Questions about Peasants' Revolt
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What caused the Peasants' Revolt of 1381?
The Peasants' Revolt was driven by three overlapping pressures: the economic upheaval following the Black Death of 1348, which killed an estimated 50 percent of England's population and created intense tension between labourers seeking higher wages and lords enforcing restrictive labour laws; the financial strain of the Hundred Years' War with France; and three successive poll taxes, the third of which charged a flat 12 pence per person and was widely evaded. Royal commissioners sent to investigate tax evasion in March 1381 inflamed communities across the south-east, triggering the final outbreak.
Who was Wat Tyler and what role did he play in the Peasants' Revolt?
Wat Tyler was the primary leader of the Kentish rebels in the 1381 uprising. Chroniclers suggest he was originally from Essex, had served in France as an archer, and was elected leader at a large gathering in Maidstone on the 7th of June 1381. Several chroniclers credit him with shaping the revolt's political aims. He was stabbed at Smithfield on the 15th of June by Lord Mayor William Walworth and finished off by royal squire Ralph Standish.
What happened when the rebels entered London during the Peasants' Revolt?
On the 13th of June 1381, Kentish rebels crossed London Bridge after the defences were opened from the inside, while Essex rebels entered through Aldgate. The rebels destroyed the Savoy Palace, whose contents were officially valued at around £10,000, burned the legal buildings at the Temple, killed dozens of Flemish residents, and stormed the Tower of London. Inside the Tower they executed Archbishop Simon Sudbury and Lord High Treasurer Robert Hales on Tower Hill.
What demands did the rebels make to King Richard II at Mile End?
At Mile End on the 14th of June 1381, the rebels demanded the surrender of royal officials for execution, the abolition of serfdom and unfree tenure, that no law should operate within the realm save the law of Winchester (understood to mean self-governing village communities), and a general amnesty for the rebels. Richard issued charters announcing the abolition of serfdom, but formally revoked them on the 2nd of July once order was restored.
How was the Peasants' Revolt suppressed?
Suppression began immediately after Wat Tyler's death at Smithfield on the 15th of June 1381. Henry Despenser, the Bishop of Norwich, independently marched through East Anglia and defeated the rebel leader Geoffrey Litster at the Battle of North Walsham on the 25th or the 26th of June. Around 4,000 soldiers were mustered in London and dispatched across the country. By November 1381, at least 1,500 rebels had been killed or executed.
What was the long-term impact of the Peasants' Revolt on English history?
The revolt ended Parliament's attempts to levy poll taxes and forced the Crown to scale back its military campaigns in France, altering the course of the Hundred Years' War. Serfdom continued to decline through the 15th century, though historians such as Michael Postan argue the revolt's direct contribution to that decline was more limited than once thought. The revolt became a lasting symbol for political radicals: Robert Southey wrote a play about Wat Tyler in 1794, William Morris published A Dream of John Ball in 1888, and comparisons were drawn to the protests against the Community Charge in the 1980s.