Year 7

Home Learning Booklet

History

Spring Term 1

What frightened Medieval people?

Activity one-How did people think they could avoid going to Hell?

Look at the Medieval doom painting below from the wall of a

parish church.

1. Answer the questions to the right of the doom painting.

2. Create your own doom painting using the ideas from the

painting below.

a. Look at hell first, in the bottom

half of the painting. What can you see

happening?

b. Now look at heaven, in the top half.

What can you see happening?

c. What is happening the ladder

between heaven and hell?

d. Why might a church want to have a

painting like this on the wall?

3.Design a medieval pathway to heaven. This should show what

medieval people believed they had to do to keep out of hell and get

to heaven. Use the information below to help you. You could

decorate your pathway with drawings.

Activity two-What caused the Black Death?

1. Read the sources below and then complete the activity that

follows. They tell you what people at the time thought caused

the Black Death.

Activity three- What really caused the Black Death?

1. Complete the task below. You may want to draw your own diagram of how

the Black Death spread and include the labels on it.

Below is an example of a diagram that you could draw

2. Design a leaflet to distribute to the people of Medieval

England, based on their understanding of the Black Death. You

will need to use the information from Activity two.

Activity four-Could you cure the Black Death?

1. Below is an example of a Medieval cure. Research as many

other cures as you can. Make a list of those that you find and

draw a cartoon picture to accompany it.

2. Do any of these cures make sense to you? Identify those

that you think were sensible.

Activity five-Did anyone benefit from the Black Death?

The picture below shows the percentage of people in each place

dying from the Black Death. There is then a diagram showing life

before and after the Black Death. Read each of these carefully.

Complete the tasks that follow.

Activity five- Why did the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381?

1. Below are some reasons why the peasants said that they

revolted. Read them carefully and make a list of the causes.

“We are fed up of being owned by our feudal lords”

“We hate the poll tax which makes everyone rich and poor

pay the same, 12p. The rich can afford to pay the tax

but we cannot”

“The level of our wages is set by Parliament; that can’t be

right, and the wages are too low”

“The French are winning the war and have started raiding

villages on the coast”

“Some priests such as John Ball are telling us that God

made all people equal”

“We don’t like having to give the Church two days’ work for

nothing every week”

“This war with France is too expensive and should be

stopped”

2. Complete the task below.

You have been chosen by your village to lead them in the Peasants’

Revolt against the king. You must now encourage others to join your

cause.

a. Write a speech to gain the support of peasants in your village,

with at least 3 reasons why they should revolt.

b. Make a banner or a badge to encourage others to join your

revolt.

3. Research the events of the Peasants’ Revolt. Find out

something about each of the following and the part they played

in the revolt: -

a. People

John Bampton

Wat Tyler

John Ball

Richard II

Sir Robert Belknap

b. Places

Brentwood, Fobbing, Mile End, Bishopsgate,

Rotherhide, Smithfield, Maidstone Castle, London,

Savoy Palace

c. Poll tax

4. Using the information from above and your research, make a

cartoon strip about the events of the Peasants Revolt.

Activity six-Were the Peasants successful?

1. Using the information below, draw a table showing the

successes and failures of the Peasants’ Revolt

• Richard II did not keep his promises. • The Feudal System was not abolished. • Wages did not increase. • Richard did not get rid of his advisors. In fact, some

historians believe that the revolt made Richard proud and over-confident, and that it made him rule in a way which led to his fall in 1399.

• But the rebellion had frightened the rich and made them realise that they could not push the poor too far. No government collected a Poll Tax until 1990.

• Over the following 50 years the demands of the peasants were largely met, even if they were on the king’s conditions. Peasants could work for more money and slowly gained more freedoms from their lords to work where they pleased and make more of their own choices such as who to marry.

Successes of the revolt Failures of the revolt

Activity seven-Why did people go on Crusades?

A Crusade is a Christian military expedition. Its aim was to make

sure that Jerusalem was under Christian rule, not Muslim rule.

1. Read the source below.

2. Now answer the questions in full sentences below.

• Why do you think the Pope mentioned God so much?

• What crimes did he accuse the Muslims of committing?

• How did he encourage Christians to join the Crusade?

I speak as a messenger from God. You

must hasten to help your brothers in the

East. The Turkish Muslims have seized

more and more of the lands of the

Christians, have defeated them seven

times in battles, killed or captured many

people, destroyed churches and

devastated the kingdom of God. In the

name of God, I beg you to drive out

these foul creatures. Set out for

Jerusalem. Take the land from the

wicked infidel (someone of a different

religion) and make it your own. If you die

on the journey or in battle, your sins will

be forgiven immediately. God Himself

has given me the power to say this.

From Pope Urban III’s speech 1095

3. Read the

sources and

make a list of

other reasons

people joined the

Crusades.

4. Now draw a poster encouraging people to join the Crusades. Try

to include as many reasons from all the previous sources as you can.

Think about persuasive language and techniques.

Activity seven -Was the First Crusade successful?

1. Here is some information about the First Crusade. Use the

information to complete the task below.

• The First Crusade happened from 1095-1099

• The Crusader force was about 30,000 strong as it swept its

way through Europe on its way to Jerusalem

• It had no overall commander and was really a collection of

smaller armies all with one purpose in mind: to recapture

Jerusalem for Christianity

• The journey overland was dangerous

• Crusaders had to cope with attacks from Muslims, with disease

and homesickness

Many have gone on

Crusades to escape from

their own land. There

are criminals, thieves

and robbers, pirates,

dice players, men who

have left their wives and

women who have left

their husbands.

Source 2

My dear wife, I now have

twice as much silver,

gold and other riches as

I had when I set off on

this Crusade.

Source 1

• On the way to Jerusalem, the Crusaders attacked and captured

the cities of Nicea and Antioch

• The Siege of Jerusalem happened in July 1099

• To begin with the Crusader’s chance of taking the city didn’t

look good.

• Their siege equipment hadn’t arrived, the defending Muslims

had enough food to last them for weeks and there was a

rumour that they had poisoned the wells and so the Crusaders

were afraid to drink the water.

• Finally, though the Crusaders managed to break through

Jerusalem’s city walls using their sophisticated siege

equipment.

• Once inside they ran riot slaughtering 70.000 people

• Thousands of Crusaders then flooded into the Holy Land and

settled down

Use this information and other research to complete the task

below.

Activity Eight-Salah al-Deen-Hero or Tyrant?

Read carefully the sources below.

1.Complete the table below for each of the sources

During a siege of one of the towns,

one of the European women came to

us asking to see Salah al Din. She

said that her daughter had been

taken by Muslims in the night. Tears

came to Salah al Deen’s eyes and he

sent a horseman to the local slave

market to look for the girl. He

returned soon after with her, safe.

The girls mother threw herself to

the floor with emotion

Written by a Muslim about one of

Salah al-Deen’s sieges

Source A

So many were killed, so many

made prisoner that even the

enemy felt sorry for our people.

Some of the prisoners were kept

safe until Salah al-Deen decided

what to do with them. Among

them was Reynald of Chatillon.

The tyrant , Salah al- Deen , cut

off his proud head with his own

hands.

Written by an English monk in

1200

Source B

1. Now complete an extended piece of writing.

It could be argued that he was a hero because …

It could be argued he was a tyrant because …

Overall, I think he was ….