1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. On June fourteenth, thirteen eighty one, Watt Tyler 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,639 Speaker 1: presented a list of demands to King Richard the Second 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: of England, one of the key moments in the uprising 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: that has come to be known as Watt Tyler's Rebellion 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: or the Peasant's Revolt. That was six hundred and forty 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: four years ago today, on the day this is publishing, 7 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: so our episode I'm the Peasants Revolt is Today's Saturday Classic. 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: This originally came out on June tenth, twenty twenty. Enjoy 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 11 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. One of the kind of 12 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: weird things to come out of the ongoing COVID nineteen 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: pandemic has been a phenomenon that I am liking to 14 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: call bad takes about the Black Death. There are various 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: articles and sweets and comments on our Facebook page that 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: are all about how the Black Death was a good 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: thing actually, because sure, while it did kill as much 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,759 Speaker 1: as half of Europe, it also did everything from increasing 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: wages to literally causing the Renaissance. Medieval and early modern 20 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: historians have done so much debunking of these ideas through 21 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: tweets and blog posts and various op eds, and today 22 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: we have a topic that really illustrates that there is 23 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: not some kind of a switch that got flipped that 24 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: magically turned the Black Death into the Renaissance. Like It's 25 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: not like in a video game where you grind up 26 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: a certain amount of experience and then you unlock the Renaissance. 27 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: It did not work that way. This incident has been 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: known as Watt Tyler's Rebellion and as the Peasant's Revolt 29 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: of thirteen eighty one. Today it is more often called 30 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: the Uprising of thirteen eighty one or the Great Rising. 31 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: And I just want to take a minute. I can 32 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: imagine people listening to this episode and thinking that maybe 33 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: we chose it because of parallels to the current situation, 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: whereas there has been a lot of violence and destruction 35 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: and property damage and in some cases deaths through this 36 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: ongoing week of protests and violence that have been happening 37 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: in the United States. This episode was actually written the 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: week of May eighteenth, so if people see parallels between 39 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: this episode and what's currently happening. They are not something 40 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: we tried to pick as some kind of political statement. Right. 41 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: I also feel like we could do an entire episode 42 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: of this wasn't a magic switch, Yes, right, Like there 43 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: are a lot of the way that history is taught 44 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: is that way where it's like this happened and it 45 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: catalyzed this, and that's true to some extent, but it's 46 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: not as though everything shifts gears suddenly. It's a very 47 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: slow progression. Well, in one of the op eds that's 48 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: really been focused on debunking this whole idea says pretty 49 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: clearly that a lot of ap world history classes have 50 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: really framed the idea that the Black Death caused the Renaissance, 51 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: but it's like a huge oversupplification. Yeah, it will become 52 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: more clear as we get through this episode today. So 53 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: we're not going to dwell in the details of the 54 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: Black Death as an illness, but it is a necessary 55 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: part of the context of this uprising. The Black Death 56 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: was really one piece of a larger pandemic, the Second 57 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: Plague pandemic, which progressed through Asia, Europe, and Africa in 58 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: waves from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The term 59 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: the Black Deaths was coined in the eighteenth century to 60 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: describe the plague that moved from eastern or Central Asia 61 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: through Europe, the Mediterranean, and northern Africa between thirteen forty 62 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: six and thirteen fifty three. The Black Death was truly catastrophic. 63 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: At least a third of the population of Europe died, 64 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: and it was possibly as much as half. In some 65 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: specific regions that was as much as eighty percent. Today's 66 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: episode is really focused on England, and england population before 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,119 Speaker 1: the Black Death had been about sixty thousand people. Afterward 68 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: it was half that, although some of that drop came 69 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: from people who fled to other parts of Europe to 70 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: try to escape the plague. Between twenty and thirty percent 71 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: of the English nobility died, along with about forty five 72 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: percent of the clergy and between forty and seventy percent 73 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: of the peasant class. In some cases those numbers were 74 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: even higher, And then the disease itself was just horrifying. 75 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: On top of having a high high mortality rate, its 76 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: progression once somebody contracted it was really gruesome because the 77 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: plague recurred in waves over the course of several years. 