1. Find English equivalents in the text:

Жестокая борьба, прийти в упадок, буржуазия и наёмные рабочие, безжалостная эксплуатация, основной источник, географические открытия, завоевания колоний, быстро обогащаться, грабить и истреблять, торговля рабами, рабство, обогащаться за счет, шаг вперёд, препятствовать экономическому развитию, страдания и смерть, крестьянские восстания, феодальная знать, отменить феодальную систему, упорное сопротивление, начать наступление, пытки и казни, подрывать авторитет, подавлять народное движение, неизбежный.

2. Suggest Russian equivalents to the following:

To fall, wage workers, fierce struggle, ruthless, exploitation, conquest of colonies, to rob and exterminate the native population, the disgraceful Negro slave trade, to grow rich at the expense, suffering and death, the peasants' dues and tolls, the feudal lords' power, high taxes, to accumulate wealth, to suffer under the feudal, lords eviction from land, a wave of powerful uprisings and revolts, the main force in the struggle against, the feudal nobility, to fight for better living conditions, to put stubborn resistance, to launch an offensive, to reaoy6 to tortures and cruel executions, to persecute progressive scientists, to undermine the authority, to preserve their domination, to suppress people's movement, the transition from the old system.

3. Find historical terms in the text, pick them out.

4. Give definitions to the following:

Capitalist relations, feudal system, bourgeoisie, a wage worker, a feudal lord, peasants, taxes, artisans, the Catholic Church, the Reformation.

5. Read the text and find the sentences in the Passive Voice. Explain its usage.

Interpretation of the text

1. Answer the questions:

1. How long did the third period of the Middle Ages last?

2. How can we define it?

3. What new classes were rising in Western Europe?

4. What was the difference between them and the old classes?

5. What caused the intensification of the class struggle towards the end of the Middle Ages?

6. What did the rebels fight for?

3. Write a short summary of the text.

Topical conversation

1. Speak on new classes rising in Western Europe in 16th and 17th centuries and explain the difference between them and old classes.

2. Discuss the intensification of the class struggle towards the end of the Middle Ages.

3. Comment how the state system changed during the Middle Ages and explain the causes of these changes.

Text 7

Social aspects of the later Middle Ages

From the eleventh to the thirteenth century, though progress was made in technique and in utilizing waste lands, rural society and agricultural tenures remained for the most part static. During the whole of that period the bulk of cultivators ware of villein status they held their land "at the will of the lord".

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, most villains, acquired personal freedom. It was a gradual process, not even complete in the sixteenth century. Serfdom was never abolished, it withered away. The factors in the decay of villainage were numerous. The most important was a change from a natural to a money economy.

From the beginning of the Norman period it was usual in many places for villeins to make some money payments to the lord as well as to work for him on the demesne. As life became more complex

and the use of money increased, it was natural that some of the villein's services should be commuted for a money rent. The lord could see advantages in a money bassis for his relations with his villeins. It seemed better to have hired labourers whose whole-time occupation was working on the demesne lands.

The process of change was gradual. It became usual in the thirteenth century to attack value to services performed by tenants on the manorial estate. The step to being a rent paying tenant was a short one, but it was not taking abruptly. In the long commutation, however, won a complete victory. At the close of the Middle Ages rent-pay, tenants were to be found all over the country.

At the close of the fifteenth century, despite the fact that, an agrarian revolution had taken place, the fields would have presented much the same appearents to an onlooker of the thirteenth century as to one in the fifteenth except that more land was now under cultivation.

But the conditions of land tenure were different. Copyholders, the heirs of the old villeins, paid rents in money. If they worked for the lord at all they were paid in the same way as hired labourers.

Moreover a new type of farmer had .arisen, different from the free tenant and the copyholder. Many lords, finding their demesnes improfitable supplied enterprising men with land on the leasehold principle. A tenant would be guaranteed possession of a holding for five, ten, or more years. Thus the leaseholder came into existence. Here and there were relics of the old system of personal service and villein obligation, but survivals were rare.

