levo

Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066

Depth study: Raids on England in the late eighth and ninth centuries — significance of the 860s

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the significance of the 860s, the response to raids and the first settlements.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why is the 860s treated as the decisive turning point?

Key term

Why do some historians think the damage to the Church has been overstated?

Key term

How effective was the English response to the great army?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why do some historians think the damage to the Church has been overstated?

    Model answer

    Charters, manuscripts and episcopal succession show many houses continuing through the ninth century, some decline pre-dates the raids, and later reformers had an interest in describing the period as a ruin so that their own work looked like restoration.

  2. 2

    Why is the 860s treated as the decisive turning point?

    Model answer

    The arrival of the great heathen army in 865 changed the aim from plunder to conquest and settlement, and within twelve years three English kingdoms had fallen and Viking armies were dividing up land to farm.

  3. 3

    What do historians disagree about in the phrase a great heathen army?

    Model answer

    They disagree over its size, whether it was a single force or a coalition of separate war-bands under several leaders that combined and split as opportunity dictated, and how far its aims were planned from the start rather than developing as it went.

  4. 4

    What can be said about the leadership of the great army?

    Model answer

    The sources name several leaders acting together rather than one king, which suggests a confederation of chieftains held together by shared profit, and later Scandinavian tradition attached legendary motives to them that historians treat with caution.

  5. 5

    How effective was the English response to the great army?

    Model answer

    Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia each failed, largely through internal division and reliance on a single battle or a payment, while Wessex under Alfred survived by combining tribute to buy time with structural military reform.

  6. 6

    Why is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle a problematic source for the response?

    Model answer

    Its ninth-century sections were compiled at Alfred's court, so they record West Saxon campaigns in detail while treating other kingdoms briefly, and they present Alfred's survival as the natural outcome of his leadership.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107
Y103: England 1199–1272
Y104: England 1377–1455

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Franz Ferdinand was shot at in June.
SarajevoBelgradeVienna

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AA republic replaced the sultanate.
BThe caliphate was abolished in 1924.
CThe Latin alphabet was adopted.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Simony means the buying and selling of Church office.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.