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The Anglo-Saxons and Vikings

Follow the chain from the Roman army leaving to Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Christian missionaries, Viking settlement and the naming of Scotland.

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In this topic

What to be able to answer

  • Know the arrival sequence: Romans leave, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms form, Vikings arrive.
  • Match the missionaries to Ireland, Iona and Canterbury.
  • Recognise Alfred, Danelaw, Cnut and Kenneth MacAlpin.

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New settlers, Christian missionaries and Norse raiders

Topic 3 of 14
Sutton Hoo helmet from an Anglo-Saxon burial
Sutton Hoo — Anglo-Saxon burial ship treasure Credit: British Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Roman exit to Scotland named

This topic is a chain of arrivals, missions, kingdoms and place names.

  1. AD 410

    Romans leave

    Jutes, Angles and Saxons arrive; their languages become the basis of modern English.

  2. AD 600

    Kingdoms form

    Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are established; Sutton Hoo is the ship burial in Suffolk.

  3. Missionaries

    Patrick, Columba, Augustine

    Patrick is linked with Ireland, Columba with Iona, Augustine with Canterbury.

  4. AD 789

    Vikings arrive

    Raiders from Denmark and Norway later settled in east and north England.

  5. Danelaw

    Alfred and Viking names

    Alfred defeated the Vikings; Grimsby and Scunthorpe preserve Viking-language endings.

  6. North

    Cnut and MacAlpin

    Cnut was the first Danish king; Kenneth MacAlpin united the people later called Scotland.

Do not mix up

AD 410 is Roman departure; AD 789 is Viking arrival.
St Augustine is the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
Civil War facts belong many centuries later.

Practise

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