Source A – An 11th
There are four types of questions: century picture of
Cnut and Emma
1. How useful – Source based presenting a gold
cross to the new
2. Explain the significance– Change/continuity based church at
Winchester
3. Compare – Similarity based
4. Has X been the main factor – Evaluation based
Answering the questions
1. How useful
This question will give you a source. Each short point in your answer
should
1. Pick out something about the source (You MUST talk about both the
content of the Source and the Provenance)
2. Explain why the source is useful
3. Give limitations (this is less important and will get you less marks
than 2.)
Example Q:
How useful is Source A to a historian studying the impact of the Viking Invasions on
England?
In the source we can see Emma and Cnut presenting a gold cross this is useful because it
shows us that Vikings like Cnut were able to assimilate and adopt English culture after
settling, this was likely also the case for Vikings who settled in the North after the Great
Heathen Army invaded. However, the source is limited because commonly Vikings were
known as heathens and like many other Vikings Cnut came to conqueror England,
something not shown in the source. The provenance tells us that that this source was
created in the 11th century. This is useful because it is directly from the time and tells us
that people in England had a positive opinion about Cnut and his religious conversion.
2. Explain the significance
This question will give you a topic and wants you to discuss how significant it was, at the
time, since that time, and today.
1. Talk about the significance at the time
2. Talk about the significance since
3. Talk about the significance today