Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Peasants’ Revolt of 1381

Also known as Wat Tyler’s Rebellion, the revolt of the English peasants during 1381 is not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the best documented popular rebellion ever to have occurred during medieval times. The cause of the revolt has two plausible explanations offered from the varying evidence surviving, the first being a “necessary crisis of feudalism,” (Dobson, 1) a “breach of customary expectations” (Dobson, 1) caused by the dislocation of the country’s social structure as a result of the Black Death in 1377-1381. A second supposed cause is the violent but unpremeditated reaction of many of the king’s subjects to governmental maladministration and excessive war taxation, especially the three Poll Taxes of 1377-1381.

Important figures in the revolt include Wat Tyler who was a charismatic leader who marched with the commons of Kent to Blackheath in hopes of presenting their grievances to King Richard II. John Ball was the priest of St. James’ Church in Colchester who believed that the wealth discrepancy in England was morally wrong. He preached against the injustice, and the Archbishop of Canterbury made it punishable to listen to Ball’s sermons.

Events Precipitating the Revolt

The rebellion was spurred by a poll tax in 1381 which was the tipping point after years of economic discontent. Originally the dissatisfaction and resentment remained in the lowest classes, but then the skilled laborers such as the artisans and villeins joined the cause and the numbers were harder for the royalty to ignore. The working classes and laborers were most grieved by the Statute of Labourers which attempted to fix maximum wages during the labor shortage following the Black Death epidemic. The royal government was in need of funds after the 100 Years War, and so the Poll Tax was instated, which was a tax meant to collect money from the poor for the royal government. However, since the plague of the Black Death, the peasants started realizing their importance to society since their populations were defeated, and resisted the continued oppression in the forms of the Statue of Labourers and the Poll Tax.

In June, Kentish rebels formed behind Wat Tyler and joined with rebels from Essex and entered London. They massacred Flemish merchants and sacked the palace of King Richard II’s uncle, the unpopular John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The government under Richard, who was only 14 years old at the time, felt compelled to negotiate. While Richard met the men from Essex outside London at Mile End to promise cheaper land, free trade, and the abolition of serfdom and forced labor, the Kentish rebels forcefully took London Tower, taking advantage of the king’s absence. The chancellor, Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, and the treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, who were responsible for the poll tax, were executed by decapitation by the rebels from Kent. King Richard agreed to meet with Wat Tyler the next day at Smithfield, and Tyler was assassinated by the mayor of London. It is speculated that this was premeditated by the royal government.

Consequences

The rebellion was ended when Wat Tyler was assassinated and Richard easily disarmed the rest of the rebels without their leader. King Richard II said, “I will be your king, your captain and your leader,” and reunited the people easily, since they had lost Tyler as their leader. John Ball was also executed (drawn, hanged, and quartered) on July 15 at St. Albans. The resistance quickly collapsed after this. King Richard had made many promises throughout the course of this rebellion, including the abolition of serfdom, cheaper land for sale to free tenants, the freedom to buy and sell goods, and the repeal of of all police and labor laws recently passed. However, after Tyler was executed and the rest of the rebels were scattered, Richard declared that the promises he had made were no longer binding, and in fact did not follow through with any of them. However, although the Revolt is generally considered a failure, it did succeed in showing the peasants that they were of some value and had some power. Also, at least 600 years passed before any English government imposed a Poll Tax again, suggesting that the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 actually made some impact on the ruling class.

References

Aers, David. “Vox Populi and the Literature of 1381.” The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999.

Dobson, Barrie. “Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.”  Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. 2001. 18 March 2008 .

Hanawalt, Barbara A., ed. Chaucer’s England: Literature in Historical Context. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992.

Justice, Steven. Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994.

Lavezzo, Kathy, ed. Imagining a Medieval English Nation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.