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The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death in the 1340s, the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years' War ...
- 30 May – November 1381
- England
Apr 30, 2024 · Peasants’ Revolt, (1381), first great popular rebellion in English history. Its immediate cause was the imposition of the unpopular poll tax of 1380, which brought to a head the economic discontent that had been growing since the middle of the century. The rebellion drew support from several sources and included well-to-do artisans and ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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- Aftermath of A Devastating Pandemic
- Tensions Boil Over
- March to The Capital
- Negotiations
- The Smithfield Meeting
The Black Death saw terrible waves of plague sweep Europe: England’s population was ravaged, with somewhere between 30 and 50% of the population dying. As a result of this, the peasantry – who had previously been kept under a system of serfdom which greatly restricted their freedom – became more scarce and had more land available to them. Their lab...
The revolt is judged to have broken out in Essex on 30 May, when MP John Bampton arrived to investigate non-payment of poll tax. The south-east of England had always been its wealthiest region, and as a result there were very few unpaid serfs there and the peasants enjoyed a better quality of life than elsewhere. It was therefore the hotbed of the ...
On 7 June they elected a leader called Wat Tyler at the town of Maidstone – a tough and charismatic man whose origins are mysterious but who appears to have fought in France as one of the renowned English longbowmen. Now it had a leader with clear aims, the revolt gathered momentum and purpose. Tyler’s first move was marching on the castle-town of ...
Richard decided that he ought to meet the rebels, but the attempted talks failed when he lost heart and refused to get out of his boat onto the bank where their men were waiting. After this, the mob decided that negotiations were worthless and marched through the open gates of London, where many of the locals joined them. There they repeated their ...
Another meeting between the rebel leader and the King took place at Smithfield on 15 June and this time Richard brought a substantial force of armoured men with him, though it was still dwarfed by the force of thousands of grim-faced rebels facing him. At this meeting Tyler treated the King with condescension and rudeness, and an argument between h...
- Sarah Roller
Feb 16, 2024 · On 4 June 1381 the Essex rebels launched an attack on Lesnes Abbey in Kent, targeting tax records crucial for control and taxation by the Church and Crown. This destruction sparked a coordinated revolt, necessitating military expertise.
- Amy Irvine
Articles. Medieval. Why Was the Peasants’ Revolt so Significant? Kathryn Warner. 29 Jul 2019. In June 1381, one of the greatest social convulsions of medieval European history took place in England. Famine and plague.
- Kathryn Warner
Apr 28, 2021 · Medieval. Your guide to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. In spring 1381, a group of rebels marched on the city of London, attacking houses and towns on their way to confront the teenage king Richard II.
The Peasants’ revolt had a profound impact on the young King, with the events of 1381 having a lasting effect on his mistrust of the people and often harsh punishment for traitors and rebels. The revolt, alongside the other dramatic changes of the 14th century, eventually saw an end to serfdom but the inequality that Ball, Tyler and the rest ...
