Topic: Noblemen's democracy

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

VII. Poland in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Pupil:

5. characterizes achievements in the field of internal and foreign policy of the Jagiellonians in the fifteenth century;

6. characterizes the development of the state monarchy and the rights of the nobility (development of noble privileges to the constitution nihil novi).

General aim of education

The student will learn about the specificity of the nobility's life in the territory of the Commonwealth.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• what estates developed in the Polish society at the break of the 14th and the 15th centuries;

• the characteristics of the noble estate;

• what types of sejm functioned in Poland.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

2. Discussing information presented on the timeline. The teacher then divides the class into groups - as many as there are events on the axis. Each team works on one assigned issue, deepening the information contained in the abstract. Then the students present their discussions.

3. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

4. Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 2. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

5. The teacher displays the map from Task 3. He reads out the task and, if necessary, helps student work out the answers.

6. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

Summary

1. The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?
   If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

2. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Noblemen's democracy

The monarchy of the estates was in place in Poland in the 14th and the 15th centuries. Four estates developed in the Polish society: clergy, nobility, bourgeois and peasantry. Each estate had precisely specified tasks and obligations.

In case of the clergy they included religious service, social welfare and health care, as well as the spiritual strengthening of the society. In the case of nobles – military service and judicature. In the case of bourgeois – commerce and handicraft. Peasants did not own land, instead just used it, and consequently had to make provide services to the landowners.

The nobility developed from magnates and knights. The major factor that shaped nobility were the privileges bestowing in broad rights in the nobles. Nobles were exempt from paying taxes, and had guaranteed personal and property inviolability. To become a nobleman, one had to be born in a noble family. Most nobles had own coats of arms.

In the 15th century, the state interests were identified with the interests of just one estate - the nobility. Such institutions were created as sejm and regional sejmiks. The general sejm consisted of the „three estates”: the King, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The debates were chaired by the King. The Senate consisted of the highest state officials and the hierarchs of the Church. The Chamber of Deputies consisted of deputies elected at semiks. The main competences of the sejm included: passing taxes, the directions of the state’s foreign policy, controlling the ministers and the right to ennoble. Only the general sejm could pass constitutions, i.e. change the laws. The general sejm was convened every two years for the period of six weeks.

Additionally, there were also: extraordinary sejms convened in case of a threat to the state; convocation sejms convened after the death of the king and chaired by the Primate (interrex); election sejms, at which the monarchs were elected, and coronation sejms.

The sejm was convened by the king, while all assemblies of the nobles convened without the king’s consent were illegal and were referred to as Rokosz. The assemblies of the nobles aimed at the establishment of an union to achieve common benefits were referred to as confederations.