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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Philippa end up sending Katherine to Bolingbroke?
(a) The living conditions at Kettlethorpe are horrible.
(b) Katherine cries for Blanche morning and night
(c) Katherine complains that Philippa is too bossy
(d) She finds Katherine to be bad company

2. Why do the servants resent the pregnant Katherine?
(a) She's bringing the next of the Swynford generation
(b) She is overly demanding
(c) She looks so beautiful pregnant
(d) She is meaner than before

3. What does Geoffrey Chaucer feel about Katherine's relationship with John?
(a) That it's inappropriate
(b) He could care less
(c) He approves
(d) He thinks it will be great source material for his next work

4. Why can't Katherine go home?
(a) She doesn't have either enough money or an escort for the journey
(b) She isn't given her usual five escorts, just three
(c) Hugh has banned her from Kettlethorpe
(d) She is sick with a bad cold

5. Who, to Katherine's dismay, is in attendance at the ceremony commemorating the death of Blanche, the duke's first wife?
(a) Blanche's ghost, whom everyone can see
(b) Costanza's mother, a very bothersome woman
(c) Geoffrey Chaucer's father, who is very ill with the black plague
(d) Costanza, the duke's current wife

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Katherine know the plague has contaminated Bolingbroke when she arrives?

2. Katherine visits the Pessoner home only to be suddenly called away by:

3. Why does Katherine decide to ride her horse to visit the Duchess of Lancaster?

4. To whom is Philippa engaged?

5. What happens when Hugh looks up at the black cross in Waltham Abbey?

Short Essay Questions

1. Shortly after her wedding, Katherine and Hugh stop at Waltham Abbey, where they visit a shrine containing a large black cross. What happens to Hugh at the shrine that foreshadows dark events to come?

2. At first, the atmosphere surrounding Blanches' funeral and burial is very solemn, very sad. But it turns jovial and circus-like during the supper at court. What happens?

3. When Katherine leaves the convent where she has lived for the past five years, she is excited because she has yearned to experience life outside the Sheppey Priory walls. During the journey to the queen's court, and upon her arrival, what kinds of people does she meet who make her quickly realize how protected a life she has led?

4. Why does the duke become the "target of an angry, puzzled England"?

5. Despite his love for Katherine, who is the Duke of Lancaster hoping to marry, and why?

6. What is Richard's reaction when the duke--who calls himself King of Castile--pledges his allegiance to him? Why?

7. When Katherine arrives at the dilapidated Kettlethorpe, she meets Gibbon. What is Gibbon's role at the manor, and who is he in relation to Hugh?

8. Nirac becomes a pivotal character in this part of the duke and Katherine's lives. What does he do?

9. Describe changes in Katherine now from the Katherine introduced at the start of this story:

10. Who breaks up the fight between Roger DeCheyne and Hugh Swynford? And how does Katherine react to this?

(see the answer keys)

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