1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. One of 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: the kind of weird things to come out of the 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: ongoing COVID nineteen pandemic has been a phenomenon that I 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: am liking to call bad takes about the Black Death. UM. 7 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: There are various articles and tweets and comments on our 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: Facebook page that are all about how the Black Death 9 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: was a good thing actually, because sure, while it did 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: kill as much as half of Europe and also did 11 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: everything from increasing wages to literally causing the Renaissance. UM, 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: medieval and early modern historians have done so much debunking 13 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: of these ideas through tweets and blog posts and various 14 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: op eds, and today we have a topic that really 15 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: illustrates that there is not some kind of a switch 16 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: they got flipped that magically turned the Black Death into 17 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: the Renaissance. Like. It's not like in a video game 18 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: where you grind up a certain amount of experience and 19 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: then you unlock the Renaissance. It did not work that way. 20 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: This incident has been known as what Tyler's rebellion and 21 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: as the peasants revolt of One. Today it is more 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: often called the uprising of One or the Great Rising. 23 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: And I just want to take a minute. I can 24 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: imagine people listening to this episode and thinking that maybe 25 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: we chose it because of parallels to the current situation 26 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: where has there has been a lot of violence and 27 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: destruction and property damage and some in some cases deaths 28 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: um through this ongoing week of protests and violence that 29 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: have been happening in the United States. Um, this episode 30 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: was actually written the week of May eighteen, So if people, 31 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: uh see parallels between this episode and what's currently happening, 32 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: they are not something we tried to pick as some 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: kind of political statement, right. Uh. I also feel like 34 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: we could do an entire episode of this wasn't a 35 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: magic switch, right, Like, there are a lot a lot 36 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: of the way that history is taught is that way 37 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: where it's like this happened and it catalyzed this, And 38 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: that's true to some extent, but it's not as though 39 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: everything shifts gears suddenly. It's a very slow progression. Well, 40 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: in one of the op eds that's that's really been 41 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: focused on debunking this whole idea since pretty clearly that 42 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: a lot of ap world history classes have really framed 43 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: the idea that the Black Death caused the Renaissance, but 44 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,839 Speaker 1: it's like it's a huge oversimplification. It will become more 45 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: clear as we get through this episode today, So we're 46 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: not going to dwell in the details of the Black 47 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: Death as an illness, but it is a necessary part 48 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: of the context of this uprising. The Black Death was 49 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: really one piece of a larger pandemic, the Second Plague pandemic, 50 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: which progressed through Asia, Europe, and Africa in waves from 51 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: the fourteenth through the eighteen centuries. The term the Black 52 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: Death was coined in the eighteenth century to describe the 53 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: plague that moved from eastern or Central Asia through Europe, 54 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean, and northern Africa between thirteen forty six and 55 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: thirteen fifty three. The Black Death was truly catastrophic. At 56 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: least a third of the population of Europe died, and 57 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: it was possibly as much as half. In some specific 58 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: regions that was as much as eighty percent. Today's episode 59 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,359 Speaker 1: is really focused on England, and England's population before the 60 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: Black Death had been about sixty people. Afterward, it was 61 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: half that, although some of that drop came from people 62 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: who fled to other parts of Europe to try to 63 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: escape the plague. Between twenty and thirty percent of the 64 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: English nobility died, along with about forty five percent of 65 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: the clergy and between forty and seventy percent of the 66 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: peasant class. In some cases those numbers were even higher. 67 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: And then the disease itself was just horrifying. On top 68 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: of having a high high mortality rate, its progression once 69 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: somebody contracted it was gruesome. Because the plague recurred in 70 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: waves over the course of several years. People also didn't 71 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: know when it was really over. It would seem as 72 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: though the danger had passed, only for another wave of 73 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: illness to strike. And since there were other outbreaks of 74 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: the plague in the decades after the Black Death ended, 75 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: it took generations for the population to really start to recover. 