Whenever you teach a topic as exciting and colourful as the Vikings there is a strong temptation to focus on the stereotypical image of the Vikings which pupils find so fascinating and compelling, …..and wrong.
Knowing what the correct key messages are, though, is often difficult. No-one wants to get bogged down in too much complicated changes in control of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms over time, and yet pupils do need to know that the country has been ruled by Vikings as recently as the 11th century.
So what are the key messages? Give me 10
- The Vikings were essentially a phenomenal sea-faring people who raided and traded far and wide and settled in numerous other countries, (not just England)-from the Arctic circle and as far as Russia and the Islamic empire
- It would be wrong to depict the Vikings as simply fierce, male, weapon-wielding warriors who relished combat.
