Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I am really looking forward to learning with you today all about the Anglo-Saxons.

And we're going to explore the question, how do we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England? So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to understand some of the different roles women had in Anglo-Saxon society, and how historians know about these.

And before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are grave goods, brooch, girdle, symbolize, domestic.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Grave goods.

Brooch.

Girdle.

Symbolize.

Domestic.

Good job.

Here are the definitions for each of our keywords.

Grave goods are objects buried in people's graves, providing insights into their culture and daily life.

A brooch is a decorative pin used to fasten clothing together, or as a fashion accessory.

A girdle is a belt or sash worn around the waist, typically used to hold clothes in place or as a fashion accessory.

To symbolize means to represent or stand for something else, often conveying a deeper meaning or significance.

Something domestic is something related to the home, like household chores or items inside the house.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson: exploring the graves of Anglo-Saxon women, discovering wealthy Anglo-Saxon women, and the symbolism of items found.

In the first learning cycle, we will explore the graves of Anglo-Saxon women.

During the time of the Anglo-Saxons, the majority of people could not read or write, and so there are limited written sources for archeologists and historians to learn about the lives of the Anglo-Saxons.

This was especially true of Anglo-Saxon women, as even less women than men could read or write.

However, archeologists and historians still have valuable clues about women's roles and importance in Anglo-Saxon society.

Many of these clues come from grave goods found in burial sites of Anglo-Saxon women.

So you can see an illustration there of what an Anglo-Saxon woman's grave may have looked like.

Let's take a moment to pause.

Historians only know about Anglo-Saxon women from pictures.

Is that true or false? What do you think? If you said false, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? Historians know about them because of artifacts found in their graves.

Historians know about them because there is lots written about them.

Have a quick discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you said historians know about them because of artifacts found in their graves, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now some grave goods from Anglo-Saxon burial sites include beautiful jewelry, elaborate brooches, and detailed pottery.

When archeologists find these objects, it suggests that the Anglo-Saxon women had an important position in her community, as these items would've been very expensive at the time.

Some of the jewelry found was made of gold, silver, and precious gemstones, like garnet.

You can see a photo of some brooches that were found in a grave in Kent, how beautiful and detailed they are.

The more special the items are, such as elaborate jewelry made of gold, silver, and precious gemstones, like garnet, or well-crafted and decorative pottery, the more important the owner may have been in Anglo-Saxon society.

On the other hand, fewer grave goods found inside a burial site may suggest the owner was not as high status, not seen as important.

Of course, having expensive objects might not make someone more or less important in modern society, but in Anglo-Saxon Britain, wealth was seen as a sign of high status and importance.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Which grave goods suggest that the woman owner was wealthy and important in Anglo-Saxon society? Decorative brooches, gold and silver jewelry, plain wooden cups and bowls, well-crafted pottery.

What do you think? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to hear the answers.

How did you get on? What did you think? If you said decorative brooches, gold and silver jewelry, and well-crafted pottery, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

This photo shows decorative jewelry found in the grave of an Anglo-Saxon woman in Kent.

Writes one sentence explaining whether you think these grave goods tell us if the woman was seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society.

So pause the video here, make sure you've got yourself a pen and some paper, and give yourself enough time to write one sentence explaining whether you think these grave goods, this image here of the brooches, tell us if the woman was seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society.

Pause the video here and restart when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? You could have written something like this.

"I think this woman would have been seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society because important women were buried with precious items, like gold and silver jewelry, and brooches that contain gems, like garnet," like the ones we can see in that photo that were found in Kent.

Well done if you wrote something similar, and well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

We're gonna explore discovering wealthy Anglo-Saxon women.

An example of an Anglo-Saxon woman's grave was found by archeologists at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent between 2018 and 2019.

The discovery was made accidentally when builders were constructing a new building for the university.

Archeologists found lots of fine jewelry in the grave that suggests that the Anglo-Saxon woman was very important and wealthy.

For instance, they found a brooch made from silver and garnet.

The garnet gemstones are believed to have come from Sri Lanka, which is very far away from Kent.

You can see the photo of a brooch found in Canterbury there, how it's made of silver and garnet gemstones.

A necklace was also found made of amber and glass.

Amber is hardened resin from ancient trees, which has been preserved as a fossil over time, and was not found naturally in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

This means that the necklace and brooch both contain materials from far away countries.

As these items contained expensive and precious metals, they would've been very valuable in Anglo-Saxon England, therefore the grave is thought to have belonged to a very important woman who may even have been gifted the items by the King of Kent.

