Significance © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 How significant was the Black Death?

Significance

© HarperCollins Publishers 2010

How significant was the Black Death?

Significance


Objectives

In this activity you will:

Describe the consequences of the Black Death.

Explain the changes brought by the Black Death.

Reach a judgment about the significance of the Black Death.

Significance


Freddie’s mum has contacted the school to complain about what we have been studying.

She left a voicemail, and said:

‘I’m not happy. Why on earth are you teaching old events like the Black Death. The Black Death

was ages ago and was just a load of smelly rats, fleas and people

dying. It didn’t change anything. I don’t think you should be teaching

this old rubbish.’

Significance


Is Freddie’s mum right? Should we study the Black Death?

Did it change anything in the long-term?

Significance


What historical skills might we be using here?

CHANGE

SIGNIFICANCE

Significance


How do we decide if an event is significant and therefore worth studying?

Did the Black Death change England at the time?

Has the Black Death had a long lasting impact on the country?

So far we have used Geoffrey Partington’s method, here are two questions to help you judge significance

linked to his ideas.

Significance


Pair up with a classmate. Your teacher will hand you a printout of the following screen, cut into 14 cards.

Significance


The Black Death interrupted the war with France. However, Edward III invaded France again in 1355 and won a great victory at Poitiers.

Some people spent their increased wages on sending their sons to school. The number of people who could read and write began to increase rapidly.

Some villages disappeared from the landscape completely.

Some freemen used their higher wages to buy land.

There weren’t any breakthroughs in medicine. Doctors still didn’t understand disease.

After the Black Death people demanded freedom but lords refused. This led to the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. By the mid 1400s everyone was free.

Half the people in Britain died from the Black death. More died in later outbreaks of the disease. It took 300 years for the population to recover to the same level as before the Black Death.

The Black death led to some freemen earning higher wages, the government tried to stop this.

People spent their increased wages on more colourful clothes and more varied foods. Diets included more meats for example.

Landlords made less money as they had less people to charge rent.

Food prices went up by 4 times as fields went unploughed and animals died with no one looking after them.

Praying to God hadn’t saved people from the Black death so some people began to criticise the bishops. This had little impact.

People did the same kind of work they had done before, most were still farmers.

Most kinds of fun stayed the same – singing, dancing, story telling. However, as more people could read by 1400 more people were enjoying stories like King Arthur or Robin Hood.

Significance


Take the cards about ‘change’ and sort them into two groups:

1) Short-term change

2) Long-term change

Are there any in the middle?

Sort the cards into three groups:1. Changes

2. Continuities 3. Things in the middle

Significance


The Black Death interrupted the war with France. However, Edward III invaded France again in 1355 and won a great victory at Poitiers.

Some people spent their increased wages on sending their sons to school. The number of people who could read and write began to increase rapidly.

Some villages disappeared from the landscape completely.

Some freemen used their higher wages to buy land.

There weren’t any breakthroughs in medicine. Doctors still didn’t understand disease.

After the Black Death people demanded freedom but lords refused. This led to the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. By the mid 1400s everyone was free.

Half the people in Britain died from the Black death. More died in later outbreaks of the disease. It took 300 years for the population to recover to the same level as before the Black Death.

The Black death led to some freemen earning higher wages, the government tried to stop this.

People spent their increased wages on more colourful clothes and more varied foods. Diets included more meats for example.

Landlords made less money as they had less people to charge rent.

Food prices went up by 4 times as fields went unploughed and animals died with no one looking after them.

Praying to God hadn’t saved people from the Black death so some people began to criticise the bishops. This had little impact.

People did the same kind of work they had done before, most were still farmers.

Most kinds of fun stayed the same – singing, dancing, story telling. However, as more people could read by 1400 more people were enjoying stories like King Arthur or Robin Hood.

Which category did you put each card into, and why?

Significance


What do you think about the Black Death?

Did the Black Death change England at the time?

Has the Black Death had a long lasting impact on the country?

Is it therefore significant?

Significance


Your task

Return Freddie’s mum’s phone call.

You will need to write notes or a script to support your phone call.

Make sure you have plenty of evidence to back up what you are trying to say.

Documents

Significance © HarperCollins Publishers 2010 How significant was the Black Death?