The Stuarts: The Great Plague

PowerPoint (with 7 slides) and one word document that examine contemporary beliefs about the causes of the Great Plague of 1665, the effectiveness of responses to the plague and reasons for the end of the outbreak.

Activities include

• Source analysis exercise on Samuel Pepys’ diary to identify the cause of his concerns.
• Quick Quiz activity focused on the Black Death (prior learning).
• Matching exercise on causes of the spread of the Plague, both accurate & inaccurate.
• Source analysis of a Daniel Defoe extract.
• Analysis of responses to the outbreak to determine what they suggest people believed was the cause. Judgment on the effectiveness of these actions.
• Analysis of a map to determine the importance of the Great Fire of London in ending the outbreak.
• Analysis of the monthly death statistics to identify alternative reasons for the end of the outbreak.

Designed for teaching an academically able Key Stage 3 class covering aspects of Stuart Britain / Early Modern Europe.

Lesson Length: 1hr depending on pace.

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