Topic 3: Medieval revolt and royal authority

Question 1

What were the causes of the Peasant’s Revolt?

Answer 1

Life for the peasants of medieval England was hard. They were at the bottom of the feudal system working hard for a lord and serving the king. In the 14th century the peasants had had enough; they decided to fight back.

Economic
- In 1348 the plague or Black death arrived in England; it killed most of the peasant workforce, so fields of crops were left to rot and villages were abandoned; as there were fewer workers, the peasants could demand higher wages.
- King Richard II raised taxes to fund his campaigns against the French in the Hundred Years Wars - it was called a poll tax.
- By 1380 everyone over the age of 15 had to pay 4 groats per year to the king; this was massive increases from the 1 groat they had previously paid.

Political
- Local lords and even the king worried that the peasants were becoming too powerful and that the feudal system would break down.
- In 1351 King Edward III passed the Statue of Labourers which restricted the movement and wages of the peasants; they were forced to return and work for their lord again.
- The peasants wanted reform to reduce the influence of landowners.

Religious
- Many priests started to preach that the church was exploiting the peasants by making people pay pardons for their sins.
- John Ball, a priest, said that God had created everyone equally and there should be no rich or poor; Ball was arrested.

Social
- The black death plague spread across the country killing a third of the population - mostly poor people.
- Many peasants started to move around from village to village looking for the best paid work.
- Between 1377 and 1379, 70% of the people brought before the Justice of the peace were accused of breaking the statue of labourers.
- Peasants returning from the Hundred Years War were forced to go back to their old lives and pay higher taxes.

Question 2

Timeline of the peasants revolt in 1381

Answer 2

30th May: Peasants refuse to pay poll tax ad threaten to kill local tax collector.
2nd June: Chief Justice comes to collect poll tax and is also threatened; peasant find tax collector’s clerks and behead them, also set fire to houses of poll tax supporters.
7th June: Peasants march to Maidstone and make Wat Tyler their leader; they free John Ball, storm Rochester Castle and burn tax records.
12th June: Peasants reach London’s city walls and Richard II sails to meet them, but the crowd is too rowdy.
13th June: Peasants storm the city walls, burn palaces and kill supporters of the king; some peasants are peaceful as Wat Tyler ordered.
14th June: Wat Tyler meets the king and outlines the peasants’ demands; the king agrees and asks the peasants to go home. While this is happening, another group of peasants kills the Archbishop of Canterbury.
15th: The king meets the peasants again and agrees to their demands, but one of his men kills Wat Tyler; the peasants leave London and the revolt is over.

Question 3

What were the peasants’ demands?

Answer 3

• All villeins to be made freemen
• Full change to the system of law
• Church lands to be given to the people
• All bishops except one to be removed

Richard went back on his word. He said that he had been forced to agree to the demands so it sis not count. The rebel leaders were all rounded up and hanged, and John Ball’s and Wat Tyler’s heads were stuck on spikes on London Bridge.

Question 4

What was the impact of the peasants’ revolt?

Answer 4

• After Wat Tyler’s death the peasants disbanded and went home. It is easy to dismiss the Peasant’s Revolt as a failure as their leader was killed and King Richards did not change anything.
• King Richard did stop the poll tax after the revolt. It was not repeated until 1989 in Scotland and 1990 in England and Wales.
• The peasants’ wages began to rise because the situation before the revolt remained the same; there was a lack of workers so the peasants so the peasants could demand more money. Parliament eventually gave in and stopped trying to control the peasant’s wages. The statue of Labourers was eventually withdrawn.
• Some peasants were even able to buy their own land because there was so much unused after the black death.
• Gradually peasants became more independent and within 100 years peasants and villeins were freemen.