Topic: Social and economic revolution on the lands of the Piast dynasty in the 13th century.

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

V. Poland in the early Piast period. Pupil:

6. describes the Polish society of the first Piasts.

VI. Poland during the district breakdown. Pupil:

1. places Poland in the period of district breakdown in time and space;

2. describes the causes and indicates the effects of neighborhood breakdown;

3. describes social and economic changes, including settlement movement.

General aim of education

Students learn about the changes that have taken place in Polish territories during the feudal fragmentation

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to characterize changes in the 13th century agriculture;

• settlers and what their contributions were;

• to characterize socio‑economic changes;

• to explain the impact of settlement development on the economic recovery.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• 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 should recall what factors influenced the economic development of Western Europe in the XI‑XIII century and what they led to.

Introduction

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

2. Then, he introduces students to the subject of the lesson, stressing that the topic will refer to the knowledge they already have to a large extent.

3. Referring to the homework, he asks students what changes have taken place in Europe between the 11th and 13th centuries and what did they lead to? What did they result from? What was the difference between Europe (its economy, society, culture) in comparison to the one from the years before 1000? Asking questions, the lecturer remembers that they are to be formulated as the key questions.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to do Exercise 1. Students read a fragment of Gallus Anonim's chronicles and indicates the right answer. Then he asks the students, referring to the introduction, how they think, what changes could have taken place in Poland in the 13th century and what they were about? At the same time, he explains to the students that the political situation of Polish lands had an impact on them - a district breakdown. Students do Task 1. They are divided into three groups and brainstorming - they wonder what changes could be made in the economy of the Piasts to bring more profits to each group (rulers, clergy and knighthood).

2. The teacher explains what the locations were and why the Piast princes supported the economic development of their lands. He draws attention to which lands were the most developed and where most cities were built (Silesia). Students do Task 2 - answer questions based on the recording listened to. Then they do tasks related to the duties of settlers and peasants (Exercise 2 and Exercise 3). The teacher makes sure that the tasks have been carried out correctly and gives feedback to the students.

3. The teacher explains the differences between the location on German law and Polish law, and then on the basis of examples discusses the appearance of the medieval city in Poland. Students get acquainted with the map of colonization (Task 3), and then with the plan of the 16th century Wroclaw and a photo of the contemporary capital of Lower Silesia - on their basis they carry out Exercise 4 and Exercise 5.

4. Then the teacher asks students what could be the impact of the influx of settlers and the establishment of villages and towns on Polish territories? The teacher, referring to the students' answers, explains social changes. He mentions the assimilation of visitors and groups that lived in their communities (Jews).

Summary

1. Summing up the lesson, the teacher asks pupils to do Exercise 6, correcting the sentence based on a text fragment. Then, referring to it, he asks what the situation in today's world looks like? Why are foreigners invited to work in our country? Is this a good solution?.

2. 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): Look for information on what laws cities were located in Polish lands. What were the differences between them and which of them was the most popular in our lands in the Middle Ages?.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Social and economic revolution on the lands of the Piast dynasty in the 13th century.

The changes that began to take place in western Europe between the 11th and 13th century in time also reached the Polish lands. The growing number of subjects of the Piast dynasty rulers and the frequent visits of the latter to western courts contributed to the transfer of many standards to Poland. However, as in the entire Europe, the most important problem was to provide food for all the subjects. Not only society as a whole was unable to function without food, but food was also a method of payment. Economic self‑sufficiency and the barter system were the most important features of the economy of the Piast dynasty until the middle 13th century. During this period, changes in agriculture began to slowly take place in Poland. Introduction of the new system of land cultivation – the three‑field rotation, which replaced the less efficient two‑field rotation, allowed to increase the acreage of fields and contributed to milder effects of a possible crop failure. Changes also happened in the cultivation techniques. The widespread use of heavy plough and horse‑collar helped to increase soil fertility and to improve yields, while the increasingly frequent mills made it possible to turn more grain into flour of better quality and to reduce the number of people involved in the process. In addition to the political weakening of the Piast dynasty, the steadily deepening district breakdown also had other effects. Shrinking principalities meant reduced income to their rulers, which in turn increased their interest in introducing beneficial changes. This contributed to the aforementioned changes in cultivation, but also to encouraging foreign newcomers (settlers) to settle on Polish lands as well as develop cities, wastelands and underdeveloped areas. The Silesian princes played a decisive role in this by establishing the first cities, Złotoryja and Środa Śląska, which were vested with town rights according to Magdeburg law. These changes quickly brought the intended effect - an increase in the income of princes and the development of trade and monetary economy, and thus of cities. As a result, the homogeneous society began to change. However, ethnic diversity in individual regions did not cause bigger social tensions. On the contrary, the assimilation of newcomers with the local population was quite often. Only the Jewish community, culturally and religiously distinct, remained largely unaffected by these changes. Deprived of the possibility to own land and to become involved in trade and craft, the Jewish community concentrated its efforts on financial services. This sometimes caused riots against them and was the reason why they were oppressed. The Piast dynasty rulers tried to prevent such events from happening by giving the Jews, who were paying high taxes, the status of „princely people” - any aggression against them had severe consequences. The changes taking place in the 13th century led to the growth of population and the „Europeanization” of Poland. However, the price to be paid for these changes was the weakening of bonds between Slavs living in different Piast principalities.