Spread of the Black Death Across Europe

Use Feudal Obligations first to build vocabulary such as fief and serf, then move to the map sheet for cause and effect along trade routes. Both pages repeat the key terms so students can check their work against the passage.

Trace the Black Death from Messina to Novgorod on a map and read about its trade routes. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then answer questions 1 and 2 in your own words. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 7th grade Medieval and Early Modern World, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

Feudalism was a system based on exchanging land for loyal service. A monarch granted large estates called fiefs to powerful lords, who swore an oath of loyalty and gave service in return. Feudal Obligations in Medieval Europe has students show who owes what.

It moved along routes of trade. Rats lived among the cargo, so ships carried the plague from port to port and merchants carried it inland. The map sheet has students draw arrows from Messina to Novgorod.

The sheet says trading ships from the Black Sea reached Messina, Sicily, in the fall of 1347. It struck Italy, France and England in 1348 and was entering the lands of Russia by about 1352.