English and more

1. 1. Read the text and anwer the comprehension questions on it:

The Hundred Years’ War

The Hundred Years’ War was a prolonged series of conflicts between England and France, lasting from 1337 to 1453. Despite its name, the war did not consist of continuous fighting but unfolded in several distinct phases, separated by periods of truce. Its causes lay in dynastic disputes, territorial claims, and economic rivalry, particularly over lands in France held by the English crown.

At the heart of the conflict was the English king’s claim to the French throne. When the French royal line failed in the direct male line, Edward III of England asserted his right through his mother, a French princess. The French nobility rejected this claim, leading to open war.

Early English Successes

The first phase of the war was marked by significant English victories. The English army, relying on the longbow and disciplined infantry, defeated the French at Crécy (1346) and later at Poitiers (1356). One of the most important outcomes of these campaigns was the capture of Calais in 1347, following a long and devastating siege.

Calais was of enormous strategic value. It provided England with:

a secure foothold on the European mainland,
control over Channel trade routes,
a key military supply base.

For this reason, Calais remained under English rule for over 200 years, becoming a symbol of English power in France.

Renewed Conflict and Shifting Fortunes

The war resumed in the early 15th century under Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt (1415) once again demonstrated English military strength. However, this success proved temporary. France gradually recovered, aided by internal reforms and the rise of national consciousness.

A turning point came with the appearance of Joan of Arc, whose leadership helped lift the siege of Orléans and inspired French resistance. By the mid-15th century, the balance of power had shifted decisively in France’s favour.

The End of the War and the Loss of Calais

By 1453, the English had been driven out of nearly all their French territories, effectively ending the Hundred Years’ War. However, Calais remained English long after the conflict formally ended. It was not until 1558, during the reign of Mary I, that France finally recaptured the city.

The loss of Calais, after more than two centuries of English rule, was a major psychological blow to England. It marked the final end of English territorial ambitions in France and symbolised the transition to a new political reality in Europe.

Historical Significance

The Hundred Years’ War had far-reaching consequences:

it accelerated the decline of feudal warfare,
strengthened royal authority in France,
encouraged the development of national identities,
and permanently reshaped Anglo-French relations.

1.2. Prepare answers to these comprehension questions

What years did the Hundred Years’ War last?
What main dynastic issue triggered the conflict between England and France?
Which two major battles demonstrated early English military success?
In what year was Calais captured by the English?
Why was Calais strategically important for England?
Approximately how long did Calais remain under English control?
Which English king renewed the conflict in the early 15th century?
What figure helped inspire French resistance and change the course of the war?
In what year did France finally recapture Calais?
What did the loss of Calais symbolise for England?

2. Watch the video and do the test on it

Script

0:00
The wind cuts through the marshes of Flanders like a knife, carrying the scent of salt, mud, and freezing death. It is the winter of 1346. Outside the walls of Calais, a tragedy is unfolding that will stain the soul of chivalry forever. In the icy ditch between the city walls and the English camp, five hundred human beings are huddling together, their skin turning black from the frost. These are the “useless mouths”—the old, the sick, the children—cast out by their own governor to save food, yet barred from the English lines by a king who has turned his heart to stone. They scream for bread, but the only answer is the whistling wind and the impassive stare of English archers. By sunrise, the screaming stops, leaving five hundred frozen monuments to the brutality of the siege.

0:56
Months earlier, the air was filled with the roar of victory, not the silence of the grave. King Edward III of England stands on the heights of Crécy, looking down at the ruin of the French knighthood. His archers have slaughtered the flower of nobility in a single afternoon. But Edward knows that a victory on the battlefield is smoke in the wind without a foothold on the land. He turns his gaze north, to the shimmering coastline and the defiant walls of Calais. It is the gateway to France, a pirate’s nest that has tormented English ships for years. But as he marches his army to the gates, the reality settles in. The double circuit of walls and water-filled dykes turns the city into an island. He cannot storm this fortress; his engines will sink in the marsh.

1:00
So Edward makes a decision that chills the blood of the defenders more than any assault: he orders his men to put down their swords and pick up their hammers. The English do not just camp; they build a new world. Rising from the swampy ground comes a city of timber and thatch, a mirror image of the fortress they intend to destroy. They call it Villeneuve-la-Hardi—the “Bold New Town.” It is a marvel of logistical power, complete with market halls, butcher shops, and cloth merchants, laid out with the precision of London itself. Queen Philippa arrives with her ladies, bringing music and courtly splendor to the edge of the mud. They hold tournaments and feasts within sight of the starving walls, turning the siege into a surreal festival of patience.

