World History
Name
The Black Death
Part 1: Black Death Overview and Myths
1. How did the Black Death arrive in Europe? Being one of the busiest trading nations, the epidemic from
China arrived in Europe
2. How did the people of Messina react to the plague? By the time the people of Messina realized the
sickness brought by the ships,
3. What was the impact of the plague on London? London was inhabited by around 70,000. According to
historians, poor hygiene and living conditions in London led to the spread of the plague to the rest of
England. The River Thames, in particular, carried infections through ships. The church recorded about
20,000 deaths in London between 1348 and 1350.
4. What % of the English population was believed to have died due to the plague? 40%
5. How did the lack of understanding or experience in medicine make the plague worse? Londoners
fleeing the plague are barred by country dwellers.
Many also continued to get sick due to the lack of medication and professional medical care.
Part 2: Impacts of the Black Death (Both will help you answer the questions below!)
Source B: Facts about the Plague
Source C: Chart about the Plague
6. How badly did the plague hurt Europe’s population? caused the death of half of
Europe’s population.
7. According to scientists today, what caused the spread of the plague? human fleas
8. Was this disease only affecting poor people? Increased social mobility
9. Why do you think people stopped using astrology and superstition to diagnose diseases or cures?
people believed that it had been caused by a bad alignment of the planets and stars.
10. What was one benefit of the plague? Modern labor movements
11. How did religions handle the plague (Did they are, blame god, blame the people, blame the devil,
etc)? The church called for people to pray, and it organized religious marches, pleading to God to stop the
“pestilence.”
Part 3: How we think of the Bubonic Plague
12. How do you think a sudden population drop due to a plague affected Europe as a society? How would
people feel about disease and the afterlife because of this plague?
Many workers died, devastating families for the loss of means of survival and causing personal suffering;
landowners who used workers as tenants were also affected. Because of this they must have felt very
distressed since they did not know what could happen after everything that had happened
13. This picture shows how people in London reacted to other people arriving. How do you think this
terrible plague made people feel about folks from other cities/villages/areas? scared and confused since
they did not know or understand very well the causes and effects of the plague that was presenting their
territory at that time, also distressed since they saw how their relatives and friends died from this plague
and could not do anything for their lack of knowledge about the plague
14. The Danse Macabre, or Dance of Death, became very popular after the plague. Why do you think
people created music and art that may have seemed humorous or funny after the plague?
surely to show that they had all been together until death and did a dance in his honor
15. How can a really bad disease almost cause a society (A Nation, an entire continent, or even larger) to
almost collapse into complete chaos?
it can cause many things and it depends on what happens, it can change economically, it affects the
population, the government, food, and many issues that can bring society down
And if you are curious about Plague Doctors and who they were check out the video (Click
Picture for Video)
on the