78 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: People also didn't know when it was really over, it 79 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: would seem as though the danger had passed, only for 80 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: another wave of illness to strike. And since there were 81 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: other outbreaks of the plague in the decades after the 82 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: Black Death ended, it took generations for the population to 83 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: really start to recover. England was largely agrarian and the 84 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: land was considered to belong to the monarch. The monarch 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: granted land to the nobility in exchange for service, including 86 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: providing soldiers or funding at a time of war. This 87 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: exchange of land for some kind of service was replicated 88 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: on the lower rungs of the social and economic ladder, 89 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: and this went all the way down to freeholders who 90 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: owned or rented small amounts of land, and then the 91 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: unfree tenants who were known as villains, bondsmen or serfs, 92 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: and they were legally obligated to work for their landlord 93 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: and subsist on a small plot that they kept for themselves. 94 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: They were not free laborers, they were obligated to do 95 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: this in this land for service system. When a household's 96 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: main tenant died, his son or another heir had to 97 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: pay a fee to take his place. In England for 98 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: a baron that might be one hundred pounds for a peasant. 99 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: It was typically the household's best livestock animal. During the 100 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: Black Death, so many English tenants died that landlords received 101 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: more livestock than they could possibly take care of or use, 102 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: and this was in spite of a livestock plague that 103 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: had previously killed many of these animals. Landlords sold off 104 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: so many surplus animals that the market collapsed because the 105 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: plague was the worst in the summer. In a lot 106 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: of areas, there wasn't enough labor alive by the fall 107 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: to harvest the crops that had been planted in the spring. 108 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,839 Speaker 1: This labor shortage led to food shortages as unharvested crops 109 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: rotted in the fields in the Similarly, not like in 110 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: a video game analogy, there's just not a one to 111 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: one correspondence between how many people it takes to harvest 112 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,559 Speaker 1: the food and how many people that food will feed. 113 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 1: In normal times, Medieval manners also tended to be relatively 114 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 1: self contained, with their own blacksmith and their own bakeries 115 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,840 Speaker 1: and their own mills, which tenants were obligated to use. 116 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: If an estate's only blacksmith or miller or brewer died, 117 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: there might not be anybody to replace them, or anybody 118 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:54,799 Speaker 1: else who really knew how to do that work. Although 119 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: the medieval world wasn't exclusively Christian, the Christian Church was 120 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: colossally power. High placed church officials also held high ranking 121 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: government positions, and high ranking nobles were often prominent in 122 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: the church. Aside from that, religion was threaded through virtually 123 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: every aspect of everyday life. But the Black Deaths started 124 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: to undermine the Church's power. Because the disease spread so easily, 125 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: the most compassionate and most involved clergy the ones who 126 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: really tried to comfort and care for the sick in 127 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: their families, They were among the plague's first victims. In general, 128 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: the clergy who survived were the ones who had not 129 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: been doing that work. The plague also really devastated monastic communities, 130 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: where people lived in very close quarters. This caused such 131 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: a huge labor shortage within the church that it had 132 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: to relax its criteria for clergy, and that led to 133 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: an influx of people who were more interested in the 134 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: income or living that came with the position than in 135 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: actually carrying out a clergyman's duties. People became more distrustful 136 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: of clergymen and of the church and its involvement in 137 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: everyday life, especially in the face of devastations so immense 138 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: that people wondered if God was punishing them. Aside from 139 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: all of that and the Black Death's immediate aftermath, so 140 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: many people had died and so much had been disrupted 141 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: that things turn into a state of near lawlessness. And 142 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: this brings us to some of the things that have 143 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: led people to argue that the Black Death was maybe 144 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: a good thing, although none of them are all that straightforward. 145 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: Before the Black Death, England was in the middle of 146 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:34,199 Speaker 1: a land crunch in addition to an increasing population. Leading 147 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: up to the thirteenth century, people had divided their estates 148 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: among their heirs, which had resulted in people holding smaller 149 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: and smaller amounts of land. This led to a shift 150 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: to primogeniture, in which the eldest son was the only 151 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: one to inherit, but that shift couldn't really undo what 152 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: it happened in those earlier generations. After the Black Death, though, 153 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: a lot of families were able to reconsolidate their holdings 154 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: among the people who survived, and then in some way cases, 155 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: to increase those holdings further through intermarriage with other neighboring families. 