1:28
Inside Calais, the governor Jean de Vienne watches the smoke rise from this new English city. He knows the message it sends: the English are not leaving. But Calais has a lifeline that Edward cannot easily cut—the sea. By night, the dark waves of the Channel hide a daring game of cat and mouse played by the ghosts of the coast. From the port of Abbeville, a privateer named Jean Marant runs the blockade. Operating out of a tavern known as “The Tin Jar,” Marant uses small, shallow-draft boats to skim over sandbanks where heavy English warships cannot follow. He slips through the fog to deliver flour and hope to the starving garrison. For a moment, it seems the grit of the French sailors might outlast the patience of the English king.

3:22
But kings do not like to be mocked by pirates. As winter thaws into the spring of 1347, Edward tightens the noose. He builds a massive fortification on the Risban, a sandspit commanding the harbor entrance. Then he sinks ships laden with stones in the narrow channels, sealing the harbor mouth and cutting the throat of the city. Marant can no longer get through. To break the morale of the city, Edward unleashes a new terror: bombards. These primitive cannons spit fire and stone balls with a thunderous roar. They cannot breach the thick walls, but the smell of sulfur and the deafening cracks shatter the nerves of the civilians. It is a psychological drumbeat of impending doom that echoes through the hollow streets day and night.

4:10
Inside the walls, the inventory of the edible begins to shrink. First, they eat the grain and the salted meat. Then the horses—the pride of the knights—are slaughtered, their flesh sold for weight in gold. When the horses are gone, the citizens turn to the dogs and the cats, hunting them through the alleys until the streets are empty of life. Finally, they are left with nothing but the rats that scurry in the cellars. Men gnaw on the leather of their own boots and saddles, boiling hides to trick their bellies. The city is rotting from the inside out. Despair turns to madness as the summer heat rises, baking the stench of death into the stones of the city.

4:55
Jean de Vienne, the iron-willed commander, pens a final plea to his king, Philip VI. “We have eaten our horses, dogs, and rats,” he writes, his hand trembling, “and nothing remains for us but to eat one another.” The letter is intercepted by the English. Edward reads it, smiles, and attaches his own seal to it before sending it on—a cruel taunt.

5:21
And then, a shimmer of hope. The banners of France appear on the ridges of Sangatte. King Philip has arrived with a relief army of twenty thousand men. The skeletons inside Calais weep with joy, lighting fires on the towers and hanging banners from the battlements. They signal to their savior that they are still alive, that their agony is not in vain.

5:45
But the savior is powerless. Edward has turned the geography of Flanders into a weapon, digging trenches and flooding the marshes until the English camp is an island fortress. Philip VI looks at the impassable terrain and the English fleet dominating the coast. On the night of August 1st, the defenders of Calais watch in disbelief as the campfires of the French army are extinguished one by one. The sound of marching feet fades into the distance. They have been abandoned.

6:19
Jean de Vienne climbs to the highest tower and lowers the royal standard of France. He orders the torches to be lit—not a signal of hope this time, but a signal of surrender. The gates, shut for eleven months against the might of England, finally creak open.

6:36
Edward’s terms are not those of a generous victor. He demands that six of the city’s principal burghers march out to him. They must come barefoot, bareheaded, dressed only in their shirts, with heavy ropes tied around their necks. They are to be the sacrificial lambs, carrying the keys to the city and the castle, offering their lives for the others. In the market square, the richest man, Eustache de Saint-Pierre, steps forward first. Five others join him. It is a procession of ghosts that walks toward the English camp—gaunt, starving men in rags. They kneel before Edward in the dirt. The English barons, hardened warriors who have seen a thousand deaths, are moved to tears. But Edward calls for the executioner. He wants heads. The axe is raised.

7:26
Then Queen Philippa, heavily pregnant, falls to her knees before her husband. With tears streaming down her face, she implores him: “Gentle sir… I humbly pray, for the sake of the Son of the Holy Mary and for your love of me, that you will have mercy.” The King looks at her, her, then at the skeletal men. “Ah, Lady,” he sighs, “I cannot refuse you.”

7:50
The men are spared, but the city is not. The French population is expelled, replaced by English settlers, turning Calais into an English fortress for two hundred years. Today, Rodin’s bronze statues of the burghers stand in the square—weary, terrified, yet immortal. The Siege of Calais was won by starvation, but it is remembered for sacrifice. For more history from the frontlines, please like and subscribe.

Comprehension Test

Instructions: For each statement, choose True, False, or Not stated. The questions are tricky and check your understanding of: (1) the distribution of forces, (2) the intrigue, and (3) Queen Philippa’s inner motives.

1) Philip VI had the larger army, yet he did not attack because Edward had engineered the terrain (trenches + flooding) and controlled the coastline with his fleet, making an assault too risky.

True
False
Not stated

2) The English barons wanted the six burghers executed; only Queen Philippa’s plea stopped them.

