1. Glossary
buboes swellings caused by bubonic plague
bubonic an acute infectious disease characterised by the formation of buboes
plague any widespread and usually highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate
historical story an imaginative use historical facts and events, using a narrative style of writing
standard of living how well a person lives
Cathedral the home church of a Bishop
Statute of Labourers - a new law passed in 1251, which tried to get labourers to work for the wages that they had earned before the Black Death.

2. Step One - What happened when the plague reached Melton
The name of my character is … The people in my family are … (make up some people, names from the Bible were very popular, ages, personalities)
Our house is … (describe a medieval cottage, are you well off or poor?)
We earn our living … (farming, describe the work you do in the fields at this time of year).
The first people in Melton to get the plague were … (give their names and a description of what they were like).
When they caught the plague we could not believe what happened to them … (use page 26 to help you).
People tried all sorts of cures to get rid of the horrible disease … (use page 27 to help you).

3. Step Two - What people believed
Sent by God Pray to God for forgiveness, go on a pilgrimage to a religious place, walk through the streets singing hymns and whipping themselves to show how sorry they were.
Bad Air
Carry a bunch of herbs, burn sweet smelling wood in their houses, stay away from slaughter houses, stagnant water and rubbish heaps.
Person to Person
force the sick to leave the village, run away from infected people, bury the clothes of plague victims, burn the clothes of plague victims.

4. Step Two - What people believed
Sent by God Pray to God for forgiveness, go on a pilgrimage to a religious place, walk through the streets singing hymns and whipping themselves to show how sorry they were.
Bad Air
Carry a bunch of Herbs, burn sweet smelling wood in their houses, stay away from slaughter houses, stagnant water and rubbish heaps.
Person to Person
force the sick to leave the village, run away from infected people, bury the clothes of plague victims, burn the clothes of plague victims.

5. Step Two - The Village Meeting
So many people in the village are dying that the Priest called a meeting in the Church. Some people said that this would help to spread the disease because … (explain what the people who believed that the disease was spread from person to person would have said).
Other people believed that the disease was spread by bad air, because people who lived in such places sometimes caught it first. They said that we should … (explain what the people who believed that the disease was spread from person to person would have said).
The Priest called for silence and said that we should all pray to God to forgive us. He said that God had sent the plague as a punishment. He said that there were other ways we could show God how sorry we were … (write about the other things that the Priest would have suggested).
Finally the meeting came to an end. The village had decided to …… . We chose to do
this because … . In the weeks that followed (explain what happened
in the village as more people continued to die of the Plague).

6. Step Three – What happened to the survivors of the Plague in Melton
So many people have did of the disease and life will never be the same again … (explain about the fear and horror of watching your friends and family die. Write about what it would have been like to wonder if you were going to catch the plague. Did any of the ideas from the village meeting actually work?).
After the plague we were all better off. The price of food and other goods fell. This meant that … (explain how there was more to go round and how you benefitted).
The shortage of labourers meant that wages went up. The government passed a new law called the Statute of Labourers. It said … (write about how the law tried to keep down wages).
We had more land and managed to escape from labour service on the Lord’s land. (use page 31 to explain what happened and how this made you better off.).
Finally, we all had a better standard of living after the Black Death.. (use page 31 to explain what happened and how this made you better off.). The only person who was worse off was …(write about why the Lord was worse off after the Black Death).