The bubonic plague (or ‘Black Death’) was a disease which brought death to most parts
of Asia, North Africa and Europe. The first outbreak was recorded in 1331 in China. The
plague started as a bloody swelling in the armpit or groin and quickly invaded the whole
body. It was highly contagious and killed millions of people. The infection probably
began on the steppes, the grassy plains of Asia. IT was carried by fleas which lived in
the fur of the rat. The rats lived closed to humans and thus the disease spread rapidly.
Corpses were left out in the road for people to collect, thus causing the disease to spread
even further.

 The youngest son of Henry II, John, inherited from his brother Richard the throne of
England, as well as the Plantagenet dominions of France, which he had lost to the French
by 1204. John’s failure to recapture these territories, his dispute with Rome over the
Pope’s choice of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and a high level of taxation, had the
English nobility up in arms against him. In 1215 they forced the King to agree to the
Magna Carta, guaranteeing their rights in relation to those of the crown. It was intended
to protect the rights of nobles, and made sure that no-one was imprisoned without a fair
trial. Copies of this document, which tried to put an end to the king’s abuse of his power,
were distributed across the whole of England. This led to civil war, which only ended
with John’s death in 1216, Despite all these disasters, it is now known that John was
much better king than history has actually portrayed him.