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Episode Details
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The Peasants Revolt

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n 1377, at the age of only ten years old, Richard II became the King of England. At such a young age he was unable to rule and so the country was led by his uncle, John of Gaunt, the Earl of Lancaster, and William Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester. Enemies were attacking England from both the south and north. In the south the French were attacking the coast and in the north the Scots had captured Berwick Castle. To counter the attacks Wykeham asked Parliament for money to renew the war with France. Between 1379 and 1381 the money was raised by enforcing a series of poll-taxes on the country. The third poll-tax raised was the hardest and even the poorest were expected to contribute. In an effort to prevent the workers avoiding paying the taxes, judges were sent out to ensure the taxes were paid.

The relationship between the land owners and villeins (the ordinary people) had changed after the terrible loss of life caused by the Black Death just thirty years earlier. After the pestilence had receded the labourers realised that they could demand more money for their services. The death toll had been greatest amongst the poorer workers and now their employers were willing to pay more to attract workers to their land. In response Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers, by which employers were only allowed to pay the same amount of money in wages as before the Black Death.

It is not unreasonable to assume that given the problems people had faced over the previous thirty years that a poll-tax was deeply unpopular. The exact spark that lit the revolt is hard to find. The tax had to be paid by those over a certain age and traditionally it is thought that the revolt started in Dartford when a tax-collector indecently searched the daughter of a tiler to determine how old she was. The tiler killed the tax-collector and the revolt began.

In the summer of 1381 several bands of rebels from Kent and Essex combined under the leadership of two men, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. They freed a priest from prison called John Ball in Maidstone who had been wandering from village to village preaching equality and had been arrested for his beliefs. John Ball preached to the crowds of supporters that followed them and they marched together to London to confront the King Richard.

Episode Events
Episode Events

1381

May
Start of the Peasant's Revolt
Essex villagers resisted tax collection; beginning of the Peasant's Revolt in England. ¹
Jun 7
Peasant's Revolt reaches Maidstone
The Kentish section of the Revolt reached Maidstone where they were joined by Wat Tyler who became their leader. They released John Ball from the church prison. ¹
Jun 10
William Courtenay becomes Archbishop of Canterbury
William Courtenay became the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Jun 10
Peasant's Revolt reaches Canterbury
William Courtenay was elected the new archbishop of Canterbury by the Kentish rebels who crowded into the church. The previous archbishop was in London with the king and was to be beheaded by the rebels. The Essex section of the revolt burnt and sacked a Hospitaller commandery that had previously belonged to the Templars called Cressing Temple. ¹
Jun 11
Rebels move towards London
Both the Kentish and the Essex rebels move towards London.
Jun 12
Rebels reach London
The Essex rebels reach Mile End near Aldgate and the Kentish rebels reach Southwark. ¹
Jun 14
Richard meets the rebels
King Richard II negotiated with the rebel peasants at Mile End, London. At the same time a group of rebels entered the Tower of London and Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, Sir Robert Hales and other officials were killed. Disturbances also started in St.Albans. ¹
Jun 15
Wat Tyler killed
Richard II again met the rebels, at Smithfield; they demanded the confiscation of church land; Watt Tyler was killed and the rebels dispersed; the Prior of Bury St.Edmunds was executed by the townspeople; University property was attacked in Cambridge. ¹
Jun 16
Rebellion elsewhere
The English rebellion spread to Norfolk and on the 19th to Somerset. Sir John Cavendish was murdered by rebels. ¹
Jun 17
Rebellion again
Norfolk rebels entered Norwich but were repelled by local landowners, led by Henry le Despenser, bishop of Norwich; the bishop met the rebels on the 26th at North Walsham and captured their stronghold. Rebel attacks occurred at Peterborough Abbey and Dunstable Priory, and in Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire. ¹

Event Participants and Locations

  • Tyler, Wat
  • Ball, John
  • Richard (II, King of England 1377-1399)
  • Canterbury Cathedral
  • Cressing Temple
  • London
  • Bury St. Edmunds

Related Information

Richard II

Reign From
June 23, 1377

Reign To
1399

Succeeded
Edward III

Preceded
Henry IV

Royal House
Plantagenet

Medieval Episodes

Early Middle Ages

  • Saxons and Angles
  • Viking Invasions

High Middle Ages

  • Edward the Confessor and Godwine
  • Reasons for the Norman Invasion
  • The Norman Invasion
  • The Norman Conquest
  • Background to the Crusades
  • People's and First Crusade
  • Second Crusade
  • Third Crusade
  • Stephen's succession to the throne
  • Civil War (The Anarchy)
  • The Conquest of Ireland
  • Henry II and Thomas Becket
  • Excommunication of King John
  • The First Barons' War
  • The Second Barons' War
  • Edward I and Wales
  • Edward I and Scotland

Last Middle Ages

  • Edward II and Piers Gaveston
  • Robert the Bruce
  • Isabella, She-Wolf of France and death of Edward II
  • Edward III starts the Hundred Years War
  • Continues with Richard II
  • Henry V invades France
  • Henry VI and Joan of Arc
  • The Black Death
  • The Peasants Revolt
  • The Lords Appellant
  • Glendower's Revolt
  • Wars of the Roses

Early Modern Period

  • The Great Explorers
  • Henry VIII and his six wives
  • Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Day Queen

Event Participants and Locations

  • Tyler, Wat
  • Ball, John
  • Richard (II, King of England 1377-1399)
  • Canterbury Cathedral
  • Cressing Temple
  • London
  • Bury St. Edmunds

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