76 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: England was largely a grarian and the land was considered 77 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: to belong to the monarch. The monarch granted land to 78 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 1: the nobility in exchange for service, including providing soldiers or 79 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,559 Speaker 1: funding at a time of war. This exchange of land 80 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: for some kind of service was replicated on the Lower 81 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: rungs of the social and economic ladder, and this went 82 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: all the way down to freeholders who owned or rented 83 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: small amounts of land, and then the unfree tenants who 84 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: were known as villains, bondsman or surfs, and they were 85 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: legally obligated to work for their landlord and subsist on 86 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: a small plot that they kept for themselves. They were 87 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: not free laborers, they were obligated to do this in 88 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: this land for service system. When a households main tenant died, 89 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: his son or another heir had to pay a fee 90 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: to take his place. In England for a baron, that 91 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 1: might be a hundred pounds for a peasant. It was 92 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: typically the household's best livestock animal. During the Black Death, 93 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: so many English tenants died that landlords received more livestock 94 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: than they could possibly take care of or use, and 95 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 1: this was in spite of a livestock plague that had 96 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: previously killed many of these animals. Landlords sold off so 97 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: many surplus animals that the market collapsed because the plague 98 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: was the worst in the summer, and a lot of 99 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: areas there wasn't enough labor alive by the fall to 100 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: harvest the crops. That had been planted in the spring. 101 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: This labor shortage led to food shortages as unharvested crops 102 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: rotted in the fields in the Similarly, not like in 103 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: a video game analogy, there's just not a one to 104 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: one correspondence between how many people it takes to harvest 105 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: the food and how many people that food will feed. 106 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: In normal times, Medieval manners also tended to be relatively 107 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: self contained, with their own blacksmith and their own bakeries 108 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: and their own mills, which tenants were obligated to use. 109 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: If an estate's only blacksmith or miller or brewer died, 110 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: there might not be anybody to replace them, or anybody 111 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: else who really knew how to do that work. Although 112 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: the medieval world wasn't exclusively Christian, the Christian Church was 113 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: colossally powerful. High placed church officials also held high ranking 114 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: government positions, and high ranking nobles were often prominent in 115 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: the church. Aside from that, religion was threaded through virtually 116 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: every aspect of everyday life. But the Black Death started 117 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: to undermine the Church's power. Because the disease spread so easily, 118 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: the most compassionate and most involved clergy, the ones who 119 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: really tried to comfort and care for the sick and 120 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:58,239 Speaker 1: their families. They were among the plague's first victims. In general, 121 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: the clergy who survived were the ones who had not 122 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: been doing that work. The plague also really devastated monastic 123 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: communities where people lived in very close quarters. This caused 124 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: such a huge labor shortage within the church that it 125 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: had to relax its criteria for clergy, and that led 126 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: to an influx of people who were more interested in 127 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: the income or living that came with the position than 128 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: in actually carrying out a clergyman's duties. People became more 129 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: distrustful of clergyman and of the Church and its involvement 130 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: in everyday life, especially in the face of devastations so 131 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: immense that people wondered if God was punishing them. Aside 132 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: from all of that and the Black Deaths immediate aftermaths, 133 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: so many people had died and so much had been 134 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: disrupted that things turned into a state of near lawlessness. 135 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: And this brings us to some of the things that 136 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: have led people to argue that the Black Death was 137 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: maybe a good thing, although none of them are all 138 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: that straightforward. Before the Black Death, England was in the 139 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: middle of a land crunch in addition into an increasing population. 140 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: Leading up to the thirteenth century, people had divided their 141 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: estates among their heirs, which had resulted in people holding 142 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: smaller and smaller amounts of land. This led to a 143 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: shift to primogeniture, in which the eldest son was the 144 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: only one to inherit, but that shift couldn't really undo 145 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: what had happened in those earlier generations. After the Black Death, though, 146 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: a lot of families were able to reconsolidate their holdings 147 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: among the people who survived, and then in some cases, 148 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: to increase those holdings further through inter marriage with other 149 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: neighboring families. People went from having estates that were just 150 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: too small to be profitable to having ones that were 151 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: actually lucrative. Again, people who had not been able to 152 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: acquire land at all because there just wasn't any were 153 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,599 Speaker 1: able to buy or rent these newly available parcels. That said, 154 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: because of the labor shortage, it wasn't uncommon for people 155 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: to have trouble finding enough workers for these newly consolidated estates. Also, 156 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: a landlord whose tenants had died or left was no 157 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: longer being paid rent. He was no longer collecting fees 158 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: for the use of the manners, mills, or ovens. If 159 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: he couldn't find hired labor to replace his previous workers, 160 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: his crops went to waste and his livestock went untended. 