks anything like that.

Don't panic if it looks slightly different to mine.

If you think you missed the answer, please put the video on pause and add some details to yours.

If not, very well done, let's move on.

So it's time for us to get started with our writing task.

You've got some comprehension questions to answer, which I'm going to read to you, before I direct you to the worksheet to get them done.

Question one.

What made the Church wealthy in Anglo-Saxon England? Question two.

In what ways was the Church criticised for being corrupt? Question three.

Who was the most important person in Europe? Question four.

Who did William bring to help him re-organize the Church? Question five.

How did he re-organize the way that the Church was run? Question six.

What did the Normans change about the way the churches looked? Question seven.

How did William ensure loyalty in the Church? And challenge question.

Why did William need the support of the Pope? You may feel like you already know a few of these answers from what we've covered so far in the video, but remember that the details to help you answer all of these questions are contained within the worksheet.

So you need to read it really carefully before you start answering the questions.

So you're ready now to pause your video, read through the worksheet, and answer the comprehension questions.

Remember to try and challenge yourself by writing in full sentences, with as much detail as possible.

When you're done, resume the video, and we can check the answers.

Off you go.

Well done.

Welcome back.

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

Question number one.

What made the Church wealthy in Anglo-Saxon England? The correct answer is: that it owned lots of land.

A more detailed answer says: In Anglo-Saxon England, the Church was very wealthy, because it owned most of the land.

Bishops ran larger estates and collected taxes from peasants.

Well done, if you got that answer correct.

And very well done, if you used full sentences and lots of detail.

Let's check question two.

Question number two.

In what ways was the Church criticised for being corrupt? The acceptable answer is: that priests used their power unfairly.

A better answer, with more detail, is: that priests were known for doing many different things which were considered corrupt, such as having more than one job, selling or giving jobs to their friends, collecting high taxes from peasants, and being married when they shouldn't have been.

Very well done, if you used detail to add more than one reason that the Church was considered corrupt.

If you think that you've missed something from this answer, please feel free to pause the video and add some detail.

If not, give yourself a big tick, and we'll move on.

Question number three.

Who was the most important person in Europe? The correct answer to this question is: The Pope.

A better, more detailed answer: According to the Catholic Church, the Pope was the most important person in Europe.

Very well done, if you used full sentences to answer that question.

Question number four.

Who did William bring to help him re-organize the Church? The correct answer is: Lanfranc.

A better answer is: William brought with him a well-respected man from Normandy named Lanfranc.

Lanfranc was a close personal friend of William's and was known to the Pope.

Very well done, if you developed this answer with full sentences.

Question number five.

How did he re-organize the way that the Church was run? The acceptable answer is: that he created a hierarchy.

Well done, if you used the word hierarchy.

A better, more detailed answer is: Lanfranc organised the church into a clear hierarchy, so that would be easy to control.

They added in new positions such as Archdeacons and Deans, to help the Bishops manage the priests, and they gave them clear rules to follow.

Well done, if you added supporting detail to make your answer more clear.

Let's move on, and have a look at question six.

Question number six.

What did the Normans change about the way that churches looked? The correct answer is: they made them bigger and out of stone.

A better, more detailed answer is: the Normans changed the way that churches looked in order to show their power.

They pulled down many of the old Anglo-Saxon churches and rebuilt them to be much bigger and more impressive.

They also built them out of stone so that they would last longer.

Very well done, if you developed this with full sentences.

Give yourself a big tick, if your answer looks anything like this.

Remember, my answer and your answer are very likely to be different, but that's not a problem.

Let's have a look at the next question.

Question number seven.

How could William ensure loyalty in the Church? The correct answer is: by giving important jobs to Normans.

A better answer is: that William ensured loyalty within the Church by giving important positions to Normans.

For example, Lanfranc was given the role of Archbishop of Canterbury.

By 1087, there was only one remaining Anglo-Saxon Bishop.

Very well done, if you used specific detail to back up your answer, that's writing like a historian.

Give yourself a big tick, if you included anything that looks like this.

And our challenge question.

Why did William need the support of the Pope? The acceptable answer is: that he was powerful.

A more detailed, developed answer is: the Pope was the most powerful person in Europe.

Belief in heaven and religion was widespread, and people respected the Pope.

With the support of the Pope, William could be powerful and successful.

If the Pope opposed him, William would be in danger.

Very well done, if you got this correct.

This one required you to think a little bit past what was written in the worksheet to put the answer together.

So it was a tough one.

Well done.

Very well done for getting your comprehension activity all completed.

If you would like to, we've got an extension activity to challenge you.

The question says: In what ways did William use Church reform to show the power of the Normans? A reminder, the word 'reform' means change.

Let's take a look at the support slide to help you answer this question.

If you would like to answer this question, you can use the sentence starters on the left hand side of the screen to help you develop your answer, and the key words on the right hand side.

A reminder, for a question like this, you'd want to write in developed, full sentences and give evidence to back up your points.

So, if you're ready to answer this question, you can pause the video, and go back to the worksheet to help you find some information to help you answer this.

Once you're done, resume the video and we will check over your answer.

Off you go.

Very well done, if you challenged yourself with the extension question.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at an answer that I prepared, remembering that your answer may well look different to mine, and that's not a problem at all.

Give yourself a tick, if you included any of the details that I've got here.

William used Church reform to show the power of the Normans because he ordered many of the churches in England to be rebuilt in Norman style.

An example of this was having old Anglo-Saxon churches pulled down and made out of stone.

He also ensured that they were much bigger, to show the grand power of the Normans.

They also built many more of them, so that they would be all over the country.

This helped the Normans to show their power.

These new churches all over the countryside were a reminder to anyone who considered rebellion that the Normans were powerful and that they were here to stay.

Very well done, if you included any of these details in your answer.

If you think that you missed a few, please feel free to pause the video, and add to your notes.

This takes us nearly to the end of today's lesson.

Hoping to see you in lesson five of this inquiry, where we find out a little bit about the doomsday book.

Very well done for your hard work so far, and looking forward to seeing you next time.

A reminder, after you've closed this window, to complete the exit quiz to test how much you learned in today's 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, and see you next time.