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Medicine in Britain, c1250–present

Case study: the Black Death, 1348–49

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

The years of the outbreak, God's punishment and the planets, buboes and other symptoms, bleeding, purging and lancing, religious responses, shutting up households, Gloucester's gates, street cleaning and the death toll.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

Which event in the sky was blamed for bringing the Black Death?

Key term

Which symptoms did people recognise in a victim of the Black Death?

Key term

What did Gloucester attempt in 1348?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    In which years did the Black Death sweep through England?

    Model answer

    1348–49.

  2. 2

    What was the most common explanation given at the time for the Black Death?

    Model answer

    That God had sent it as a punishment for the sins of the people.

  3. 3

    Which event in the sky was blamed for bringing the Black Death?

    Model answer

    An unusual alignment of the planets in 1345, which was believed to have poisoned the air.

  4. 4

    Which symptoms did people recognise in a victim of the Black Death?

    Model answer

    Painful dark swellings called buboes in the armpits and groin, with fever and vomiting; some victims coughed blood and died within days.

  5. 5

    Name two treatments tried on victims of the Black Death.

    Model answer

    Bleeding and purging to rebalance the humours, and cutting open the buboes to drain them.

  6. 6

    What religious responses did people make to the epidemic?

    Model answer

    They prayed, held processions through the streets, fasted, and in some places whipped themselves as flagellants.

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AThe huge loss of life left England short of workers.
BForeign craftsmen and labourers were wanted.
CCompetition for work also bred resentment.

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