Skip to main content

Select an OCR site

  • Log in to Interchange
  • About us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Blog
  • RSSFeed

OCR homepage

Search using filters

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Qualifications

    Qualifications

    • Apprenticeships
    • AS/A Level GCE
    • Cambridge Nationals
    • Cambridge Progression
    • Cambridge Technicals
    • Cambridge Traineeships
    • Core Maths
    • Employability
    • English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
    • Entry Level
    • Essential Skills Wales
    • Free Standing Maths Qualification (FSMQ)
    • Functional Skills
    • GCSE
    • Cambridge IGCSE
    • Life Skills
    • Offender Learning
    • Other General Qualifications
    • Principal Learning
    • Projects
    • Vocational Education and Skills
    • Vocational Qualifications (QCF, NVQ, NQF)
    • Vocational Qualifications (QCF, NVQ, NQF - Certification only)
    • Wider Key Skills
    GCSE and A Level reform

    GCSE and A Level reform

    • GCSEs and A Levels (from 2015/2016)
    • Teaching and learning resources

    Vocational Education and Skills

    Vocational Education and Skills

  • Subjects

    Subjects

    • Accounting
    • Administration
    • Advice and Guidance
    • Art and Design
    • Banking
    • Being Entrepreneurial
    • Biblical Hebrew
    • Biology
    • Building and Construction
    • Business
    • Certificates of Professional Competence
    • Chemistry
    • Child Development
    • Citizenship
    • Classics
    • Computing/Computer Science
    • Contact Centres
    • Critical Thinking
    • Customer Service
    • Design and Technology
    • Drama
    • Dutch
    • Economics
    • Electronics
    • Employability Skills
    • Engineering
    • English
    • Food Preparation and Nutrition
    • Food Technology
    • French
    • Gateway Science Suite
    • General Studies
    • Geography
    • Geology
    • German
    • Government and Politics
    • Gujarati
    • Health and Safety
    • Health and Social Care
    • History
    • Home Economics
    • Hospitality and Catering
    • Humanities
    • ICT
    • Languages
    • Law and Legal Services
    • Management and Team Leading
    • Manufacturing
    • Mathematics
    • Media and Communication
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Persian
    • Personal and Social Development
    • Physical Education
    • Physics
    • Portuguese
    • Professional Services
    • Projects
    • Psychology
    • Public Services
    • Quantitative Methods
    • Religious Studies
    • Retail
    • Science
    • Sociology
    • Spanish
    • Sport and Leisure
    • Teaching and Support
    • Text Processing
    • Travel and Tourism
    • Turkish
    • Twenty First Century Science Suite
    • Warehousing and Distribution
  • OCR for

    OCR for

    • Assessors
    • Employers
    • Exams officers
    • Higher Education
    • Learners and parents
    • Teachers
    • Training providers
  • I want to

    I want to

    Download past papers

    • Download past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports
    • ExamCreator
    • Past papers policy
    • Past papers availability

    Administer exams and assessments

    • Become a centre
    • Become an assessor
    • Check key dates and timetables
    • Check fees information
    • Check results
    • Create a scheme of work
    • Download admin guides
    • Download basedata
    • Download raw mark and UMS grade boundaries
    • Find out about E-assessment
    • Replace a lost certificate
    • Request a post-results service
    • Submit entries

    Get support and updates

    • Read subject information updates
    • Receive email updates
    • Read exams officer updates
    • Visit other OCR websites
    • Find out about GCSE and A Level reform
    • Offer OCR qualifications

    Find training and development

    • Book Professional Development
  • News

    News

    • Latest news
    • Agenda newsletter
    • OCR Policy Briefing
  • Events

    Events

    • Upcoming events
    • Past events
    • Book Professional Development
  • Community
  • Contact us

    Contact us

    • Complaints policy
    • Customer support
    • Feedback
    • Freedom of information
    • Ireland and Wales
    • Our national offices
    • Press office

    Frequently asked questions

    • Answers@OCR website
  • Help

    Help

    Contact

    • Contact OCR
    • Our national offices
    • Send us feedback

    Help with…

    • Finding qualifications
    • Finding results information
    • Finding past papers
    • Replacing a certificate
    • University placement
    • GCSE and A Level reform
    • Centre approval
    • Our policies
    • Copyright
    • Finding webpages