True
False
Not stated

3) Queen Philippa’s plea succeeds because she leverages religious language and her personal bond with Edward (“for your love of me”), but the script does not state any political calculation behind her intervention.

True
False
Not stated

Total Questions: 3

Correct Answers: 0

Incorrect Answers: 0

3.1. In the model analytical description of Rodin's sculpture below fill out the gaps with the words from the bank

Word Bank: commemorates; denying; starving; unevenly; ultimately; civic; tension; sacrifice; convention; expressive; downward; glorifying; sought; permanence; conveys; gravity; burden; somber; sized; communicate; important; strips; resolve; vulnerability; narrative; meditation;

The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin is a modern reinterpretation of a medieval historical episode from the Hundred Years’ War. The monument (увековечивать) six citizens of Calais who, in 1347, offered themselves for execution to save their (голодать) city during an English siege. Although the men were (в конечном итоге) spared, the episode became a symbol of (гражданский) (жертва) and moral courage.

Rodin, often described as the father of modern sculpture, rejected academic idealisation and heroic (условность). His own artistic philosophy emphasised psychological truth, emotional (напряжение), and the (выразительный) power of the human body. Rather than (прославлять) historical events, Rodin (стремиться) to expose their human cost. This approach fundamentally shaped The Burghers of Calais.

The choice of bronze is central to the sculpture’s meaning. Traditionally associated with triumph and (неизменность), bronze here (передавать) weight and (серьёзность), reinforcing the (бремя) of the men’s moral decision. The dark patina absorbs light, creating a (мрачный) atmosphere and (отрицать) any sense of celebration. The figures are life- (размер), (неравномерно) posed, and physically heavy, with slumped shoulders and (нисходящий) -pulling forms. These anti-heroic shapes (передавать) fear, exhaustion, and inner conflict rather than confidence or victory.

Equally (важный) is the simplicity of dress. The burghers wear plain tunics, without armour or insignia, which (лишать) them of social status and presents them as ordinary human beings. Their clothing, combined with restrained gestures and expressive hands, emphasizes (уязвимость) and powerlessness. Heroism is shown not as triumph, but as endurance in the face of likely death.

In this way, Rodin transforms a historical (повествование) into a modern (размышление) on sacrifice, responsibility, and the psychological cost of political power. The sculpture does not ask the viewer to admire, but to empathize, redefining heroism as moral (решимость) rather than physical victory.

Total Questions: 26

Correct Answers: 0

Incorrect Answers: 0

3.2. Fill in the right prepositions

Instructions: Fill in the gaps with the correct prepositions from the text.

Word Bank: of; from; during; in; with; rather than; to; into; on; without

1) The sculpture draws a medieval historical episode.

2) The events took place the Hundred Years’ War.

3) The men offered themselves execution to save their city.

4) Rodin rejected academic idealisation and belief heroic convention.

5) The material is traditionally associated triumph and permanence.

6) The figures are shown as life-sized, unevenly posed, and heavy form.

7) These anti-heroic shapes communicate fear and exhaustion the viewer.

8) The burghers are stripped social status.

9) Rodin transforms a historical narrative a modern meditation.

10) Heroism is shown not as triumph, but endurance.

Total Questions: 10

Correct Answers: 0

Incorrect Answers: 0

3.3. Learn this model essay be heart ising this video trainer below. Send me an audio message of how you translate and repeat in pauses.

3.4. [Ломоносов, ВОШ, Евразийская] Imagine that there were no hostilities and no siege, and that the citizens of Calais and the English decided to unite into a single state under one flag. Instead of suffering and starvation, the people of Calais welcomed the English with bread and salt and organised festivities, banquets, and public celebrations.

Write a positive narrative describing this peaceful encounter.
Your story should deliberately sound opposite to the atmosphere conveyed in the analysis of Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais. Emphasise health, satiety, prosperity, harmony, and happiness, and show how cooperation replaces fear and sacrifice.

Active expressions

Imagine that there were no hostilities and no siege, and that the citizens of Calais and the English decided to unite into a single state under one flag. Instead of suffering and starvation, the people of Calais welcomed the English with bread and salt and organised festivities, banquets, and public celebrations.

Show/hide active expressions

Additional tip

Try to reverse the key ideas of Rodin’s sculpture: where there is weight, write lightness; where there is fear, write trust; where there is sacrifice, write shared prosperity.

1. 1. Read the text and anwer the comprehension questions on it:

1.2. Prepare answers to these comprehension questions

2. Watch the video and do the test on it

Script

Comprehension Test

3.1. In the model analytical description of Rodin's sculpture below fill out the gaps with the words from the bank

3.2. Fill in the right prepositions

3.3. Learn this model essay be heart ising this video trainer below. Send me an audio message of how you translate and repeat in pauses.

Show/hide active expressions

Use these lexical, grammar, stylistic and structural means to create a top-level historical fiction story