Topic 3 - The Black Death

Question 1

What was the Black Death?

Answer 1

A highly contagious disease that spread across Europe between 1347 and 1349

Question 2

What were the two main symptoms of the Black Death?

Answer 2

1. Black buboes on the skin

2. A fever that included a temperature and vomiting

Question 3

How long would it take for a victim of the Black Death to die, after the symptoms had appeared?

Answer 3

one or two days

Question 4

Where is it thought that the Black Death originated from and how did it spread?

Answer 4

It was thought to have originated in Asia and came from fleas living on rats

Question 5

List 4 things that were believed to have caused the Black Death

Answer 5

1. God
2. The Jews poisoning the water
3. The alignment of the planets
4. Miasma

Question 6

What surgical procedure would doctors undertake to attempt to cure a patient of the Black Death

Answer 6

They would lance the black boils on a patients skin in an attempt to release the poison within

Question 7

What is flagellation and what did people hope it would do during the time of the Black Death?

Answer 7

Flagellation was when people whipped themselves to show God that they were truly regretful of their sins, so that God would spare them from the plague

Question 8

State 3 ways people tried to prevent the Black Death (except for flagellation)?

Answer 8

1. Quarantined victims
2. Prayer
3. Donation to the church

Question 9

List 3 bizarre superstitions that medieval people would use to attempt to CURE the Black Death

Answer 9

1. Rubbing themselves with a live chicken
2. Sitting in a room between two large fires
3. sitting in the sewers to avoid the plague in the air

Question 10

How did people try to prevent the spread of the black death by sea?

Answer 10

Any ships coming into port were required to wait out at sea for a few weeks before entering England to see if the plague had broken out on board