Anglo-Saxon England · 563-664

Iona, Canterbury and Whitby: missions to the English

Two groups of missionaries reach the pagan Anglo-Saxons: Irish monks from the north and Roman monks from the south. Students map both routes and replay the meeting at Whitby in 664, where a king had to choose between them.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 600
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Two groups of missionaries reach the pagan Anglo-Saxons: Irish monks from the north and Roman monks from the south. Students map both routes and replay the meeting at Whitby in 664, where a king had to choose between them.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Iona, Lindisfarne, Canterbury and Whitby and explain the role of each.
  • Compare the Irish and the Roman missions: where they came from and how they worked.
  • Explain what was decided at the Synod of Whitby in 664 and why it mattered.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 600

Britain and Ireland

Open the map in 600 on Britain and Ireland. Find Ireland, the west coast of Scotland and Kent in the far southeast. Which would be easier to reach from Rome, and which from Ireland?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 600

The island of Iona

Zoom in on the west coast of Scotland and find the small island of Iona. Follow the coast from Ireland to Iona and on to Northumbria. Why did these monks travel by boat?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 600

From Rome to Kent

Zoom out until you see Rome and Kent together. Trace a route Augustine's monks could have taken through the Frankish Kingdom in 596-597. How long might it take on foot?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Christianity had reached Britain in Roman times and lived on among the Britons. Why had the Anglo-Saxon newcomers not taken it up?
  2. Queen Bertha of Kent was already a Christian when Augustine arrived. How might she have helped him?
  3. Irish monks lived simply, walked from village to village and loved remote islands. What made their way of working attractive?
  4. At Whitby the main argument was about the date of Easter. Why could such a question matter so much?
  5. Bede wrote this history in 731, almost 70 years after Whitby. What can and can't we trust in his account?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Justinian I, who was still emperor when Columba sailed to Iona. Afterwards, discuss: the English kings in this lesson chose their faith partly for political reasons. How did Justinian use religion to hold his empire together?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.