Key Stage 2 history · British history

KS2 Danegeld, Anglo-Saxon laws and Edward the Confessor

The last part of the Key Stage 2 Anglo-Saxon and Viking story covers the later Viking attacks, the silver paid to buy peace (Danegeld), how Anglo-Saxon laws and justice worked, and the reign of Edward the Confessor. It ends in January 1066 with a king who has died without a child, which sets up the Norman Conquest at the start of the next period.

Danegeld, laws and Edward the Confessor, explained

After Athelstan’s time, new Viking attacks began in the 980s. In AD 991 an Anglo-Saxon force led by Byrhtnoth was beaten at the Battle of Maldon in Essex. King Æthelred II then took advice to pay the raiders to go away, and 10,000 pounds of silver was handed over. This kind of payment became known as Danegeld, meaning “Danish payment”. It worked only for a while, because the Vikings came back for more, and the sums grew. Æthelred’s nickname “Unready” comes from an Old English word meaning “badly advised”, not unprepared.

The struggle continued. Æthelred ordered an attack on Danes living in England in 1002, which some sources say gave Sweyn, the Danish king, a reason to return. In 1013 Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark, invaded and Æthelred fled to Normandy. Sweyn died in 1014 and Æthelred came back, but he died in 1016. His son Edmund fought Sweyn’s son Cnut, and when Edmund also died that year, Cnut became king of England. He ruled until 1035, as part of a larger North Sea empire. Many children are surprised to learn that England had a Danish king, and that once settled he issued laws and kept a well-organised government.

Anglo-Saxon laws are another example the curriculum suggests. Kings such as Æthelberht of Kent, Alfred and later rulers had laws written down, and the earliest were among the first things written in English. Kings made laws with the advice of the witan, a council of nobles and church leaders. The country was divided into shires, with a royal officer called a shire-reeve (the origin of “sheriff”), and into smaller areas called hundreds. Local courts decided disputes. A person accused of a crime might swear an oath with supporters, and in some serious cases face a trial by ordeal, which people then believed God would judge. Fines were common: the law codes set amounts to be paid for different injuries and for killing someone, depending on the rank of the person harmed. The payment for a killing was called a wergild, meaning “man-price”.

Edward, son of Æthelred, had grown up in Normandy and became king in 1042. He was known as “the Confessor” because of his religious devotion and he rebuilt the abbey at Westminster, where he is buried. He and his wife had no children. Powerful nobles, especially the family of Earl Godwin, held great influence. When Edward died on 5 January 1066 there was no clear heir. Several men had a claim to the throne, and schools usually focus on three: Harold Godwinson, William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada of Norway. (Edward’s young great-nephew, Edgar, also had a family claim.) How that was settled belongs to the next stage of history.

Words your child will hear

Danegeld: Silver paid by English kings to Viking raiders to persuade them to leave.
Tax: Money that people must pay to a ruler. The silver for Danegeld was raised by taxing people across England.
Shire: A large area of England, the early form of a county, with its own court.
Ordeal: A test, such as carrying hot iron, that people believed God would use to show whether an accused person was guilty.
Witan: The council of important nobles and church leaders who advised the Anglo-Saxon king.
Heir: The person who is expected to take over from a king when he dies.
Confessor: A Church title for a holy person who lived a saintly life but was not killed for their faith. Edward was given it because of his religious devotion.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
Pupils should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked enquiry

Was paying Danegeld a good idea?

Find the facts. In AD 991 the payment was 10,000 pounds of silver. In 1012, the Chronicle records, a single payment of 48,000 pounds was made. The payments grew over the years.
Work out the change. 48,000 ÷ 10,000 = 4.8, so the payment had become nearly five times larger in about twenty years. That is a pattern a good answer can use.
The case for. Paying could save lives and farms straight away, and it bought time to gather an army and build defences. A king might think that was better than losing a battle.
The case against. The Vikings kept returning, and the silver they took could pay for more ships and men. The taxes needed to raise it fell on ordinary people.
Reach a judgement. A good answer weighs the two and says which is stronger, using words such as “in the short term” and “in the long term”.

In the short term Danegeld could save lives and buy time, but in the long term it was probably a poor idea, because the payments grew from 10,000 to 48,000 pounds of silver, the Vikings kept coming back, and in the end England was still conquered by the Danish kings Sweyn and Cnut. The story also comes mainly from English writers, who saw Danegeld as a failure.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking Æthelred “the Unready” was simply not prepared

The modern meaning of “unready” is different from the Old English word, which meant “badly advised” or “lacking good counsel”.

What helps: Tell your child the name is a pun on his own name, which meant “noble counsel”. Ask why a nickname might say something about how other people saw him.

Assuming English kings were always English

Most stories give a straight line of Anglo-Saxon kings up to 1066.

What helps: Show the list of kings: Cnut was Danish and ruled England for nearly twenty years. Ask why that matters for the struggle for the kingdom.

Believing Anglo-Saxon justice was simply random or cruel

Trials by ordeal sound strange to us, and so the whole system can look primitive.

What helps: Point out the use of written laws, local courts, officials and fines, which many societies still use. Ask why people at the time trusted an ordeal.

Thinking William of Normandy was the obvious next king in 1066

The date is so famous that it seems the outcome was fixed.

What helps: Explain that Edward died without a child and that several men had claims, three of them especially strong. Ask your child to list the reasons each could give.

How to help at home

Run a mini court. Make up a simple dispute, such as a missing biscuit, and have your child act as the shire court. Use fines in pretend coins rather than punishments. It shows how fair rules and a fixed scale help to settle arguments.
Compare the payments. Write the Danegeld figures from 991 to 1012 on a chart and ask your child to spot the pattern. It gives a natural reason to practise dividing and comparing large numbers.
Three claimants. Make three cards, Harold, William and Harald, and ask your child to write one reason each could give for being king. The aim is to understand a cause, not to pick a winner.
Find your shire. Look at a map of old counties and find your own. Many county names go back to Anglo-Saxon times, and some old divisions are still used in local names today.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Medieval Britain 1066 to 1509
Key Stage 3: Tudors and Stuarts: Britain 1509 to 1745
Key Stage 3: Britain 1745 to 1901: industry and empire
Key Stage 3: Britain and the world, 1901 to today
Key Stage 3: The Holocaust