18. The Peasants’ Revolt, England 1381

the Death of Wat Tyler
A late 15th C depiction of the Mayor of London whacking Wat Tyler with his sword on June 15, 1381; the young king Richard II watches from his horse, and then calms the crowd (read the painting from left to right). From Jean Froissart’s Chronicles, British Library Royal MS 18.E.i-ii f175

When English commoners marched on London in 1381, killing court officials, Flemish immigrants, and anybody associated with John of Gaunt, it was after they had been through years of social unrest following the Black Death, and several harsh taxes.  The Revolt is well known even now, not because of the peasants’ demands (which they didn’t get — abolishment of serfdom? executions of all of the king’s councilors?  get real), but because John Ball was giving sermons to them (to either rouse their spirits or incite them to riot, depending on how you look at it), and he was preaching the abolishment of class divisions, and the abolishment of private property.  That’s what we remember.  (He didn’t get his demands, either.)

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