Key words and expressions

rural сельский

waste lands невозделанные земли

tenure владение

will воля

to acquire freedom получить свободу

to wither вянуть

decay упадок, разрушение

demesne поместье

payment уплата

to increase возрастать

hired labourer наемный рабочий

to commute заменить

tenat арендатор

at the close of в конце

copyholder пожизненный арендатор помещичьей земли

leasehold пользоваться на правах аренды

villein obligation (duty) крепостная повинность

Words for active use

Agricultural tenure; personal freedom; serfdom; villeinage; money economy; use of money increased; commutation; process of change; gradual; at the close of the Middle Ages; to pay rent; to come into existence.

Assignments

1. Find English equivalents in the text:

Использовать невозделанные земли, оставаться, сельское население, крепостничество, денежная уплата, по воле помещика, получит свободу, отношения с крепостными, арендатор, условия землевладельца, обрабатывать землю, наемный рабочий.

2. Suggest Russian equivalents to the following:

Villein status, gradual process; to make money payments; decay of villeinage advantage; it seemed better; manorial estate; demesne in the long run; rent paying tenants; use of money increased; to be under cultivation; heir; to come into existence; relics of old system; villein obligation.

3. Find historical terms pertaining to land tenure.

4. Give definitions to the following:

Rent paying tenant; commutation for a money rent; copyholder; leasehold.

5. Read the text and find the sentences in which Passive Voice is used. Write them out.

6. Write 5 general and 6 special questions to the text.

Interpretation of the text

1. Divide the text into logically complete parts writing out some topical sentences.

2. State the main problems discussed in the text.

3. Define which details of the text are of particular importance for understanding of the text.

Topical conversation

1. Speak on the importance of the change from a natural to a money economy.

2. Speak on the conditions of land tenure.

Supplementary reading

Text 1

Wat Tylors Uprising

Read the text. Pick out all the points concerning the peasants’ revolts in France and England

With the growth of the towns in the later Middle Ages feudal oppression increased. Cruel laws and the growth of taxes aroused people's indignation. In towns only the wealthy found themselves favoured by the court. The poor generally led a dismal life, making hardly enough to keep body and soul together. The peasants, both the serfs and the freemen, were badly off. The feudal lords,

who rented their fields to the peasants, had them treated in a most brutal way. One could see common people struck more often than dogs.

In despair peasants and poor townspeople rose again and again. The two greatest outbreaks occurred in France and England. This was called the Jacquerie (from the French name Jacque it spread though vast areas of France). It was a revolt of despair, a revolt of hopeless men without plan and regular leadership. At first the lords fled from their lands, but they soon recovered from their confusion, mustered a large army and gained the upper hand. The victorious nobles ordered thousands of the villeins hanged, their crops burned and villages destroyed. After the suppression of the uprising many districts of France were left desert.

In England the Great Revolt, or Peasants' Revolt, of 1381 almost overthrew the government. An armed force made up of peasants and workers from country towns poured into London where they were joined by many poor Londoners. Under Wat Tyler, who had fought in the Hundred Years' War and was, therefore, well experienced in warfare, they subdued all resistance.

King Richard II and his courtiers, who saw the rebels overcoming all opposition, took refuge in the Tower. They met the rebel leaders and promised to grant all their demands. The greater part of the peasants thought their cause won and returned home. Then the lords and the wealthy Londoners treacherously killed Wat Tyler and got the rebels out of town. When the peasants with — drew the king summoned his knights from all parts of the country and the royal army began a bloody progress over the disturbed areas. Gallows were erected all over England. In London hundreds of poor townspeople had their heads out off in the market place. The uprising was put down with unprecedented severity.

There were also formidable revolts in the Low Countries, Italy and other feudal states of Europe. They reveal the hopeless conditions of the working masses in those days.

Text 2

Columbus discovers America

Read the text and speak on the new information you got from it.

The ides of ancient scientists that the Earth is spherical became known in the 15th century. The first geographical globes were made. Some scholars thought it would be possible to sail round the Earth and reach India by going westward all the time. They believed (and that was a mistake) that this way would be shorter than the route rounds Africa.

