Topic: Time of kingdoms – Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

5th‑grade students of elementary school

III. Medieval Europe. Pupil:

2 ) places new countries in Europe in time and space.

General aim of education

Students learn what events determined the situation in Europe at the end of the Middle Ages

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• what the Great Interregnum was in the Reich, as well as its consequences;

• the significance of the announcement of the Golden Bull by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor;

• what the course of the Hundred Years’ War was, and what consequences it had;

• what the process called the Reconquista contributed to on the Iberian Peninsula;

• what threat existed in the late 14th century in Europe;

• what the collapse of Constantinople in 1453 led to.

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

Before classes

1. Students recall what Western Europe looked like in the 11th‑13th century.

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the students the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher, referring to the homework, asks pupils to list the most important European countries in the 11th‑13th century.

Realization

1. The teacher begins the lesson, explaining the students that the events of the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe have significantly influenced its shape and character. Then he explains to the students the process of feudal fragmentation in the Reich, the associated fall of the emperor's authority and the significance of Charles IV's Golden Bull from 1356. Students perform Exercise 1 and Exercise 2 - they watch an illustration of the imperial bull, complete the illustration and answer the question related to it.

2. Next, the teacher presents to the students the reasons, course and meaning of the Hundred Years War. He asks the students, starting the discussion, how they think, what could the conflict between England and France look like that lasted 116 years? Asking questions, he remembers that they are to be formulated as the key questions. Students get acquainted with the map showing the Hundred Year War (Task 1), then complete the thumbnail (Exercise 3), indicate the correct sentence (Exercise 4) and view the illustration in Task 2. Based on their knowledge, they show the illustration in Exercise 5 showing the roses of two feuding English families. The teacher makes sure that the tasks have been correctly completed and gives feedback.

3. The teacher asks the students to recall what the reconquista was. Then he asks if they remember any clashes between Christians and Muslims before the 13th / 14th century? Students should mention the battle of Poitiers in 732 and the Crusades. The teacher explains how the Christians in the Iberian Peninsula defeated the Arabs (the process of uniting the kingdoms in contrast to the tendencies of divisions in the rest of Europe) and what were the consequences - the marriage of Isabel Castilian and Ferdinand of Aragon.

4. Referring to the removal of Muslims from Western Europe, the teacher brings closer the threat posed by the Ottoman Turks, and explains the importance of their conquest of Constantinople. Students perform Exercise 6 - they answer the question based on the text. The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback.

Summary

1. Summing up the classes, the teacher reports the most important events of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries taking place in Western Europe.

2. As part of the consolidation of knowledge, students perform Exercise 7, indicating true sentences.

3. The teacher gives students evaluation surveys in which they evaluate their own work during the lesson, the work of the teacher and colleagues.

Homework

1. The teacher sets homework (it is not an obligatory part of the scenario): Ottoman Turks entered Europe the nearly a century before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Find out what lands they occupied and whether some Poles took part in battles with them?.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Time of kingdoms – Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries

The many years of conflicts over primacy in the medieval world between subsequent popes and emperors led to a loss of the authority of imperial dignity in the 13th century. Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II tried to rebuild this position by reforming the model of exercising power. Unfortunately, these attempts failed, and there was a period of fragmentation and empowerment of dukes in the German lands. The most outstanding ruler of that period was Charles IV (Holy Roman Emperor), who came from Bohemia. In 1356, in a special privilege – the Golden Bull – he defined the legal form of the Reich and the role of the electors in its functioning. After his death, the Habsburgs returned to the German throne and took power for the next centuries.

The event that had the greatest impact on the situation in the last centuries of the Middle Ages was the French‑English conflict called the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). It resulted from a dispute over succession to the last ruler of the Capetian dynasty – Charles IV. The power in France was assumed by Philip VI of Valois, whose succession was challenged by the king of England, Edward III, who was more closely related to the last of the Capetians. He expressed his obedience to the French ruler, which contributed to the escalation of the conflict. The struggles in the territory of France went on for 116 years in total. The turning point of the war was the appearance of the charismatic Joan of Arc. An uprising broke out in the areas occupied by the enemy. In the end, the English were forced out of the continent, leaving only the city of Calais in their hands in 1453. One of the consequences of the long war was the development of a feeling, in the French people, of belonging to a single nation.

The situation in England was different from that in France. It plunged into long civil wars (1455–1485) known as the Wars of the Roses. They were caused by the rivalry for the English throne between two magnate families – the House of Lancaster (who had a red rose in their coat of arms), and the House of York (a white rose). It was not until the heir of both the Lancasters and Yorks, Henry VII of England, took the throne, that the fighting ended.

The 15th century also saw the escalation of the Reconquista. Muslims were able to resist the attacks of the Christians as long as the former remained politically united. Divisions among them led to the victories of the rulers of the kingdoms of León, Castile, and Aragon. They expanded their dominions and began the process of uniting them. The best expression of this was the marriage of Isabella I of Castile to Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1469. Together, they conquered the Emirate of Granada (1492) forcing Muslims out of the peninsula, and, looking for profits, they provided patronage for sea expeditions seeking a way to India.

The removal of Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula did not end their presence in Europe at all. The Ottoman Turks appeared at the southeastern end of the continent. They arrived in the Balkans as early as in the 14th century, but their expansion was halted as a result of the Mongolian attack on their lands. Less than a few decades later, not only did the Turks strengthen their rule in the Balkans, but also, by conquering Constantinople after a long siege in 1453, created, in the south of Europe, a new threat for European countries.