Black Death DBQ (Document Based Questions)

Response
Why was the Black Death so devastating to European
Society?
Task: Using the eight (8) documents you analyzed, write a response to the
question above. Be sure to use evidence from the documents to support your
answer.

[start your response here]

With loved ones abandoning each other and people dropping like flies, the mental
morale and population of Eurasia declined rapidly with the arrival of the Bubonic plague
in 1347. It spread quickly from person to person starting around China and mercilessly
migrating north and west; nasty swellings that ripped apart and oozed covered all the soft
skinned parts of the body and sickly looking black patches snaked over limbs. Large swaths
of the population were exterminated, and many believe that the plague derived from lice
or ticks on either humans or rats. Once symptoms started appearing - hope began
disappearing, no medicine worked, no witchcraft or holy ways helped, all efforts seemed
futile. The plague was the flame, the symptoms the spark, and it all led to devastation that
took a toll on not only the helpless victim’s bodies but also on their minds.

One of the biggest reasons though - why it was such a devastation - was how so
many died; cattle and livestock, families and friends, you could even say the spirit of all the
towns died as well, alongside their residents. Those who contracted it, and even many who
survived or never got it, lost all hopes of survival and gave into pleasures and gambling -
priests stopped believing in their lord and people gave up on titles. In the end they all lost
hope, and it took quite a while for the survivors to enjoy life to the fullest again due to the
immense devastation the Black Death caused.
 Rubric
Mastery Proficient Acceptable Beginning

A rich and detailed A thorough An accurate A vague understanding

understanding of the understanding of the understanding of the of the Black Death. The
SS
Black Death. The Black Death. The Black Death. The student uses
8.2
student uses insightful student uses student uses relevant underdeveloped
ELA explanations and thoughtful explanations and explanations and
GO2 descriptions to describe explanations and descriptions to descriptions to describe
how it impacted descriptions to describe how it how it impacted
European society. describe how it impacted European European society.
impacted European society.
society.

It started with a ship and a sail, dark waters flowing, and bodies
unmoving - their fluids seeping between the deck boards.