The Black Death Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1347-1351

However, there is evidence of the plague affecting areas of China dozens of years before. The bubonic plague reappeared sporadically in Europe at various times until well into the 18th century.

Answer: All of these

In some cases the blood became poisoned or a gush of blood emerged from the nose.

Answer: 3-5 days

Although some people did contract the plague and survive, these were rare cases. Usually, after a person had been infected with the plague they lasted five days at the maximum.

Answer: By flea-bearing rats on ships

In October 1347 mariners who had visited the areas of India and China, brought the plague back when they docked in Messina, Sicily. The occupants of the boats were already very ill or dying when they made contact with the citizens of Messina. The citizens of Messina realized a horrible sickness came from the ships in port and expelled them, but not before the plague had started to spread.

Answer: Any of these

This was the sad part about the plague. You could catch it by caring for someone sick with the plague, handling the remains, or even moving into the empty quarters of someone who'd had the illness.

Answer: Consecrated the Rhone River at Avignon to be used as a burial site

Pope Clement VI consecrated the Rhone river as a place to deposit the dead bodies of plauge victims because the burial areas could not keep up with all of the deaths.

In many parts of Europe the Jews were accused of poisoning the water supply, and several pogroms followed.

Answer: Killing all the dogs that could be found

Killing the dogs took away one of the main predators of the rats whose fleas spread the plague. Mass burial sites, burning the dead, and getting drunk were all practiced in an effort to stop the spread of the plague.

Answer: Lawyers

With all the money, goods, and property left behind lawyers (and judges) had to figure out who had the right of ownership. Sadly, many doctors and priests became infected by helping and treating those who had the plague, and their numbers diminished.

Answer: 50

That was about one third of Europe's population at the time. (Some sources give higher figures up to 80 or 100 million, but 50 million seems to be the preferred estimate).

Answer: "Ring a Ring o' Roses"

The words make this interpretation tempting. "Ring around the rosy" looks as if it describes the rash on the skin; "pocket full of posies" could refers to the herb people carried that was thought to keep the plague away - and so on. The main trouble is that there is no evidence for it ...

In particular, (1) the earliest written version dates from 1790, so there is a very long gap between the Great Plague (London, 1665) and the first known appearance of the nursery rhyme, and (2) the earliest known versions (up to about 1850) are different and lack the key 'Black Death' lines.