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Black Death Facts & Worksheets

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that killed 75-200 million people across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred from 1346-1353. It was considered the most catastrophic pandemic recorded in history, killing 75-200 million people across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It was sometimes referred to as the Pestilence or The Great Mortality. 

See the fact file below for more information on The Black Death or alternatively, you can download our 28-page Black Death worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

CAUSES OF THE BLACK DEATH 

  • During the Black Death, nobody knew what kind of disease they were experiencing. Only in the 19th century did a Swiss-French biologist, Alexandre Yersin, discover the bacterium Yersinia pestis caused the plague during the pandemic in Hong Kong in 1894. The biologist also proved that rodents carry the same bacillus and suggested that the rats, immune to the bacteria, were the main culprit of its transmission.   
  • However, rats’ bites were not the only ones that caused the transmission. French physician Paul-Louis Simond said the fleas that fed on the infected rats’ blood were also responsible. The bacterium obstructs the fleas’ midguts, which starves them after several days. 
  • They then experience aggressive feeding behavior, look for another host, and bite or vomit on them, releasing thousands of plague bacteria.
  • The origin of the bacterium was the subject of many debates. The first theory by a team of medical geneticists led by Mark Achtman declared that Yersinia pestis evolved in or near China over 2600 years ago. 
  • However, more recent research discovered strains of the bacterium in the Caucasus region. 

TRANSMISSION 

  • The bubonic plague was already leaving a deadly path across trade routes from east to west along the Silk Road to the Mediterranean and Northern Africa in the early 1340s. 
  • The plague was said to have arrived in Europe in October 1347 when 12 ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. Witnesses reported that most sailors inside the vessels were dead, and those barely alive were covered in black boils discharging blood and pus, and gravely ill. The authorities ordered the ships to undock from the harbor, but it was too late. 
  • People with bubonic plague mainly experienced fever, headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of discomfort or pain. They also developed freckle-like spots and rashes, which could come from flea bites. Infected people died after two to seven days of infection. The bubonic plague attacked the lymphatic system and caused swelling in the lymph nodes. 
  • Records described bubonic plague as terrifyingly and indiscriminately contagious. People thought that merely touching clothes could cause the transfer of infection. They were so afraid that they chose to leave their loved ones suffering from the illness to escape the Black Death. 
  • Recent research shows three types of plague during the Black Death. The bubonic and septicemic plague did not spread from person to person. However, the bubonic plague could advance and infect the lungs. It then became a pneumonic plague which was a more severe type of plague and more transmissible. It generally spreads between people through the air via Yersinia pestis droplets. 
  • Doctors relied on unique treatment techniques such as bloodletting and boil-lancing, which were both unsanitary and dangerous, and superstitious practices like burning aromatic herbs and bathing with rose water and vinegar.  
  • The lack of hygienic practices during this time contributed to the spread of the disease. It was not until the development of germ theory in the 19th century that people started to recognize the importance of hygiene. 
  • The plague never really ended, as it repeatedly occurred throughout the years. The authorities, however, managed to slow the spread by keeping people arriving on ships in isolation, initially for 30 days, or a Trentino, which was eventually increased to 40 or quarantine. They did the same to households and communities. 

RESPONSES & TREATMENT 

  • Doctors in the 14th century didn’t know what kind of diseases they were trying to treat. A note from a doctor at the time stated that instant death occurred when the aerial spirit escaped the sick person’s eyes and struck a healthy person nearby looking at that ill person. 
  • Some people believed it was a punishment from God because of their sins, such as blasphemy, fornication, greed, and worldliness. They thought they needed to ask for forgiveness by engaging in public displays of penance and flogging. 
  • They would beat themselves with heavy leather straps with sharp metals while being watched by the townspeople. They did this for 33 1/2 days, then moved to another town to repeat it.
  • However, some people thought that the only way to receive God’s forgiveness was to purge their communities of heretics and troublemakers, resulting in the massacre of Jews in 1348 and 1349.
  • Modern-day treatment methods include antibiotics, plague vaccines, and insecticides. But there were still fears that the plague could develop drug resistance and become a major outbreak. 

EFFECTS OF THE BLACK DEATH 

  • The endemic killed almost 20 million in Europe, or a quarter of its population during that time. Such a great population decline caused a shortage in the workforce. 
  • The value of the working class increased, and commoners enjoyed more freedom. Some of them traveled to look for the most favorable position economically. Landowners offered monetary rents for labor services to keep their tenants. The plague, in a way, broke down the usual divisions between the upper and lower classes.
  • The word quarantine originated during this catastrophic event. Although isolation was already practiced before the Black Death, it was during this event that it was given a name.
  • Doctors learned to protect themselves from infection by wearing protective garb head to foot with leather or oilcloth robes. They also wore a beak-like masks with glass eyes and two breathing nostrils filled with aromatic herbs. 

OTHER RECURRENCES 

  • The plague repeatedly haunts Europe from the 14th until the 20th century. Most notable was the Great Plague of London in 1665-1666, when 7000 people were dying every week in London alone. In a year, a fifth of London’s population died. 
  • The Great Fire of London was said to contribute to the end of the epidemic due to the subsequent rebuilding of timber and thatch houses with brick and tile that disturbed the rats’ typical habitat. 
  • Another plague pandemic occurred in 1894, starting in the Chinese province of Yunnan in 1855. The plague spread to other Chinese regions, to Hongkong and Bombay. Carried by infected rats traveling with people on different trade routes, it had reached ports on every continent by 1900. 
  • There were 12 major outbreaks in Australia, with 1371 cases and 535 deaths from 1900-1925. 
  • The pandemic waxed and waned worldwide for the next five decades. There were over 15 million deaths, with the majority coming from India. 
  • In 1995, Madagascar recorded a case of a drug-resistant bacterium. An outbreak was reported in 2014 and 2017. 2017 became the deadliest as it killed 170 people and infected thousands.

Black Death Worksheets

This bundle includes 11 ready-to-use Black death worksheets that are perfect for students to learn about the pandemic plague that spread throughout Europe in the 14th Century. It’s thought that the plague wiped out around half of the population of Europe with some estimates saying that up to 200 million people lost their lives.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

  • The Black Death Facts
  • Discoverers 
  • Other Black Deaths 
  • Plague Puzzle
  • Solving the Black Death
  • Effects of the Black Death
  • Fact or Bluff?
  • Three Kinds of Plague
  • Myths vs Facts 
  • The Purge
  • Stopping the Plague

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Black Death end?

Quarantines are the most accepted explanation for how the plague ultimately ended. Those unaffected would mostly remain in their homes and venture out only when needed. At the same time, those with enough financial means could move away from densely populated regions into more secluded locations.

Why is it called Black Death?

The bubonic plague was called The Black Death because it killed many people and turned their skin black.

How long did the black plague last?

From 1346 to 1353, Western Eurasia and North Africa suffered a fateful plague pandemic known as the Black Death.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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