Starter quiz
- What was found at Sutton Hoo?
- manuscripts
- coins ✓
- tapestries
- scrolls
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- Why were there Frankish coins in Anglo-Saxon Britain?
- They were traded between the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. ✓
- They were given as a gift to the Anglo-Saxon king buried at Sutton Hoo.
- They had been stolen from the Franks by the Anglo-Saxons.
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- True or false: Roman coins continued to be used by the Anglo-Saxons after the Romans left Britain in 410 CE.
- True ✓
- False
- Choose the correct historical definitions of the word 'mint'.
- making weapons using ironmongery
- making a coin by stamping metal ✓
- a place where weapons are made
- a place where coins are made ✓
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- Why did the Anglo-Saxon king, King Offa, mint coins with his head and face on them?
- He thought it would make the coins worth a lot more.
- He wanted to show everyone what he looked like as.
- He wanted to show he was powerful. ✓
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- What did archaeologists find that shows that the towns and trade increased once the Romans had left Britain?
- coins ✓
- manuscripts
- pottery ✓
- statues
-
Exit quiz
- Match the words to the correct definition.
- law⇔a rule that tells people what they can and cannot do ✓
- compensation⇔something given to make up for loss or harm ✓
- hierarchy⇔a system where people are ranked according to their importance ✓
- What are Anglo-Saxon 'law codes'?
- religious texts that were used in monasteries
- secret messages used during fighting over kingdoms
- lists of rules that everyone in the kingdom had to follow ✓
- collections of Anglo-Saxon poetry and stories
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- What do the laws about compensation for injuries people caused each other suggest about Anglo-Saxon culture?
- Anglo-Saxon life could be very violent. ✓
- Anglo-Saxon jobs led to many accidents.
- Anglo-Saxons were very cautious.
- Anglo-Saxons were advanced in medical knowledge.
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- Order the Anglo-Saxon social hierachy starting with the most important and ending with the least important.
- 1⇔king
- 2⇔earls (looked after the land for the king)
- 3⇔thegns (soldiers who looked after villages)
- 4⇔freemans (peasants who worked on the thegn’s land)
- 5⇔enslaved people (had no rights and were property of others)
- Complete the sentence: Women whose husbands have passed away are called ______.
- 'widows' ✓
- What would Anglo-Saxon widows often inherit from their husbands?
- their money
- their home ✓
- their belongings
-
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- One of the types of written sources we have from the Anglo-Saxon period are law codes.
- The laws concern compensation for injuries people caused each other, suggesting Anglo-Saxon society could be violent.
- Compensation differed according to status; the laws set out a strict hierarchy with enslaved people at the bottom.
- Unlike men women couldn’t receive compensation but they could own property as some laws mention inheritance for widows.
- By looking at who is mentioned and how the law affected them, historians have inferred a lot about Anglo-Saxon society.
Common misconception
Widow is a gender neutral term.
Widow is a gendered term for a woman whose husband has died. A widower is a husband whose wife has died.
Keywords
Law - a law is a rule that tells people what they can and cannot do
Compensation - compensation is something given to make up for loss or harm
Hierarchy - hierarchy a system where people are ranked according to their importance or status
Widows - widows are women whose husbands have passed away
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