156 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: People went from having estates that were just too small 157 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: to be profitable to having ones that were actually lucrative. Again, 158 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: people who had not been able to acquire land at 159 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: all because there just wasn't any were able to buy 160 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: or rent these newly available parcels. That said, because of 161 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: the labor shortage, it wasn't uncommon for people to have 162 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: trouble finding enough workers for these newly consolidated estates. Also, 163 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: a landlord whose tenants had died or left was no 164 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: longer being paid rent, He was no longer collecting fees 165 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: for the use of the manor's mills or ovens. If 166 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: he couldn't find hired labor to replace his previous workers, 167 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: his crops went to waste and his livestock went untended. 168 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: With an excess of land and a shortage of workers, 169 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: many turned their attention from cultivated crops to livestock, which 170 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: was less labor intensive. The massive labor shortage made it 171 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: easier for surviving workers to negotiate better terms for themselves. 172 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: People who were dissatisfied with their pay or their working 173 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: or living conditions could find a different job on another manner, 174 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: or they could move to a city or a town 175 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: more easily. Tenant farmers were able to negotiate lower rents 176 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 1: or to rent larger amounts of land that could, at 177 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,119 Speaker 1: least in theory, yield a bigger income. In general, wages increased, 178 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: often by as much as fifty percent, and sometimes more 179 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: than that. However, in many cases it probably wasn't that 180 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: people were being paid more for the same work. People 181 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: were working more to make up for the shortage of labor. 182 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: The increase in incomes was also at least partially offset 183 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: by rising inflation and higher prices on goods that were 184 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: now in short supply. There's also the part where for 185 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: the lowest paid people, they sort of went for a 186 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,680 Speaker 1: making not enough to live on to barely enough to 187 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:54,960 Speaker 1: live on. Two times zero is zero, right. People who 188 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,439 Speaker 1: moved from the country to the city after the Black 189 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: Death generally had more opportunities of vail to them, especially 190 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 1: because urban employers were dealing with their own labor shortages. 191 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: Trade guilds started shortening the links of their apprenticeships to 192 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: try to replenish their numbers, but this really meant that 193 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: there was also a big loss of knowledge, skill, and 194 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 1: quality among the various trades. And in some cases the 195 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: number of newcomers to the cities just outstripped the number 196 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: of available jobs, causing these recent arrivals to just become 197 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 1: a drain on resources. As a trend, merchants fared better 198 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: than rural landlords because their work didn't require the large 199 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: labor force that agriculture did. This was especially true as 200 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 1: increasing wages and ongoing shifts in supply and demand allowed 201 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 1: more people to buy better quality and luxury goods. Of course, 202 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: England's wealthiest classes saw all of this, the increased freedom 203 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: for workers, the rising wages, and the luxury goods becoming 204 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: more available to the masses as a threat. They tried 205 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: to return things to the way they had been before 206 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:02,680 Speaker 1: the plague. Parliament passed the Ordinance of Laborers in thirteen 207 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: forty nine and the Statute of Laborers in thirteen fifty 208 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: one to return wages to their pre pandemic levels, also 209 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: to require able bodied men and women under the age 210 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: of sixty to work, and to prevent people from moving 211 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: to find different or better work. These statutes were not 212 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: always enforced very well, but when they were, the focus 213 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: was most often on the working people who were being 214 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: paid more money, not on the employers and the landlords 215 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: who were paying them. In thirteen sixty three, Parliament also 216 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: passed a sumptuary law to try to keep the trappings 217 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: of wealth only with the wealthy. This was like the 218 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: latest in a series of these laws, some of which 219 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: had been back before the Black Death. So by the 220 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 1: time of the thirteen eighty one uprising things were at 221 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 1: least somewhat better for some of England's population, but in general, 222 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: the people who had gained the most in the wake 223 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: of the Black Death were the people who already had 224 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: some wealth to start with. The working people, it had 225 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: seemed like they were going to have meaningfully more money 226 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,559 Speaker 1: and opportunities, but thanks to things like shortages, other illness outbreaks, 227 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: and the Statute of Laborers, those theoretical gains had largely 228 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: disappeared or plateaued, and England's poorest people, the serfs, were 229 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: still not free. We have not even talked about taxes yet, 230 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: and taxes were really the spark that started this rebellion. 231 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: We will get into that after a sponsor break. The 232 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: Black Death took place during the warfare between England and 233 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: France that came to be known as the One Hundred 234 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: Years war, even though it was really a series of 235 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: intermittent conflicts that played out over a span of one 236 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen years. In England, the primary way to 237 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: raise money for war was through taxes, and at the 238 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,360 Speaker 1: time the only acceptable reason to directly tax the population 239 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: was to deal within a meta threat to the realm. 