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WAT TYLER AND HIS REVOLTING PEASANTS!
In 1381, some 35 years after
the Black Death had swept through Europe decimating over
one third of the population, there was a shortage of
people left to work the land. Recognising the power of
‘supply and demand’, the remaining peasants began to
re-evaluate their worth and subsequently demanded higher
wages and better working conditions.
Not surprisingly the
government of the day, comprising mainly of the
land-owning Bishops and Lords, passed a law to limit any
such wage rise. In addition to this, extra revenue was
required to support a long and drawn out war with the
French, and so a poll tax was introduced.
It was
the third time in four years that such a tax had been
applied. This crippling tax meant that everyone
over the age of 15 had to pay one shilling. Perhaps not
a great deal of money to a Lord or a Bishop, but a
significant amount to the average farm labourer!
And if they could not pay in cash,
they could pay in kind, such as seeds, tools etc. All of
which could be vital to the survival of a farmer and his
family for the coming year.
 Things
appear to have come to a head when in May 1381 a tax
collector arrived in the Essex village of Fobbing to
find out why the people there had not paid their poll
tax. The villagers appear to have taken exception to his
enquiries and promptly threw him out.
The
following month, the 15-year-old King Richard II sent in
his soldiers to re-establish law and order. But the
villagers of Fobbing metered out the same unceremonious
treatment to them.
Joined by
other villagers from all corners of the southeast of
England, the peasants decided to march on London in
order to plead their case for a better deal before their
young king. Not that the peasants blamed Richard for
their problems, their anger was aimed instead at his
advisors – Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, whom they
believed to be corrupt.
In what
appears to have been a well organized and coordinated
popular uprising, the peasants set off for London on the
2nd June in a sort of pincer movement. The villagers
from the north of the Thames, primarily from Essex,
Norfolk and Suffolk, converged on London via Chelmsford.
Those from the south of the Thames, comprising mainly of
Kentish folk, first attacked Rochester Castle and then
Sudbury’s Canterbury, before setting off for Blackheath
on the outskirts of London.
More than
60,000 people are reported to have been involved in the
revolt, and not all of them were peasants: soldiers and
tradesmen as well as some disillusioned churchmen,
including one Peasant leader known as ‘the mad priest of
Kent’, John Ball.
As the
peasants moved on to London, they destroyed tax records
and registers, and removed the heads from several tax
officials who objected to them doing so. Buildings which
housed government records were burned down. It was
during the march one man emerged as their natural leader
- Wat Tyler (Walter the Tyler) from Kent.
The
rebels entered London (as some of the locals had kindly
left the city gates open to them!) and somehow the Savoy
Palace of the unpopular John of Gaunt got a little
scorched in the process, with much of the palace’s
contents being deposited in the nearby Thames.
With all
of the temptations of the ‘big city’ on offer however,
Wat Tyler seems to have lost control of some of his
‘pleasure seeking’ peasants. With some falling foul to
the power of the demon drink, looting and murder are
reported to have taken place. In particular however, the
peasants targeted their hatred at the lawyers and
priests of the city.
In an
attempt to prevent further trouble, the king agreed to
meet the Wat Tyler at Mile End on 14th June. At this
meeting, Richard II gave into all of the peasants
demands and asked that they go home in peace. Satisfied
with the outcome - a promised end to serfdom and
feudalism - many did start the journey home.
Whilst
this meeting was taking place however, some of the
rebels marched on the Tower of London and murdered Simon
Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Robert Hales,
the Treasurer - their heads were cut off on Tower Hill.
With his armies spread throughout France, Scotland and
Wales, King Richard II spent the night in hiding,
fearing for his life.
Jean Froissart,
Chronicles, 15th Century
The next
day Richard met Wat Tyler and his hardcore of Kentish
rebels again, this time at Smithfield, just outside of
the city’s walls. It is thought that this was the idea
of the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Walworth, who
wanted the rebels out of his city, perhaps fearing the
damage that they could cause within its cramped medieval
streets lined with tinder dry wooden houses.
At this
tense and highly charged meeting the Lord Mayor,
apparently angered by Wat Tyler’s arrogant attitude to
the king and his even more radical demands, drew his
dagger and slashed at Tyler. Badly injured with a knife
wound in his neck, Tyler was taken to nearby St
Bartholomew’s Hospital.
It is not
exactly clear how the king talked his way out this
little predicament with the massed crowd of rebels
surrounding him, but it must have been good. One account
records that the king addressed them with the cry, ‘I am
your king, I will be your leader. Follow me into the
fields’.
Whatever
the king said or promised, it must have been sounded
very convincing, as it resulted in the revolting
peasants dispersing and returning home! But what of the
fate of Wat Tyler? Well, he certainly didn’t receive the
five-star treatment that he could expect today from St
Bart’s! Thanks to Walworth’s orders, the knife wound in
Tyler’s neck was extended, which had the effect of
removing his head just a few inches above the shoulders!
By end of
the summer of 1381, just a few weeks after it had
started, the peasants’ revolt was over. Richard did not,
or could not due to his limited power in Parliament,
keep any of his promises. He also claimed that as these
promises were made under threat, they were therefore not
valid in law. The remaining rebels were dealt with by
force.
The poll
tax was withdrawn and the peasants were forced back into
their old way of life - under the control of the lord of
the manor, bishop or archbishop.
The
ruling classes however did not have it all their own
way. The Black Death had caused such a shortage of
labour that over the next 100 years many peasants’ found
that when they asked for more money the lords had to
give in. Forced eventually to perhaps recognise the
peasants’ power of ‘supply and demand’!
©
HUK
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