161 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: With an excess of land and a shortage of workers, 162 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: many turned their attention from cultivated crops to livestock, which 163 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: was less labor intensive. The massive labor shortage made it 164 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: easier for surviving workers to negotiate better terms for themselves. 165 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: People who were dissatisfied with their pay or their working 166 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: or living conditions could find a different job on another manner, 167 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: or they could move to a city or a town 168 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: more easily. Tenant farmers are able to negotiate lower rents 169 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: or to rent larger amounts of land that could, at 170 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:49,439 Speaker 1: least in theory, yield a bigger income, and general wages increased, 171 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: often by as much as fifty percent and sometimes more 172 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: than that. However, in many cases it probably wasn't that 173 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,679 Speaker 1: people were being paid more for the same work. People 174 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: were working more to make up for the shortage of labor. 175 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: The increase in incomes was also at least partially offset 176 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: by rising inflation and higher prices on goods that were 177 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: now in short supply. There's also the part where for 178 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: the lowest paid people, they sort of went from making 179 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: not enough to live on too barely enough to live 180 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: on two times zero is zero. Right. People who moved 181 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: from the country to the city after the Black Death 182 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: generally had more opportunities available to them, especially because urban 183 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 1: employers were dealing with their own labor shortages. Trade guild 184 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: started shortening the links of their apprenticeships to try to 185 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: replenish their numbers, but this really meant that there was 186 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: also a big loss of knowledge, skill and quality among 187 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: the various trades, and in some cases, the number of 188 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: newcomers to the cities just outstripped the number of available jobs, 189 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: causing these recent arrivals to just become a drain on resources. 190 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: As a trend, merchants fared better than rural landlords because 191 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: their work didn't require the large labor force that agriculture did. 192 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: This was especially true is increasing wages and ongoing shifts 193 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: in supply and demand allowed more people to buy better 194 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: quality and luxury goods. Of course, England's wealthiest classes saw 195 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,119 Speaker 1: all of this. The increased freedom for workers, the rising wages, 196 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: and the luxury goods becoming more available to the masses 197 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: as a threat. They tried to return things to the 198 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: way they had been before the plague. Parliament passed the 199 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: Ordinance of Laborers in thirteen forty nine and the Statute 200 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: of Laborers in thirteen fifty one to return wages to 201 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: their pre pandemic levels, also to require able bodied men 202 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,320 Speaker 1: and women under the age of sixty to work, and 203 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,839 Speaker 1: to prevent people from moving to find different or better work. 204 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: These statutes were not always enforced very well, but when 205 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: they were, the focus was most often on the working 206 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: people who were being paid more money, not on the 207 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 1: employers and the landlords who were paying the um. In 208 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,440 Speaker 1: thirteen sixty three, Parliament also passed a sumptuary Law to 209 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: try to keep the trappings of wealth only with the wealthy. 210 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: This was like the latest in a series of these laws, 211 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: some of which had been back before the Black Death. 212 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: So by the time of the One Uprising things were 213 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: at least somewhat better for some of England's population, but 214 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: in general the people who had gained the most in 215 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:25,280 Speaker 1: the wake of the Black Death were the people who 216 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: already had some wealth to start with. Too many working people, 217 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: it had seemed like they were going to have meaningfully 218 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: more money and opportunities, but thanks to things like shortages, 219 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: other illness outbreaks, and the statute of laborers, those theoretical 220 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: gains had largely disappeared or plateaued, and England's poorest people, 221 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: the serfs, were still not free. We have not even 222 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: talked about taxes yet, and taxes were really the spark 223 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: that started this rebellion. We will get into that after 224 00:12:54,520 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. The Black Death took place during the 225 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: warfare between England and France that came to be known 226 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: as the Hundred Years War, even though it was really 227 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: a series of intermittent conflicts that played out over a 228 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,680 Speaker 1: span of a hundred and sixteen years. In England, the 229 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,719 Speaker 1: primary way to raise money for war was through taxes, 230 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 1: and at the time, the only acceptable reason to directly 231 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: tax the population was to deal with an immediate threat 232 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: to the realm. This meant that warfare and taxation were 233 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: tightly linked in people's minds, so if the war was 234 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,080 Speaker 1: going badly for England, public opinion was more likely to 235 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: blame corruption and ineptitude from parliament and royal advisers who 236 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,960 Speaker 1: had demanded their tax money, rather than blaming the military. 