240 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: This meant that warfare and taxation were tightly linked in 241 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: people's minds, so if the war was going badly for England, 242 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,439 Speaker 1: public opinion was more likely to blame corruption and ineptitude 243 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: from parliament and royal advisors who had demanded their tax money, 244 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: rather than blaming the military. The One hundred Years War 245 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: is generally noted as starting in thirteen thirty seven, and 246 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: England saw a series of victories in the thirteen forties 247 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: and fifties, but then the tide started to turn. France 248 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: allied with Scotland and attacked parts of the English coast 249 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: and started reclaiming territory that it had previously ceded to England. 250 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: France's Castilian allies also destroyed the English fleet in thirteen 251 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: seventy two, and English forces on the ground in France 252 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: suffered various setbacks. After using a variety of taxation strategies. 253 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: To raise the money to pay for all of this, 254 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: Parliament passed a poll tax in thirteen seventy seven. That 255 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: same year, Richard the Second, who was aged ten at 256 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: the time, ascended to the throne after the death of 257 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: his grandfather, Edward the Third. Richard's father, who had been 258 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: next in line for the throne, had died the year before. 259 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: Earlier taxes had been fractional taxes, Like their name suggests, 260 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: they were based on a fraction of how much someone's 261 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: movable goods were worth. These were assessed at the community 262 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: level based on how large and affluent the community was, 263 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: and they left it up to each community to figure 264 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: out who should pay what. So, at least in theory, 265 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: it was based on your ability to pay the tax. 266 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: But the thirteen seventy seven poll tax was different. It 267 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: was a flat rate of four pence per person required 268 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: of everyone over the age of fourteen, with the exception 269 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: of beggars. Even though everyone was paying the same amount 270 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: regardless of how much money they had, this poll tax 271 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: didn't seem all that egregious to people. Fourpence was about 272 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: the price of a dozen eggs. It was still more 273 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: than a day's pay for the lowest paid laborers, though 274 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: England's ill needed more money though in early thirteen seventy eight, 275 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: Parliament passed another fractional tax that was due that February. 276 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: Many towns were also required to build ships to bolster 277 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: the English fleet, and since they had to pay for 278 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: this themselves, this was perceived as yet another tax. Than 279 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: In thirteen seventy nine, Charles the fifth of France annexed 280 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: the Duchy of Brittany and there was another poll tax 281 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: to try to fund efforts to restore its independence. This 282 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 1: second poll tax was on a sliding scale based on 283 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: a person's profession, with thirty three different professions listited different 284 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: tax rates. Anybody who wasn't a member of one of 285 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: those professions was again taxed at four pence. The government 286 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: had pawned the King's jewels and had secured loans from 287 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: several towns, but combined with the poll tax, this still 288 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: wasn't enough, in part because of increasing tax evasion, and 289 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: then the newly raised English fleet was scattered in a 290 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: storm and nearly twenty ships were wrecked. Other fractional tax followed, 291 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: this one framed as a loan that would be repaid 292 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: rather than an actual tax. Taxes had to be approved 293 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: by Parliament, and Parliament was not expected to be in 294 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,879 Speaker 1: session again for the next eighteen months, so people believe 295 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: this tax but really alone, would be the last one 296 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:22,200 Speaker 1: for a while. Instead, Parliament was summoned again in November 297 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,680 Speaker 1: of thirteen eighty to once again approve another poll tax 298 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: to fund the ongoing war. Like the thirteen seventy seven tax, 299 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: this poll tax was a flat rate. Every person over 300 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: the age of fifteen was required to pay twelvepence or 301 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: one shilling to add insult to injury. This tax was 302 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: due in two installments, the first at the end of 303 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 1: February and the second at the beginning of June. There 304 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: was not a lot of time to plan for that 305 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:51,439 Speaker 1: first payment, and since it was due toward the end 306 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: of winter, it was also at the hardest time of 307 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: year for rural people. It's possible that no tax would 308 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: have possibly gone well at this point, but this tax 309 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: was despised. It was three times as large as the 310 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: previous flat rate tax, and for large households it just 311 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: added up to enormous amounts of money. People also doubted 312 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: that the tax was really necessary. The King's uncle John 313 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was highly placed in 314 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: the administration, had asked for more tax revenue than the 315 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: military budget really seemed to require. People thought he was 316 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: either lining his own pockets with this money or using 317 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: it to pay for his own ventures that weren't directly 318 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: related to the military needs of the kingdom. So England's 319 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: set up population sick of paying taxes, just didn't. Tax 320 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: evasion was widespread, with as many as thirty to fifty 321 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,439 Speaker 1: percent of people simply vanishing from the local tax rolls. 