    Frequent queries

    • Answers@OCR website
  • Log in to Interchange
  • About us
  • GCSE and A Level reform
  • Vocational Education and Skills

AS and A Level OCR AS/A Level History A

  • Home
  • Qualifications
  • By type
  • AS and A Level
  • OCR AS/A Level History A
  • The Viking Age c.790-1066
  • Unit Group 3: Thematic study and historical interpretations
  • The Viking Age c.790-1066
  • The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600
  • The Catholic reformation 1492-1610
  • The development of the Nation State: France 1498-1610
  • Popular culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries
  • The challenge of German nationalism 1789-1919
  • The changing nature of warfare 1792-1945
  • China and its Rulers 1839-1989
  • Russia and its Rulers 1855–1964
  • Civil Rights in the USA 1865-1992

Share

The Viking Age c.790-1066

Navigate to resources by choosing units within one of the unit groups shown below.

Introduction

Overview

Delivery guides are designed to represent a body of knowledge about teaching a particular topic and contain:

  • Content: a clear outline of the content covered by the delivery guide;
  • Thinking Conceptually: expert guidance on the key concepts involved, common difficulties students may have, approaches to teaching that can help students understand these concepts and how this topic links conceptually to other areas of the subject;
  • Thinking Contextually: a range of suggested teaching activities using a variety of themes so that different activities can be selected that best suit particular classes, learning styles or teaching approaches.

Curriculum Content

Overview

Thematic Study: The Viking Age c.790–1066
Key TopicsContent
Learners should have studied the following:
Viking society, administration and livelihoodViking identity; Scandinavian land and climate; Scandinavian society (including slaves, the free, women, children, elites and rules of conduct); Scandinavian administration; accession to the throne and personal power; royal power (kingship); political developments in Denmark, Norway and Sweden; Scandinavian livelihood (including trade, developments in shipbuilding, seafaring, money, farming, hunting and craft-working).
Warfare and raidsRaids on England and Scotland; motives for raids; the destruction of monasteries (including Lindisfarne and Iona); the stimulus for Scottish unity; and the 860s as a possible turning point; Alfred’s and Athelstan’s response to raids; relative peace after 955; the ‘second Viking age’ and Danegeld; conquest; decline and fall; expansionism: motives (economic, political and social); raiding and trading in Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man, the Carolingian Empire (including Normandy and Brittany), Russia, Byzantium, Iceland and Greenland.
SettlementsScandinavian rural and urban settlements; English rural and urban settlements (including York); the Danelaw; kingship; the impact of settlements on livelihood (including farming, craft working, trade); society (including social structure, families, kinship and customs); the move towards a united English kingdom; settlements in Western and Eastern Europe including parts of the Carolingian Empire and the Iberian Peninsula.
Culture and religionReligious belief; old religion, the gods (including Odin, Thor, Frey and the Norns), outdoor worship (including ship-settings), sacrificial sites, burial customs; new religion: Christianisation (including the conversion of Harald Bluetooth and Denmark c.965, Harald’s Jelling monuments, the conversion of Olaf Tryggvason and Norway c.995), new rituals and codes of conduct; culture: art (decorative and pictorial), language, writing (including runes), and naming customs; poetry and its purpose (including rune poems, eddaic poems and skaldic verse), sagas; dress, jewellery; feasting.
Depth StudiesContent
Learners should be aware of debates surrounding the issues outlined for each in-depth topic:
Raids on England in the late eighth and ninth centuriesMotives; the impact on Anglo-Saxon politics, the economy, culture and society (including religious belief); the significance of the 860s (‘a great heathen army’); the response to raids; the first settlements.
The DanelawDefinitions, origins (links with raids); organisation; growth; response from Anglo-Saxons (relationships between inhabitants and colonists); the impact on the northern and eastern economy, society (the creation of a distinctive Viking society), culture, religion and politics; the importance of York.
The Vikings in IrelandMotives for raiding, trading and settlement; phases of involvement and links to Viking activity elsewhere; the impact on the Irish economy (including trade), society (including religion), culture and politics; areas of settlement (including the origins and growth of Viking Dublin).