237 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: The Hundred Years War is generally noted as starting in 238 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: thirteen thirty seven, and England saw a series of victories 239 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: in the thirteen forties and fifties, but then the tide 240 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: started to turn. France allied with Scotland and attacked parts 241 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: of the English coast and started reclaiming territory that it 242 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: had previously ceded to England. France's Castilian allies also destroyed 243 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: the English fleet in thirteen seventy two, and English forces 244 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: on the ground in France suffered various setbacks. After using 245 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: a variety of taxation strategies to raise the money to 246 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: pay for all of this, Parliament passed a poll tax 247 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: in thirteen seventy seven. That same year, Richard the Second, 248 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: who was aged ten at the time, ascended to the 249 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: throne after the death of his grandfather, Edward the Third. 250 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: Richard's father, who had been next in line for the throne, 251 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: had died the year before. Earlier taxes had been fractional taxes, 252 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: like their names suggests, they were based on a fraction 253 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: of how much someone's movable goods were worth. These were 254 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: assessed at the community level based on how large and 255 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: affluent the community was, and they left it up to 256 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: each community to figure out who should pay what, so, 257 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: at least in theory, it was based on your ability 258 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: to pay the tax. But the thirteen seventy seven poll 259 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: tax was different. It was a flat rate of four 260 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: pence per person required of everyone over the age of fourteen, 261 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: with the exception of beggars. Even though everyone was paying 262 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: the same amount regardless of how much money they had, 263 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: this poll tax didn't seem all that egregious to people. 264 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: Fourpence was about the price of a dozen eggs. It 265 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: was still more than a day's pay for the lowest 266 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: paid laborers. Though England still needed more money though in 267 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: early thirteen seventy eight, Parliament passed another fractional tax that 268 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: was due that February. Many towns were also required to 269 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: build ships to bolster the English fleet, and since they 270 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: had to pay for this themselves, this was perceived as 271 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: yet another tax. Then, in thirteen seventy nine, Charles the 272 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: fifth of France annexed the Duchy of Brittany and there 273 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: was another poll tax to try to fund efforts to 274 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: restore its independence. The second poll tax was on a 275 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: sliding scale based on a person's profession, with thirty three 276 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: to professions listed a different tax rates. Anybody who wasn't 277 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: a member of one of those professions was again taxed 278 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: at four pence. The government had pawned the King's jewels 279 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: and had secured loans from several towns, but combined with 280 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: the poll tax, this still wasn't enough, in part because 281 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: of increasing tax evasion, and then the newly raised English 282 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: fleet was scattered in a storm and nearly twenty ships 283 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: were wrecked. Another fractional tax followed, this one framed as 284 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: a loan that would be repaid rather than an actual tax. 285 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: Taxes had to be approved by Parliament, and Parliament was 286 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: not expected to be in session again for the next 287 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: eighteen months, so people believe this tax but really alone, 288 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: would be the last one for a while. Instead, Parliament 289 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: was summoned again in November of thirteen eighty two, once 290 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: again approve another poll tax to fund the ongoing war. 291 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: Like the thirteen seventy seven tax, this poll tax was 292 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: a flat rate and free person over the age of 293 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: fifteen was required to pay twelvepence or one shilling to 294 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,359 Speaker 1: add insult to injury. This tax was due in two 295 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: installments the first at the end of February and the 296 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,919 Speaker 1: second at the beginning of June. There was not a 297 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,479 Speaker 1: lot of time to plan for that first payment, and 298 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: since it was due towards the end of winter, it 299 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: was also at the hardest time of year for rural people. 300 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: It's possible that no tax would have possibly gone well 301 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: at this point, but this tax was despised. It was 302 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,679 Speaker 1: three times as large as the previous flat rate tax, 303 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: and for large households it just added up to enormous 304 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: amounts of money. People also doubted that the tax was 305 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: really necessary. The king's uncle John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 306 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,959 Speaker 1: who was highly placed in the administration, had asked for 307 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: more tax revenue than the military budget really seemed to require. 308 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: People thought he was either lining his own pockets with 309 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,120 Speaker 1: this money or using it to pay for his own 310 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: ventures that weren't directly related to the military needs of 311 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: the kingdom. So England's fed up population, sick of paying taxes, 312 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: just didn't. Tax of asion was widespread, with as many 313 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: as thirty to people simply vanishing from the local tax roles. 314 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,239 Speaker 1: That people were like my widowed mother, not part of 315 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: my household, not not going to lay name er on there. 