322 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: Now people were like my widowed mother, not part of 323 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: my household, not not going to lay namor on there. 324 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,560 Speaker 1: When the government realized that the amount of money that 325 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 1: had been elected was way less than they expected, they 326 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 1: dispatched commissioners to investigate this rampant tax evasion. Investigations started 327 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: in late May of thirteen eighty one when John Bampton 328 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: and Sir John Guildsburg arrived in Brentwood in Essex, which 329 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: is northeast of London and is part of the Greater 330 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: London Metropolitan Area today. Bampton was a Justice of the 331 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: Peace and when delegates from Brentwood and the surrounding communities 332 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: arrived to meet with him. They may have thought that 333 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: he was there for the upcoming June court session. When 334 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: they learned that it was really a tax investigation, the 335 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 1: delegates were angry and astonished. Thomas Baker of Fobbing insisted 336 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: that everyone had paid already and that they had a 337 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: receipt from Bampton, saying so and that they would not 338 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: be paying anymore. When the commissioners ordered their guards to 339 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: start making arrests, the delegates ran them out of town, 340 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,920 Speaker 1: armed with things like bows and arrows. Then the delegates 341 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,399 Speaker 1: returned to the fifteen or so towns and buil villages 342 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,640 Speaker 1: where they lived, and they started organizing a resistance, including 343 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: spreading the word into other nearby towns in Essex. Meanwhile, 344 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: the unrest also spread into Kent. June second was the 345 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: day that the final tax payment was due. It was 346 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: also the holiday of Whitsunday or Pentecost. On that day, 347 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,120 Speaker 1: people from at least forty Essex communities met in Bocking, 348 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: which is northeast of Brentwood, and swore an oath to 349 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,880 Speaker 1: their cause. They also started making plans to break radical 350 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: priest John Ball out of prison. Ball preached on things 351 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 1: like equality in the abolition of England's class structure. His 352 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: ideas were considered heretical, and he had been excommunicated by 353 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:45,119 Speaker 1: the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ball had been incarcerated at an 354 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: ecclesiastical prison. On June seventh, rebels in Kent named former 355 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: soldier Walter Tyler, known as Watt, as their leader. People 356 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: from Essex and Kent then marched on London, with the 357 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: people of Kent first converging on Canterbury and making their 358 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: way to London via the Pilgrimage Road. At some point 359 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: during all of this, John Ball was broken out of prison, 360 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: and his speeches to the rebels continued to advocate for 361 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: a classless society, including the widely quoted quote when Adam 362 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:21,200 Speaker 1: delved and Eve span who then was a gentleman, as 363 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: we said at the top of the show. For a 364 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,159 Speaker 1: long time this was known as the Peasants Revolt, and 365 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: the word peasants generally conjures up an image of poor 366 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,639 Speaker 1: agricultural workers or landless people, and some of the people 367 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: involved with the revolt definitely do fit that description, but 368 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: there were also free tenants and small landholders, as well 369 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: as clergy, apprentices and tradespeople. Thomas Baker and Watt Tyler 370 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: were as their names suggest, a baker and a Tyler. 371 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily mean the uprisings trades people were all free, 372 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 1: though there were definitely bakers and Tyler's and other workers 373 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,879 Speaker 1: who were classified as serfs. At the same time, some 374 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: of the people involved were also relatively powerful people in 375 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: their communities, including having previously served as assessors or constables 376 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: or bailiffs. Women were also a huge part of the uprising, 377 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: both as participants and as targets of the taxes and 378 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: policies that were being protested, and as had been the 379 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: case with most of the other protests, uprising and strikes 380 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: that we have talked about on the show, women were 381 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: generally the ones who were making men's participation possible by 382 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: making sure that the demonstrators stayed closed and fed. As 383 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: the uprising moved toward London, some of the nobility became involved, 384 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: and some of the city's merchants as well, and we 385 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,439 Speaker 1: will get into the uprising in London after a sponsor break. 386 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: That late May incident in Brentwood had ended with John 387 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: Bampton and the other commissioners being run out of town, 388 00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,880 Speaker 1: and although the commissioners said that the delegates had been 389 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: pursuing them with the intent to kill them. It seems 390 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,959 Speaker 1: as though everyone escaped without injury. But as this uprising 391 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: progressed in the early June of thirteen eighty one, things 392 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: became increasingly violent all over Southeast England. People attacked manners, 393 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: abbeys and the homes of sheriffs, as cheeters and other officials. 