Thinking Conceptually

Overview

General approaches:

A study of the Viking age between 750 and 1066 will require a chronological teaching approach that illustrates the developments throughout the Viking age in the respective parts of the curriculum content. At the beginning of each sub-topic, either themed or depth, students need to be grounded in the context of the time not only in the Viking homelands but also in the European states that surrounded them. As the course is taught, it would be useful to link the sub-topics together to help with understanding and deepen knowledge; it would be useful to firstly teach the sub-topics in order to help achieve this. Once students have a strong understanding of Viking society, religion, culture and economy pre-expansion, the focus can be on how this continued or developed during the course of the Viking expansion into Europe and beyond. As this topic is covered broadly, a study of key individuals and events as turning points will add complexity allowing opportunities to incorporate Depth Studies at suitable points.

Common misconceptions or difficulties students may have:

Common difficulties students may encounter come in understanding the context of the time. To help aid this and enable students to gain a better understanding of the context of the time, students need to know that Europe was made up of small independent squabbling states and was not as centralised as it has been since the turn of the century. Communication was poor and knowledge of the world was limited and due to this, concepts such as nationalism, religious freedom, and equality were almost non-existent. Scandinavia was far more progressive, in so far as, women enjoyed grater freedoms compared to their European counterparts and Viking society had an established and widespread autonomous class known as Yarls (similar to yeoman of the later middle ages). However, this class was hierarchical and had slaves and serfs as well as elites in its function. Students will need to recognise that loyalties lay with those in the local community and to the chieftain as opposed to any notion of country and nation. Moreover, because religion was not centralised and had no influence over political decisions on the scale that Christianity did on western powers, there was also no constricting loyalty to organised religion. Therefore, students cannot really use much of the prior knowledge of medieval Europe to help them to understand Viking society.

Conceptual links to other areas of the specification – useful ways to approach this topic to set students up for topics later in the course:

Due to the period being so unique in history students won’t directly have any historical backdrop from which to reference. However, their knowledge of second order historical concepts and enquiry skills should come into developing and understanding and aid the learning within the classroom. A wealth of excellent resources is available online which can be used for prior reading; documentaries on sites such as YouTube are also helpful. These can be adopted and adapted according to the pace of the course.

Thinking Contextually

Overview

A range of strategies can be employed but teaching needs to focus on introducing, consolidating and allowing students to organise their contextual knowledge with the aim of them being able to write thematic essays and evaluations of historical interpretations. When examining interpretations, the use of Venn diagrams can be very useful in helping students analyse the source and organise their ideas. Another method might be to have students use the technique of Cornell notes to summarise pieces of text and organise this into a table; from this they can start to develop their own interpretations and arguments to help them tackle the “how far” questions. Class debate could also be a more active and vocal way of students having to defend a certain interpretation, each contributing and then reflecting as a group who had the stronger argument. To help with this, students could be given one sided materials as homework to help them develop a given interpretation, then after the debate, discuss with another student the other materials they were given, and interview each other on how they came to their interpretations. From this, students would gain a better understanding of how interpretations are formed. Supporting this could be the use of rough notes, followed by amendments and clean copies; this is particularly suitable for the Themes topics as it encourages student progression through repetition and reinforcement while honing their analytical skills.

Scheme of work: Unit Y302

A scheme of work for this unit.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Scheme of work: Unit Y302
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Viking Society

This page introduces students to the main concepts of Viking society. Sub-groups of society could be mind-mapped and students could think of a statement to best sum up the society. From this a “how far” question could be constructed. This could be peer assessed. 

This activity is intended introduce students to the topic and provide a generalised factual overview. The aim is to consolidate understanding of the ‘bigger picture’ in order to provoke contextual thinking before embarking on detailed studies of each theme topic.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Social classes in Viking society
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Viking Kingship

Students create a profile of achievements and failures of the following Kings:

  • Harald Finehair
  • Olaf Tryggvason
  • Olaf Skotkonung
  • Harald Bluetooth

Students can create a class debate on which Viking King had the most and least impact. Students can then summarise the concept of Viking kingship and how this developed through the age.

This can help build an overview of the development of Viking kingship.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Learner resource 1
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • Viking Age monarchs
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Causes and development of raids

Using the timeline, students select key events in the history of viking raiding and then summarise how patterns of raiding developed overtime. Students can use the second website to add to their timeline.