316 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: When the government realized that the amount of money that 317 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: had been collected was way less than they expected, they 318 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: dispatched commissioners to investigate this rampant tax of Asian. Investigations 319 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: started in late May one when John Bampton and Sir 320 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: John Guildsburg arrived in Brentwood in Essex, which is northeast 321 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: of London and as part of the Greater London Metropolitan 322 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: Area today. Bampton was a Justice of the Peace and 323 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: when delegates from Brentwood and the surrounding communities arrived to 324 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: meet with him, they may have thought that he was 325 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: there for the upcoming June Court session. When they learned 326 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,640 Speaker 1: that it was really a tax investigation, the delegates were 327 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:09,200 Speaker 1: angry and astonished. Thomas Baker of Fobbing insisted that everyone 328 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: had paid already and that they had a receipt from Bampton, 329 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: saying so, and that they would not be paying anymore. 330 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,360 Speaker 1: When the commissioners ordered their guards to start making arrests, 331 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: the delegates ran them out of town, armed with things 332 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: like bows and arrows. Then the delegates returned to the 333 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 1: fifteen or so towns and villages where they lived, and 334 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: they started organizing a resistance, including spreading the word into 335 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: other nearby towns in Essex. Meanwhile, the unrest also spread 336 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: into Kent. June two was the day that the final 337 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,119 Speaker 1: tax payment was due. It was also the holiday of 338 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: Whitsun Day or Pentecost. On that day, people from at 339 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: least forty Essex communities meant in Boking, which is northeast 340 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: of Brentwood, and swore an oath to their cause. They 341 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: also started making plans to break radical priests John Ball 342 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: out of prison. Ball preached on things like a quality 343 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: in the abolition of England's class structure. His ideas were 344 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: considered heretical and he had been excommunicated by the Archbishop 345 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: of Canterbury. Ball had been incarcerated at an ecclesiastical prison. 346 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: On June seven, rebels in Kent named former soldier Walter Tyler, 347 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,439 Speaker 1: known as What as their leader. People from Essex and 348 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: Kent then marched on London, with the people of Kent 349 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: first converging on Canterbury and making their way to London 350 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: via the Pilgrimage Road. At some point during all of this, 351 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,400 Speaker 1: John Ball was broken out of prison, and his speeches 352 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: to the rebels continued to advocate for a classless society, 353 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: including the widely quoted quote when Adam delved and Eve 354 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: span who then was a gentleman, as we said at 355 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: the top of the show. For a long time this 356 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: was known as the peasants Revolt, and the word peasants 357 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: generally conjures up an image of poor agricultural workers or 358 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: landless people, and some of the people involved with the 359 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 1: revolt definitely do fit that description, but there were also 360 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: free tenants and small landholders, as well as clergy apprentices 361 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: and tradespeople. Thomas Baker and what Tyler were as their 362 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: names suggest a Baker and a Tyler, that doesn't necessarily 363 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: mean the uprisings trades people were all free, though there 364 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: were definitely Baker's and Tyler's and other workers who were 365 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: classified as surfs. At the same time, some of the 366 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 1: people involved were also relatively powerful people in their communities, 367 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 1: including having previously served as assessors or constables or bailiffs. 368 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: Women were also a huge part of the uprising, both 369 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: as participants and as targets of the taxes and policies 370 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: that were being protested, and as had been the case 371 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,199 Speaker 1: with most of the other protests, uprising and strikes that 372 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: we have talked about on the show. Women were generally 373 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: the ones who were making men's participation possible by making 374 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: sure that the demonstrators stayed clothed and fed. As the 375 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: uprising moved toward London, some of the nobility became involved, 376 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: and some of the city's merchants as well. And we 377 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:15,360 Speaker 1: will get into the uprising in London after a sponsor break. 378 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: That late May incident in Brentwood had ended with John 379 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 1: Bampton and the other commissioners being run out of town, 380 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,440 Speaker 1: and although the commissioners said that the delegates had been 381 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: pursuing them with the intent to kill them, it seems 382 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: as though everyone escaped without injury. But as this uprising 383 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: progressed in the early June one, things became increasingly violent 384 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: all over Southeast England. People attacked manners, abbeys and the 385 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: homes of sheriffs as cheaters and other officials. The cheeter 386 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: handled various matters related to what we described today as 387 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: the feudal system that includes collecting of the fee after 388 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: the death of a tenant, and yes, that is the 389 00:22:55,760 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: etymology as a term. Cheater. Rebels burned records, including tax 390 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: records and documentation of people's serfdom. In Cambridge, a woman 391 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,359 Speaker 1: named Marjorie Starr was described as throwing the ashes of 392 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: these burned documents into the wind, saying away with the 393 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: learning of clerks, away with it. Some of the chroniclers 394 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: who wrote about this uprising in the fourteenth century framed 395 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: all of this as the product of the rebels wilful 396 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,120 Speaker 1: ignorance and illiteracy, but it was really a coordinated effort 397 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: carried out by the residents of communities all over England, 398 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: especially in the southeast, to destroy all the written records 399 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: of a system that they felt was oppressive and corrupt. 