Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Part of The Black Death — GCSE History
This memory aid covers Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts within The Black Death for GCSE History. Revise The Black Death in Medicine Through Time for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 5 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 12 of 14 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
Topic position
Section 12 of 14
Practice
8 questions
Recall
5 flashcards
🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Medieval responses to plague — "GMPQ" (God, Miasma, Purge, Quarantine):
- God — prayer, flagellation, pilgrimage (spread disease; didn't help)
- Miasma — flowers, herbs, bonfires to remove bad air (addressed wrong cause)
- Purge and bleed — humours treatments (weakened patients further)
- Quarantine — isolation of sick (the ONE thing that actually helped, by accident)
Key numbers to know cold:
- 1348 — Black Death arrives in England (port of Weymouth)
- 30-50% — proportion of England's population killed
- 2 million — approximate number of English deaths
- 1/3 — proportion of Europe's population killed
- 1665 — last major outbreak (the Great Plague of London)
"Right action, wrong reason" — the key exam concept: Milan quarantined infected houses and had lower death rates. But Milan didn't quarantine because it understood infection routes — it quarantined to prevent miasma from spreading. The action was correct; the reasoning was wrong. This is the most sophisticated exam point about the Black Death: sometimes medieval responses accidentally worked even though the theory behind them was completely wrong. This shows that even without correct understanding, pragmatic action could be partially effective.
What the Black Death DID change (long-term): Although medicine didn't change immediately, the Black Death created labour shortages that shifted power towards peasants. This social disruption contributed to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and gradual changes in the feudal system. A healthy, confident peasant class was eventually one of the preconditions for the Renaissance questioning of traditional authority — including Galen.