This activity is intended to support introductory reading which is supplemented with basic timelines, maps and visual material. It encourages students to gain a generalised factual overview. The aim is to consolidate understanding of the ‘bigger picture’ in order to provoke contextual thinking before embarking on detailed studies of each theme in the topic.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Learner resource 2
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • Viking invasions map
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • A history of the Vikings
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Impact raids

An introduction into viking raids through the study of Lindesfarne and the impact that this had on the western Christian consciousness. Students can argue why the raid on Lindesfarne helped create an interpretation of the vikings throughout Europe.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • The Viking raid on Lindisfarne
    • Copy URL
    • Email

The Great Heathen Army and the re-emergence of Wessex

An introduction to the great heathen army. This can be used to identify the impact of the army and an evaluation of Alfred’s responses.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Learner resource 3
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • The Great Heathen Army
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Viking raiding and trading in Ireland

A range of websites that students can use to create a mind-map of the different phases of viking raids in Ireland. The class can answer a “how far” question focusing on the extent to which the motives and nature of raids developed over time.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • The Viking Age in Ireland
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • The Vikings
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • History of Vikings invading Ireland
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • The Viking slave trade: entrepreneurs or heathen slavers?
    • Copy URL
    • Email

The extent and impact of Viking settlements

Students could use Cornell notes to identify and summarise the impact of the vikings on the economies, politics and culture in Ireland.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • The Vikings in Ireland
    • Copy URL
    • Email

The role of Viking art and religion

Websites that introduce the role of Viking art, fashion and culture in Viking society. Detailing the characterisation of ornamentation of everyday objects and how art developed into six successive styles. Using the programme of study, identify key areas of Viking art and culture and create a table that allows students to record the purpose and individual meaning to the viking people.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Learner resource 4
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • Viking art
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • The influence of Vikings on European culture
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • Viking religion
    • Copy URL
    • Email

The extent and impact of raids in England in the 8th and 9th centuries

Students can use these two websites to chart the development of Viking raids in England. From this, students can identify the key turning points in the raiding and decide on two overall statements which support and contradict their findings. Students can then write an argument for either interpretation.

Two websites which give timelines, maps and images to help students gain an understanding of the pattern and development of raids throughout the period.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • Vikings and Anglo-Saxons
    • Copy URL
    • Email
  • The Scandinavian invasions of Britain
    • Copy URL
    • Email

The extent to which The Danelaw changed life in Anglo-Saxon England

An overview of how the Danelaw changed life in Anglo-Saxon England. Students can decide on the key cultural impacts of the Danelaw and explain the impacts this had on the Anglo-Saxons and the vikings.

Share activity

  • Copy URL
  • Email

Resources

  • The Danelaw - population, culture and heritage
    • Copy URL
    • Email

Acknowledgements

Overview

OCR’s resources are provided to support the teaching of OCR specifications, but in no way constitute an endorsed teaching method that is required by the Board and the decision to use them lies with the individual teacher. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the content, OCR cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions within these resources. We update our resources on a regular basis, so please check the OCR website to ensure you have the most up to date version.

© OCR 2017 - This resource may be freely copied and distributed, as long as the OCR logo and this message remain intact and OCR is acknowledged as the originator of this work.

About us

  • Contact us
  • Jobs
  • Our policies
  • What we do
  • Who we are

Help and support

  • Answers@OCR website
  • OCR Blogs
  • OCR Community
  • OCR CPD Hub

I want to

  • Book Professional Development
  • Check key dates and timetables
  • Check results
  • Download past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports
  • Find out about GCSE and A Level reform
  • Submit entries

Part of

  • Cambridge Assessment logo
  • LRQA logo

Select an OCR site

Administration

  • Interchange Opens in new window

Support

  • Answers@OCR website Opens in new window
  • OCR Blogs Opens in new window
  • OCR Community Opens in new window
  • OCR CPD Hub Opens in new window

Qualifications

  • Cambridge GCSE Computing Online Opens in new window
  • OCR STEM Developing skills and knowledge across the STEM spectrum.
  • TIME Training in Maths and English for post 16 learners

© OCR

  • Sitemap
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright statement
  • Use of cookies
Back to top