Topic: Village in the Middle Ages

Target group

5th grade student of elementary school.

Core curriculum

IV. Society and culture of medieval Europe. Student:

1) presents the feudal system institutions, explains the concept of estate and characterizes social divisions in the Middle Ages;

2) describes the living conditions of the medieval (...) village;

4) explains the role of the Church (including religious orders) in (…) daily life.

The general aim of education

Students learn about the realities of rural life in the Middle Ages.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• tells about the role the village played in the Middle Ages;

• characterizes the relations prevailing in the village, the works of its inhabitants, everyday activities and ways of spending free time;

• explains what a peasant croft was and what elements it consisted of;

• describes farming produce and breeding animals.

Methods / techniques

• exposing methods: talk, traditional lecture, explanations and comments from the teacher;

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook; using multimedia;

• problematic methods: activating methods: discussion;

• practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text.

Forms of work

• collective activity;

• activity in groups;

• individual activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• multimedia material.

Before classes

The teacher asks the students to look in the available sources for information on life and work of today’s farmers, in particular on the tools they use and what they grow and breed.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the lesson, explains that during the lesson the students will talk about life in the countryside in the Middle Ages. Gives students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher asks the students to recall what life of the medieval city and its inhabitants was like. The teacher asks questions:

• Who lived in the city?

• What did its inhabitants do?

• What professions did they practise?

3. Next, the teacher asks the students to fulfil Task 1 and Exercise 1. The teacher asks the question: What other crops can be found today in our fields and orchards which were not known by medieval peasants? The teacher makes sure that the tasks have been correctly completed and provides feedback.

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students to do Exercise 2 – match agricultural equipment with their names and descriptions of their purpose. After the exercise is performed, the teacher discusses it with students and initiates the discussion: What is the farmer's job like today? Do they still use similar tools/devices? If not, what they have been replaced with? If there is enough time, the teacher can continue with a short teaching session aimed at comparing the realities of peasant life and work in the Middle Ages with those of today. Asking the questions, the teacher remembers to formulate them as key questions.

2. The students fulfil Task 2 – the teacher also asks them if they can see any agricultural tools and other arable land‑related objects in the illustration. Next, the teacher tells the students that in the Middle Ages practically all human life was concentrated in the place of birth and residence, and visits to the city, other villages or holy places were rare. The teacher tells about the functions and significance of a peasant farm as „the whole world”. The teacher asks the students what was the reason for this and what could be found in the peasant farm. If the students cannot come up with the answer, the teacher gives them some clues – peasants had everything they needed to live there, and the „hunger for the world” and the need for travel did not exist among this social group at that time. Students do Exercise 3, which is then discussed with the teacher. The teacher remembers to give the student feedback on their work during the lesson and their involvement.

3. The teacher presents the graphic showing a village and asks the students to indicate the most important buildings located there – Task 3. The students should refer to their own knowledge and passages from the text from Task 1.

Summary

1. As a summary, the students do Exercise 4. The teacher discusses with students the exercises they made.

2. The teacher assesses the students’ work during the lesson taking into account their contribution and involvement. For this purpose, the teacher can prepare an evaluation questionnaire both for self‑assessment and for the assessment of the teacher’s and other students’ work.

Summary of the most important contents of the lesson

1. Learning about the characteristics of the most numerous social group in the Middle Ages - rural inhabitants.

2. Learning about crops, tools utilized in a medieval village.

3. Reflecting on living conditions and work of medieval peasants and today's farmers.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Village in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, the vast majority of people lived in the village. Village inhabitants – peasants – mainly dealt with agriculture and animal husbandry. They lived in wooden huts which, together with the farm buildings, formed a croft. Peasant crofts were first scattered over a fairly large area. Then – as a result of colonization under German law (from the 13th century) – they were concentrated in one place, e.g. around the square or along the road. The church and inn were important places in the village.

Peasants were people who were personally free. Their right to land was limited. Peasants were not owners of the land, but only perpetual lessees thereof. This meant that after the death of the peasant, the croft and the land were taken over by his son. However, the peasant could not freely sell, pledge or divide the land. The land belonged to the king, knighthood or monasteries. For this reason, peasants paid the owner a rent in money or farming produce.

Peasants were divided into many categories. The most important (and the most numerous) were serfs, relatively wealthy farmers. They possessed a cottage and a ploughland with an average size of 1 lan (17–24 ha). Crofters possessed a cottage and the land, however their sizes were smaller than that of serfs. Landless population lived off work for the village master or for richer farmers. Cottagers only possessed a cottage, and tenant farmers did not even have their houses, living in chambers separated for them.