400 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: If there was no record of their taxation and their bondage, 401 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: and their rents, or all the other expenses and commitments 402 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: that were associated with their lives, then they could be 403 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: free of it. Documents were seized or destroyed, and more 404 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: than a hundred and fifty places around England this also 405 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 1: went beyond property destruction. On June tenth, a mob and 406 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: Essex killed a s jeeter John Yule before burning his records. 407 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: That same day, the king's ministers started attempting to negotiate 408 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: with the rebels, who were demanding an audience with the king. 409 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: By June twelfth, as many as thirty thousand people had 410 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: encamped at Blackheath, which is part of London today, and 411 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: the King's court had moved from the Palace of Westminster 412 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: into the Tower of London out of fear for their 413 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: own safety. Outside of London, crowds from Essex and Suffolk 414 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: had ransacked the home of Henry English, which was in Birdbrook, 415 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: and Richard Lions, which was enlisted. English was the sheriff 416 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 1: of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, and Lions was a widely hated 417 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: merchant and financier. The assembled forces from Kent, Essex and 418 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: Suffolk vastly outnumbered the King's available army, so the king 419 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,919 Speaker 1: agreed to negotiate with the rebels. He traveled down the 420 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: Thames by boat to meet them, but once he arrived 421 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: at the meeting point, it was decided that it was 422 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: just too dangerous for him to go ashore. This, of 423 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: course stoked the rebels and and resentment, and at some 424 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: point on June somebody it is not clear who, opened 425 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: the gates of London to the assembled crowd. Once inside, 426 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: they burned Savoy Palace, which was the home of John 427 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: of Gaunt. They also looted and burned the homes of 428 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 1: other prominent officials, as well as the buildings that were 429 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: situated along London Bridge. On June fourteenth, the King met 430 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,360 Speaker 1: with Watt Tyler and men from Essex at Mile End. 431 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: Tyler presented the King with a series of demands, including 432 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:33,919 Speaker 1: the abolition of serfdom, community self governance, execution of several 433 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: widely hated public officials who he described as traitors, and 434 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: a general amnesty of the rebels. There are various interpretations 435 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: of the king's response. Either his youthful inexperience meant that 436 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: he wasn't a very good negotiator, or he really did 437 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: feel some sympathy for the rebels. He also might have 438 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: felt like there was no other option because these rebels 439 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,199 Speaker 1: vastly outnumbered his army and had done i'll kinds of 440 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: destruction and killed people. He made some really really sweeping promises, 441 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: including that he would abolish serfdom and forced labor, that 442 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: he would bring the so called traders to justice, which 443 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: included some people that were high up within his own court, 444 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: and that he would issue a blanket pardon for anybody 445 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: who had participated in the uprising. The King gave Tyler 446 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: signed charters that granted the serfs their freedom. However, as 447 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: that was happening, other rebels broke into the Tower of London. 448 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: The future King Henry the Fourth was protected by hiding 449 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: him in the cupboard. The rebels captured and beheaded several 450 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: prominent people, one with Simon Sudbury, who was both the 451 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: Archbishop of Canterbury that was the one who had excommunicated 452 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: John Ball who he mentioned earlier, and the Chancellor of England. 453 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: Another was Lord High Treasurer of England Robert Hales, who 454 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: was also the Admiral of the West and Grand Prior 455 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,400 Speaker 1: of the Knights of Malta. Their heads were reportedly put 456 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: on display and paraded around London. Among others. John Legg, 457 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 1: a royal sergeant at arms, was also executed. In some 458 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,400 Speaker 1: of the chronicles of this event, he was described as 459 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: putting his hands up teenage girls skirts under the pretense 460 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: of determining if they were old enough to work. Richard 461 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: Lyons was killed as well. The targets of this violence 462 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,919 Speaker 1: also went beyond the officials who were associated with taxes 463 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: and serfdom and other issues that were being protested. The 464 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,919 Speaker 1: mob focused on Flemings who were a widely hated ethnic 465 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: group in London. Flemish homes and businesses were targeted, looted 466 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: and burned, and roughly a hundred and forty Flemings in 467 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: London where massacred. What Tyler and the King met for 468 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: a second time on June fifteenth, the goal was to 469 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: persuade Tyler to get the rebels to disperse from London. Instead, 470 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: Tyler presented additional demands, including an end to tithing and 471 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: a redistribution of wealth. During a heated argument between Tyler 472 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: and London Mayor William Walworth, Tyler was stabbed, probably by Walworth, 473 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,639 Speaker 1: but that is not entirely clear. The King at this 474 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,199 Speaker 1: point did something which is fascinating to me, which is 475 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,920 Speaker 1: that he rode out to the assembled bob told them 476 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: that he was their leader now, and led them out 477 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 1: of town. Tyler was taken to the hospital of St. Bartholomew, 478 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: where Walworth later went and killed him. Walworth had also 479 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: raised his own fighting force of about five thousand men, 480 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: and he despatched them to start putting down this rebellion. 