Famous Men of the Middle Ages · Ch. XXVI · Unit 8: Freedom fighters and far travelers
34. William Tell and Arnold von Winkelried
Goal: Your child can tell the story of William Tell and the apple and of Winkelried at Sempach, and say how Switzerland won its freedom.
You'll need
- The book, open to this chapter
- A map of Europe and the Mediterranean (a free online map or a globe)
- Paper and colored pencils
- Your timeline strip (see the tips at the top)
What's in the book
Chapter XXVI (about 1300-1386): the three Forest Cantons of Switzerland have always governed themselves. Albert I of Hapsburg claims their land. The mountaineers secretly arm themselves. Tell refuses to bow to Gessler's cap at Altorf, shoots an apple from his son's head, escapes in a storm, and the cantons rise; the Austrians are beaten in a mountain pass. Seventy years later at Sempach, Arnold von Winkelried gathers the Austrian spears into his own body to open a gap for the Swiss. The chapter quotes a poem about him.
The lesson, step by step
Set the scene
Find Switzerland, the Alps, and Lake Lucerne in the middle of the country. Then find Austria to the east.
Read the chapter
Read Chapter XXVI aloud. It begins:
Far up among the Alps, in the very heart of Switzerland, are three districts, or cantons, as they are called, which are known as the Forest Cantons and are famous in the world's history.
Tell it back
Prompts:
- Why did Gessler put a cap on a pole?
- What did Gessler make Tell do?
- How did Tell escape?
- What did Winkelried do at Sempach?
Legend or history?
The book says: "Some people do not believe this story, but the Swiss do." Say: Historians think William Tell is a legend, but the Swiss cantons really did join together to stay free, and Tell became the hero of that story.
Also, the book says gunpowder had not been invented. In fact it was already known in Europe by then, but these armies still fought with spears, swords and axes.
Remember it
Read these lines of the poem:
He bowed among them like a tree,
And thus made way for liberty.
Say"Make way for liberty!" Ask: What did Winkelried give so his friends could win?
Talk it over
Ask: Tell would not bow to a cap. Why does such a small thing matter so much? Is there anything you would refuse to do even if ordered?
Extra (optional)
Draw Tell with his crossbow and his son with the apple, or Tell's leap onto the rock in the storm. Add "1386 Sempach" to the timeline.
Afterwards
Ask your child to tell the William Tell story to someone, then ask: "Do you think it really happened?"
Tip
If your child knows the William Tell Overture (often used for galloping horses in cartoons), play it; it is from an opera about this story.
Answers to the book's problems
He wanted everyone who passed to bow to it, to show they obeyed the Austrians. He made Tell shoot an apple off his son's head. During a storm on the lake he sprang from the boat onto a rock. He grabbed as many Austrian spears as he could, about ten, and fell pierced through, opening a gap the Swiss rushed into.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.