Christopher Columbus was the first seamen to try and reach India by the western route. He was a son of an Italian weaver living near Genoa. In his youth he went on several voyages and began compiling geographical maps. He made a thorough study of seamen's log-books and scientific papers, and became convinced that the Earth was rounds.

Columbus settled in Spain and began asking the king to let him undertake an expedition across the Atlantic Ocean to look for a sea route to India. Not until 8 years later did the king give his permission. He appointed Columbus the ruler of the countries and islands he might discover. Spanish merchants and ship owners helped Columbus to fit out the ships.

In the summer of 1492 three small caravels with 90 men sailed from Spain. A favourable wind quickly carried the small fleet westward. Weeks passed, but no land came into sight. Nothing but boundless, unknown ocean lay ahead. The sailors grumbled and wanted to turn back, but Columbus firmly steered the ships along the planned route. At last 70 days after they had set out, the long expected cry of "Land" went up at dawn from one of the ships.

The Spanish ships reached the shore of a small island. Then Columbus sailed south in search of gold, and discovered the big islands of Cuba and Haiti. By the end of the voyage there remained only one of Columbus's three ships. In this ship he returned to Spain.

In the next few years Columbus made three more voyages westwards. He discovered many islands in the Caribbean Sea and explored part of the coast of the American mainland, but failed to find any gold or other fabulous riches. The Spanish government was disappointed and deprived the courageous sailor of all his titles. The brave seafarer, forsaken and forgotten by everybody died in poverty.

To the end of his life Columbus did not know he had discovered a new continent.

He called the newly discovered land "India", and the people there " Indians". The native population of America has retained this name ever since. Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer, proved that the lands discovered by Columbus were part of a new continent. Descriptions of Amerigo Vespucci's voyage to the South American coast aroused grate interest in Europe, and the new continent was named America after Amerigo.

Text 3

Sheep devour people

Read the following and comment on the consequences of the enclosures.

In the 16th century people said in England that "Sheep devour people". These peaceful animals really became the enemies of tense of thousands of farmers.

The price of wool rose steadily as the output of cloth went up. It became more profitable to breed sheep than to grow grain. A saying became common in England that "A sheep's hoof turns sand into gold".

Vast pastures were needed for sheep grazing. The landowners, therefore, seized the common waste lands and forbade farmers to graze their cattle there. They raised the land rent, so violanting the age-old custom. To make it more difficult for the farmers, the nobles had the roads leading to watering places dug up, and fined the farmers, when their cattle strayed. Not satisfied with all these measure, the nobles began to seize the farmers' plots of land and to force them abandon ramshackle huts. Scores of houses were pulled down and whole villages were razed to the ground. The words "A village stood here, now it's pasture land" appeared on the maps of that period.

The destitute farmers, evicted from their land, could find protection nowhere. The royal courts always supported the landowners because the nobles themselves were the judges.

The nobles enclosed the lands they seized from the farcers with fences and ditches, and evictions of farmers from their land came to be known in Britain as enclosures. As a result of the enclosures there appeared many free people who had neither land nor implements of labour.

Thousands and thousands of people, evicted from their plots of land, left their villages and became vagrants and beggars. It was very difficult for impoverished farmers to find work: in town there were few large enterprises and only one herdsman was now needed on an estate instead of many farmers' families. Unable to find job or shelter, the homeless vagrant tramped the roads of Britain, bagging for alms. Thousands died of hunger.

The government issued drastic laws against vagrants and paupers. Under these laws a pauper was arrested, put in the stocks, and flogged "till blood begins to run down his body". The vagrant became the slave of anyone who reported him to the authorities. The master used a whip to make his slave perform the hardest tasks. If a vagrant was caught for a second time, his ears were out off, his face was branded with a red-hot iron and he was imprisoned. Those who were a caught for the third time were hanged as inveterate criminals. Gallows were erected along all main roads and in market places. 72,000 people were executed in Britain in the first half of the 16th century.

To escape the gallows or starvation the impoverished farmers agreed to do any work for very little pay, and this was highly advantageous to the factory owners and new nobility. By means of cruel laws the government tried to turn the farmers into obedient workers.

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