481 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,400 Speaker 1: With Tyler gone, the government moved to put down the rebellion, 482 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: and aggressive and bloody effort that went on for weeks. 483 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: Hundreds of people were killed in fighting all around southeastern England. 484 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,479 Speaker 1: John Ball was captured on July and he was hanged, 485 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: drawn and quartered two days later. Although the king had 486 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,959 Speaker 1: made a series of very broad promises to what Tyler, 487 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: most of them were never carried out. He withdrew the 488 00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: charters that had given the serfs their freedom on June, 489 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: reportedly saying villains ye are, and villains ye shall remain 490 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: in case you're curious, just like a s cheeter is 491 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: the etymology for cheat. This is where the word villains 492 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: come from. So people thought the cheaters were cheaters, and 493 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: they thought that the surfs were villains. He never carried 494 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: out the other reforms he had promised in that meeting either. 495 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,239 Speaker 1: The people who were believed to be ringleaders of this 496 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: whole rebellion were rounded up, some were hanged, some were 497 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: drawn and quartered. But after the executions were done, the 498 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: king did order a general amnesty, and amnesty records are 499 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: one of the sources of information for who these rebels 500 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: actually were and where they lived. At the same time, 501 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: a lot of people took this as an opportunity to 502 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: get a pardon for crimes that they had not committed, 503 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: either fearing that they might be accused of something later, 504 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 1: or just thinking that a documented pardon might be a 505 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: useful thing to have in a time that was clearly 506 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: so socially and politically chaotic. The only thing that this 507 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: uprising really concretely achieved was that the government stopped pursuing 508 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: this whole poll tax issue. At the same time, though, 509 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: this was England's first large popular uprising, so on a 510 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: more intangible level, it demonstrated to everyone that such a 511 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: thing was even possible. This kind of peasant uprising really 512 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: was not unique to England in the fourteenth century. The 513 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,719 Speaker 1: same conditions that led people in England to rise up 514 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: existed in most of the rest of Europe as well. 515 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: Popular revolts, civil wars, and other social unrest were widespread 516 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: all across Europe from the thirteen hundreds through the fifteen hundreds. 517 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: A lot of the gains that the lower classes did 518 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: see during these centuries were not simply because the Black 519 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: Death had killed so many people. It came out of 520 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: this widespread unrest and violence. Class is always the case 521 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: with everything in history. This uprising has been interpreted and 522 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: reinterpreted in the centuries since then. Even though the rebels 523 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 1: destroyed a lot of the records of their own lives 524 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: and personal histories, the uprising is still pretty heavily documented 525 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: through court records, medieval chronicles, and works of literature. But 526 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: all these sources have their own biases. The court records, 527 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: for example, are frontal legal system that was innately biased 528 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: against the defendants, and then the chroniclers who detailed the 529 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: day to day occurrences of the uprising often disagree with 530 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: one another on the specific details. The chroniclers in general 531 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: also didn't necessarily understand the people involved or what their 532 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,959 Speaker 1: grievances were. There are eight different accounts of the whole uprising, 533 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: including the Anonomal Chronicle, which was probably written at by 534 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: Land Abbey, the Chronicles of Henry Knighton, who was an 535 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: Augustinian canon the Chronicles of Thomas Walsingham, who was a 536 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: benedicting monk, and the chronicles of Jean Foassoire, who was 537 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 1: a medieval poet and court historian. In general, their lives 538 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: were fairly removed from the people that they were writing about, 539 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: and they lumped the rebels together as uneducated peasants motivated 540 00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: by willful ignorance. Frozaar characterized John Ball as mad. So 541 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: we kicked off this episode by talking about bad takes 542 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: about the Black Death, which sort of compressed the whole 543 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: timeline between the Black Death and the Renaissance, just skipping 544 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: over centuries of unrest, and also something we didn't really 545 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: get into in this episode, imagining the Renaissance as a 546 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: time that was a lot better for working people than 547 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: the medieval period had been, which was not necessarily true 548 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: at all. But there have also has been some bad 549 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:32,200 Speaker 1: takes about one rebellion, including that it literally inspired the 550 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: French Revolution. While there is some similarity between the uprisings 551 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: focus on freedom and equality and the French Revolution ideals 552 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: of liberty, equality, fraternity, I guess you could also make 553 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: comparisons between the reign of Terror and the beheading of 554 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: officials and parading their heads around London. Uh, that idea 555 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: just leap frogs over four hundred years of history. Uh yeah, 556 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:05,000 Speaker 1: the cause and effect stuff that sometimes happens when discussing history, Uh, 557 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: loses a little bit of track of timeline and nuance. 