Put the correct words
from a–d below in the text. Watch the video to check your answers
This video is going to be about how
the people took the (1)____ back from the king. So story begins with “Why kings
are even in power in the first place?” Back a long time ago we’re talking,
probably, 8-9 hundred A.D., kings and queens believed they (2)___ because God
told them that they should be ruling. This was call divine right. More
important than the king believing that God told
them to rule was that the (3)___ that he ruled believed that the kings were
there because God wanted them to. People were extremely religious and they
said: “You know what? If you go against the king, you kind of go against God,
because God wanted them to be in (4)____.”
So for many, many years kings and
queens would use this idea of (5)___ right to keep power. You know, they would
do mean things, do bad things, keep people without their rights and (6)____,
and they said: “Well, God told me I was king, so you shouldn’t question me”. So
this is sort of a way to keep control over people and use religion as a method
of keeping control over people.
A couple of little cartoons here, you
can see. These two kings walking hand in hand: “Once you get past the divine
right of kings, I’m not much into (7)____.” Kind of funny, theology means the
study of religion, because kings would often use religion as the reason they
were ruling, but not follow the religion and not really be that (8)___
religion, especially in England. Another one here. You see the king here with
his son. “I’ll let you in on a little
secret, son: If you’re really, REALLY careful, absolute power (9)____ only a
little bit.” So king had absolute power. Probably the reason why was because of
divine right.
Another way kings would keep control
over their people was using social class. It’s called the feudal system and
this social (10)____ system was prevalent in the (11)____ Ages. This is the way
it works: royalty had all the power, and they would keep power by giving a
little bit of power away to a different group of people. In return those people
would be (12)___ to the King. Those people would give a little bit of power
away to another group of people and they would be loyal to them. And at the
bottom you have a group of people called the peasants who sort of…er…you know,
are at the bottom and (13)____ by the top groups.
Let’s look at it a little bit more
carefully here, I’ll show you. So the king is on top. He has all the power. He
gives land and control of peasants to these people called lords. In return
lords are loyal to the king, and they provide a (14)___ aid. So the king
doesn’t have to worry about getting attacked. The lords, they have a lot of
power from the king and they give food, (15)____ and protection to a group of
people called the knights who are going to be the ones who are fighting. In
return these (16)____ are loyal to the lords. And finally the knights give
food, shelter, protection to the biggest group of people, the peasants. And the
peasants farm land and they pay (17)___ and all the taxes filter up to the
king. So all the king must do is give a little bit of power to the lords and he
stays in (18)___. And the peasants, the biggest group, stay oppressed, stay at
the farm and not on homeland, and do not have any rights.
So that’s the way it worked in England until
1215, the time of King John. He was kind of a bad king, he disrupted the
(19)___ system a little bit by his policies and ideas. The things he was doing
as a king, he took away lands from the nobles, this lower group of people over
here, the lords. So he was supposed to give them land as part of the system,
but his policies were (20)___ land away. So they were no longer loyal to King
John and they (21)___ against him. That was a big mistake, because in order for
the system the work for king he has to keep the lords happy and the lords
weren’t happy with King John. He hadn’t friends to help him and he was easily
defeated in this rebellion by the lords. The king was then (22)___ to sign
something called the (23)___ Carta that put into writing restrictions on his
power. And that’s the key thing in this video, we’ll talk about what those
(24)___ looked like. This video makes fun of leaders not understanding their
people.
All right, so what does Magna Carta
do? It forces the king to give up some of his power, in writing. It showed that
the king was bound by laws and no longer he could just do whatever he wanted
to. Cause now this Magna Carta says that there are certain restrictions on what
the King can do. Magna Carta really affected the nobles, they’re the ones who
really got rights enabling them to (25)____ the king’s decision. It didn’t have
a big impact immediately. Obviously, for hundreds more years kings rule and
oppress peasants, but as time goes on more and more restrictions are going to
be put on the king by lords. And eventually the king will (26)___ all their
power like the queen and king of England today have virtually no
power at all. Couple of cartoons here. The king, his wife looking at him whit
this mean angry look: “I didn’t know the Magna Carta had small print!” And here
is other one. His pen is not working when he has to sign the Magna Carta.
So, in conclusion. Many years ago
people believed in divine right, and the kings were given the power to rule
from God and this helps kings stay (27)___ control. Another way for kings to
stay in control was the (28)___ system. And that kept the lords having some
power over most of the people. The Magna Carta signed by King John in 1215 is
really important, because it’s the first time kings actually gave (29)___ some
of their power. And that started sort of the ball rolling a little bit, but the
snowball that mounted as time went on. The kings and queens of England
lost more and more power, today they virtually have no power. The American
Revolution looking a little closer was another step in taking up away power
from the king. And the Magna Carta was the first step in this process of having
the kings lose their power.
