Anglo-Saxon England · 600-800

Sutton Hoo and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

In 1939 a ship full of treasure is dug out of a field in Suffolk. Students use the Sutton Hoo finds and the map to explore the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, from a royal burial around 625 to the power of Offa of Mercia.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, AD 800
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

In 1939 a ship full of treasure is dug out of a field in Suffolk. Students use the Sutton Hoo finds and the map to explore the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, from a royal burial around 625 to the power of Offa of Mercia.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Name and locate at least four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms on the map of 800.
  • Explain what the Sutton Hoo finds tell us about trade and power around 625.
  • Describe Offa's Dyke and what it suggests about Mercia and its Welsh neighbors.
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 800

Many kingdoms

Open the map in 800 on England. Find Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and Essex. Which kingdom looks the biggest, and who lives to the west of it?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 625

Treasure from afar

Set the year to 625 and zoom out. The Sutton Hoo grave held coins from the Frankish Kingdom and silver from the Eastern Roman Empire. Find both on the map. How far did those objects travel?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 800

A border bank

Return to 800 and zoom in on the border between Mercia and the Welsh. Here Offa had a great bank and ditch dug. Why build an earthwork instead of a stone wall?

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. The Sutton Hoo ship was about 27 m long, yet it was buried in a field. Why bury a whole ship?
  2. No body was found in the grave because the acid soil dissolved it. How can archaeologists still tell someone was buried there?
  3. Many historians think the grave was made for King Raedwald of East Anglia, but no name was found. How sure can we be?
  4. Gold from Francia and silver from the Eastern Roman Empire ended up in Suffolk. What does that say about the idea of the "Dark Ages"?
  5. Offa sometimes called himself "king of the English". Why might other kings have disagreed?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Charlemagne, who exchanged letters and gifts with Offa of Mercia. Afterwards, compare: what made a king powerful in the 700s - land, gold, warriors or the Church?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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