558 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean you can make lots of arguments 559 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,959 Speaker 1: about all kinds of things, where like we see patterns 560 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: in history when we look back on them, or how 561 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: one thing set conditions in place that made another thing 562 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:25,959 Speaker 1: more likely. But the Black Death caused the Renaissance. Really oversimplified. UM, 563 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: do you have a little bit of uh? Non oversimplified 564 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: listener mail? I do? I This is from Aaron, and 565 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: Aaron sent this wonderful email after our homemech. Uh. It 566 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 1: wasn't exactly a two parter, but we spent a week 567 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: talking about home mac and practice babies. Um and Erin 568 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 1: writes High Tracy and Holly. My high school had an 569 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: Infant Lab class. This was an elective for those high 570 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 1: school or seniors who were not parents, but for students 571 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:55,200 Speaker 1: like myself who had a baby at sixteen, it was mandatory. 572 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: This class was a godsend for me. Obviously, without it, 573 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: I probably would have had to drop out of high school. 574 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: The class taught the young parents and students how to 575 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: care for an infant and toddler. It was seen as 576 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: a support to the parents and the cautionary tale to 577 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: the other students. It covered topics like child development, nutrition, 578 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: educational play, child safety, stress management, and other life lessons. 579 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: It was fortunate because the teachers who taught the class 580 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 1: were supportive suite and caring, and the students who also 581 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,800 Speaker 1: took care of my son were amazing too. To my knowledge, 582 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,720 Speaker 1: they ended the program after we graduated in two thousands 583 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: two because the program was seen as a crutch for 584 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: teen parents and not enough of a deterrent from teen pregnancy. 585 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: I don't know what happened to the teen parents who 586 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:41,799 Speaker 1: came after me. I hope they were able to find 587 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: the support that they needed to finish high school. As 588 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: you mentioned, this topic touches on so many other issues 589 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: that I won't drawn on about here, socioeconomic reform, education 590 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: and tuition reform, a woman's right to choose the foster 591 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: care systems, etcetera, etcetera. All of these things play a 592 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:00,879 Speaker 1: part in the endless politic well shell game that will 593 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,799 Speaker 1: continue costing the most vulnerable of us more than just money. 594 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: But I digress. Thank you for your clear, concise presentation 595 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: of this topic. I never knew about practice babies, even 596 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 1: though my son basically was one for two years. Stay safe. 597 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 1: Aaron PS attached to a picture of my son with 598 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 1: one of his and my favorite student caregivers. He's twenty 599 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,399 Speaker 1: now and likes to joke that he liked high school 600 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: so much the first time that he went back for more. 601 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,239 Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Aaron. UM. We have gotten so 602 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: many lovely and personal emails about the whole neck episodes 603 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: and the practice baby episodes, and I'm sure we will 604 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: read more of them in the future. UM. When I 605 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: was in high school, anybody who had a baby in 606 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: high school was sent to a different school. UM. Which 607 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: when I started high school in our particular school system, 608 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: it was called optional education, which is a terrible name. 609 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:58,360 Speaker 1: The school system rebranded it as Independence High School, and 610 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: it was like it was the high school where teenage 611 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: parents went um as well as where like the kids 612 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,160 Speaker 1: that had been expelled from schools were able to go 613 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: there to continue their educations. UM. And I uh tried 614 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: to go figure out, like, what's what's the school system 615 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,440 Speaker 1: I grew up in doing now? I did not get 616 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,799 Speaker 1: a great answer to that question. UM. So anyway, thank 617 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: you again Aaron for that wonderful email and for the 618 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,160 Speaker 1: great picture. UH. If you'd like to write to us 619 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,840 Speaker 1: about this or either podcast or history podcast at iHeart 620 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: radio dot com. We're also all over social media at 621 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,320 Speaker 1: miss in History. That's where you will find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 622 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on 623 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: Apple podcast the I heart Radio app, and anywhere else 624 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 1: you get podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 625 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 626 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,879 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 627 00:36:58,080 --> 00:36:59,919 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite show.