Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-15

Reading Check

1. What does Aycliffe order Crispin to give as a death tax?

2. What crime does Aycliffe originally accuse Crispin of committing?

3. What phrase does Aycliffe apply to Crispin, showing that anyone could legally kill him?

4. Whose body does Crispin find lying on the ground as he leaves Stromford?

5. What caused the deaths of the people in the village Crispin enters a few days after leaving Stromford?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do the peasants gain in exchange for their loyalty to Lord Furnival?

2. What effect does the sight of the man hanging from the gallows have on Crispin?

Paired Resource

“How a Medieval City Dealing with the Black Death Invented Quarantine”

• This NPR article describes the extraordinary measures a city in present-day Croatia took to prevent the spread of the plague while maintaining economic growth.
• What effect did the plague have on medieval European economies? How might it have affected the life of someone like Crispin?

“Feudalism and Knights in Medieval Europe”

• This article offers background material related to the Middle Ages and feudalism.