1.
|
(a)
|
force
|
(b)
|
power
|
(c)
|
powerful
|
(d)
|
authorized
|
2.
|
(a)
|
ruled
|
(b)
|
govern
|
(c)
|
control
|
(d)
|
crown
|
3.
|
(a)
|
person
|
(b)
|
national
|
(c)
|
nations
|
(d)
|
people
|
4.
|
(a)
|
charge
|
(b)
|
control
|
(c)
|
power
|
(d)
|
palace
|
5.
|
(a)
|
sacred
|
(b)
|
divine
|
(c)
|
religious
|
(d)
|
absolute
|
6.
|
(a)
|
responsibilities
|
(b)
|
obligations
|
(c)
|
duties
|
(d)
|
freedoms
|
7.
|
(a)
|
theology
|
(b)
|
religious
|
(c)
|
church
|
(d)
|
law
|
8.
|
(a)
|
from
|
(b)
|
by
|
(c)
|
into
|
(d)
|
for
|
9.
|
(a)
|
spoil
|
(b)
|
pampers
|
(c)
|
rots
|
(d)
|
corrupts
|
10.
|
(a)
|
group
|
(b)
|
class
|
(c)
|
division
|
(d)
|
classification
|
11.
|
(a)
|
ancient
|
(b)
|
central
|
(c)
|
Middle
|
(d)
|
medium
|
12.
|
(a)
|
true
|
(b)
|
loyal
|
(c)
|
devotion
|
(d)
|
subject
|
13.
|
(a)
|
oppress
|
(b)
|
oppression
|
(c)
|
oppressor
|
(d)
|
oppressed
|
14.
|
(a)
|
war
|
(b)
|
military
|
(c)
|
army
|
(d)
|
fighting
|
15.
|
(a)
|
shelter
|
(b)
|
house
|
(c)
|
palace
|
(d)
|
home
|
16.
|
(a)
|
fighter
|
(b)
|
soldier
|
(c)
|
knights
|
(d)
|
colonel
|
17.
|
(a)
|
bribes
|
(b)
|
ransom
|
(c)
|
fees
|
(d)
|
taxes
|
18.
|
(a)
|
palace
|
(b)
|
country
|
(c)
|
control
|
(d)
|
kingdom
|
19.
|
(a)
|
feudal
|
(b)
|
middle
|
(c)
|
ancient
|
(d)
|
old
|
20.
|
(a)
|
dividing
|
(b)
|
taking
|
(c)
|
conquering
|
(d)
|
steal
|
21.
|
(a)
|
rebelled
|
(b)
|
fight
|
(c)
|
plot
|
(d)
|
ran
|
22.
|
(a)
|
bribed
|
(b)
|
make
|
(c)
|
fortify
|
(d)
|
forced
|
23.
|
(a)
|
Magna
|
(b)
|
Big
|
(c)
|
Central
|
(d)
|
Noble
|
24.
|
(a)
|
rights
|
(b)
|
duties
|
(c)
|
restrictions
|
(d)
|
obligations
|
25.
|
(a)
|
fulfill
|
(b)
|
support
|
(c)
|
reverse
|
(d)
|
obey
|
26.
|
(a)
|
gain
|
(b)
|
get
|
(c)
|
obtain
|
(d)
|
lose
|
27.
|
(a)
|
up
|
(b)
|
for
|
(c)
|
in
|
(d)
|
out
|
28.
|
(a)
|
ancient
|
(b)
|
feudal
|
(c)
|
classified
|
(d)
|
old-time
|
29.
|
(a)
|
away
|
(b)
|
by
|
(c)
|
up
|
(d)
|
from
|
1 Give
Ukrainian equivalents for the following words and expressions.
To be in сharge,
peasant, royalty, divine, prevalent,
cartoon, theology, to corrupt, social class, to be loyal, shelter, knight, to disrupt, to rebel, restriction, small print.
2 Comprehension questions.
1. What was the basis of king’s power in the Middle Ages?
2. What is divine right?
3. Were the kings truly religious?
4. What was social class like in the Middle Ages? What
was the biggest group of people?
5. What was king’s power based on? How did King John
disrupt the feudal system?
6. When was the Magna Carta signed?
7. Who signed the Magna Carta? What did the document mean
for monarchy?
8. Does the monarch of the United Kingdom still have absolute power?
9. Why is Magna Carta important for the
history of political science?
3 Say if the
following statements are true according to the text.
1. Kings and queens believed in Divine Right.
2. In those days people were extremely religious.
3. Kings and queens would use laws as a method of keeping
control over people.
4. Theology means the study of policy.
5. The feudal system was prevalent in the Middle Ages.
6. The peasants were next group of people after king.
7. Lords had to be loyal to the peasants.
8. The peasants were to pay taxes.
9. The knights had to protect the lords
and the lords shared their power with the knights.
10. Thee king got the taxes from the peasants.
11. The peasants had all rights and freedoms.
12. King John respected the interests of lords.
13. Peasants started a rebellion against king John.
14. King John vanquished the rebellion against him.
15. The Magna Carta was signed in 1215.
16. The Magna Carta
limited the power of nobility.
17. After the Magna
Carta was signed the king lost all the power and peasants were no longer
oppressed.
18. Royalty had all the power.
19. The Magna Carta was the second case in history when
the kings gave away some of their power.
20. The Magna Carta was important for French Revolution.
Modern monarchs in Great
Britain don’t have absolute power because of
the Magna Carta.