This evidence shows that women could have had a very high status in Anglo-Saxon society.

Let's take a moment to pause.

Why were the necklace and brooch believed to be gifts from the Kentish King? They had a mark on them from the king.

The king told somebody that he had gifted them.

Expensive and precious materials were used to make them.

What do you think? Pause the video here and take some time to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said expensive and precious materials were used to make them, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

And how do historians know that women could be seen as high status in Anglo-Saxon society? Is it because beautiful and valuable grave goods found showed that the owner was important? There are many paintings of important Anglo-Saxon women.

There are lots of written sources about important Anglo-Saxon women.

What do you think? Take a moment, pause the video here, and press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

What did you think? If you said beautiful and valuable grave goods found showed that the owner was important, well done if you got that right.

This brings us to our second learning task.

Laura and Izzy are discussing women in Anglo-Saxon society.

Laura says, "I can't find any written sources about Anglo-Saxon women being high status in their society, so I guess no Anglo-Saxon women were." Can you write what Izzy's response to Laura could be? Include evidence about the Canterbury Anglo-Saxon woman in your answer.

Pause the video here, give yourself enough time to write Izzy's response, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could include, "Archeologists have found evidence that Anglo-Saxon women could be high status.

An Anglo-Saxon woman's grave was found in Canterbury that contained a brooch made with silver, gold and gemstones.

They think it may have been a gift from a king, as it was so beautiful and valuable." Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move onto the final part of this lesson.

We're going to explore the symbolism of items found.

One of the most interesting things that archeologists have discovered in graves of Anglo-Saxon women are girdle-hangers.

These objects are designed to look like keys or latch lifters, an early kind of key, and would be worn hanging from a girdle, which is like a belt or sash.

Anglo-Saxons would wear girdle-hangers to show off their high status, as girdle-hangers symbolize that the wearer has control over who can and cannot enter their house.

So there's a photo of some girdle-hangers found in an Anglo-Saxon woman's grave.

What an interesting object.

As women were buried with these, some historians believe women were in charge of who went in and out of Anglo-Saxon homes, an important high status role in Anglo-Saxon society.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What are girdle-hangers? A special type of brooch, items that are designed to look like keys, items used to hang clothes from.

Hmm, what do you think? Pause the video here and restart when you're ready to continue.

Did you figure it out? What are girdle-hangers? They are items that are designed to look like keys.

Well done if you got that right.

Other domestic items were discovered in Anglo-Saxon women's graves, for example, tools for making clothes, like weaving combs made of bone, pots and jars for cooking and storing food, and knives and spoons.

Sometimes Anglo-Saxon women were buried with other tools for cleaning and fixing things around the house.

The inclusion of domestic items in Anglo-Saxon women's graves symbolizes how important the job of taking care of the family and the home was in Anglo-Saxon society.

By studying grave goods found in with Anglo-Saxon women, archeologists and historians can get a better understanding of the social status of women and their roles in Anglo-Saxon society.

So you can see in those photos there, got a photo of a comb made of bone, and a photo of a spoon made of copper.

These items would've been found in Anglo-Saxons women's graves.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Girdle-hangers and domestic items found in Anglo-Saxon women's graves symbolize their high status in Anglo-Saxon society.

Is that true or false? Hmm, what do you think? If you said that that's true, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

But how do you justify your answer? Got two statements here to help us.

These items symbolize the importance of being a fearsome warrior.

These items symbolize the importance of taking care of the home and the family.

What do you think? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said these items symbolize the importance of taking care of the home and the family, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Can you give two reasons why historians believe women were seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society? You can use these words to help you: girdle-hangers, symbolize and domestic items. So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to give two reasons why historians believe women were seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your answer could include, archeologists have found girdle-hangers in Anglo-Saxon women's graves, which symbolize that women controlled who entered the home.

Archeologists have found domestic items, such as combs and spoons, in Anglo-Saxon women's graves, which symbolized that women had the important job of caring for the home and the family.

So well done if you were able to give two reasons why historians believe women were seen as important in Anglo-Saxon society.

Well done for completing that learning task.

And before we finish this lesson, let's summarize what we've learned about the graves of Anglo-Saxon women.

Discovered grave goods give historians and archeologists clues about the lives and status of Anglo-Saxon women.

One Anglo-Saxon woman's grave in Canterbury contained lots of fine jewelry, including a brooch of silver and garnet.

This was probably a gift from the King of Kent, which shows that women could hold high status.

Girdle-hangers and other domestic items have also been found, which suggests that women controlled access to the home and symbolizes their importance to home life.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today, and I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.