394 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 1: The as cheater handled various matters related to what we 395 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: described today as the feudal system that includes collecting of 396 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: the fee after the death of a tenant, and yes, 397 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: that is the etymology of the term cheater. Rebels burned records, 398 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: including tax records and documentation of people's serfdom. In Cambridge, 399 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: a woman named Marjorie Starr was described as throwing the 400 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: ashes of these burned documents into the wind, saying away 401 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 1: with the learning of clerks, away with it. Some of 402 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: the chroniclers who wrote about this uprising in the fourteenth 403 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: century framed all of this as the product of the 404 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,239 Speaker 1: rebels wilful ignorance and illiteracy, but it was really a 405 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: coordinated effort carried out by the residence of communities all 406 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,919 Speaker 1: over England, especially in the southeast, to destroy all the 407 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: written records of a system that they felt was oppressive 408 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: and corrupt. If there was no record of their taxation 409 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: and their bondage, and their rents, or all the other 410 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: expenses and commitments that were associated with their lives, then 411 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: they could be free of it. Documents were seized or 412 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: destroyed in more than one hundred and fifty places around England. 413 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: This also went beyond property destruction. On June tenth, a 414 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,359 Speaker 1: mob in Essex killed as cheter John Euell before burning 415 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: his records. That same day, the king's ministers started attempting 416 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: to negotiate with the rebels who were demanding an audience 417 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: with the king. By June twelfth, as many as thirty 418 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: thousand people had encamped at Blackheath, which is part of 419 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: London today, and the King's court had moved from the 420 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,399 Speaker 1: Palace of Westminster into the Tower of London out of 421 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: fear for their own safety. Outside of London, crowds from 422 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: Essex and Suffolk had ransacked the home of Henry English, 423 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:05,400 Speaker 1: which was in Birdbrook, and Richard Lyons, which was in Liston. 424 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 1: English was the Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, and Lyons 425 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: was a widely hated merchant and financier. The assembled forces 426 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: from Kent to Essex and Suffolk vastly outnumbered the King's 427 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,120 Speaker 1: available army, so the King agreed to negotiate with the rebels. 428 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: He traveled down the Thames by boat to meet them, 429 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: but once he arrived at the meeting point, it was 430 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,879 Speaker 1: decided that it was just too dangerous for him to 431 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: go ashore. This, of course stoked the rebels anger and resentment, 432 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: and at some point on June thirteenth, somebody it is 433 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: not clear who, opened the gates of London to the 434 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: assembled crowd. Once inside, they burned Savoy Palace, which was 435 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: the home of John of Gaunt. They also looted and 436 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: burned the homes of other prominent officials, as well as 437 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: the buildings that were situated along London Bridge. On June fourteenth, 438 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: the King met with Watt Tyler and men from Essex 439 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: at Mile End. Tyler presented the King with a series 440 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: of demands, including the abolition of serfdom, community self governance, 441 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,920 Speaker 1: execution of several widely hated public officials who he described 442 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: as traders, and a general amnesty of the rebels. There 443 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: are various interpretations of The king's response. Either his youthful 444 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: inexperience meant that he wasn't a very good negotiator, or 445 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: he really did feel some sympathy for the rebels. He 446 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,160 Speaker 1: also might have felt like there was no other option 447 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: because these rebels vastly outnumbered his army and had done 448 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: all kinds of destruction and killed people. He made some really, 449 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: really sweeping promises, including that he would abolish serfdom and 450 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: forced labor, that he would bring the so called traders 451 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: to justice, which included some people that were high up 452 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: within his own court, and that he would issue a 453 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 1: blanket pardon for anybody who had participated in the uprising. 454 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: The King gave Tyler signed charters that granted the serfs 455 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: their freedom. However, as that what was happening, other rebels 456 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: broke into the Tower of London. The future King Henry 457 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: the Fourth was protected by hiding him in the cupboard. 458 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: The rebels captured and beheaded several prominent people, one with 459 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,199 Speaker 1: Simon Sudbury, who was both the Archbishop of Canterbury that 460 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,840 Speaker 1: was the one who had excommunicated John Ball who he 461 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, and the Chancellor of England. Another was Lord 462 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: High Treasurer of England, Robert Hales, who was also the 463 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: Admiral of the West and Grand Prior of the Knights 464 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: of Malta. Their heads were reportedly put on display and 465 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:37,719 Speaker 1: paraded around London, among others. John Legg, a royal sergeant 466 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: at arms, was also executed. In some of the chronicles 467 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: of this event, he was described as putting his hands 468 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 1: up teenage girl's skirts under the pretense of determining if 469 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,200 Speaker 1: they were old enough to work. Richard Lyons was killed 470 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,920 Speaker 1: as well. The targets of this violence also went beyond 471 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 1: the officials who were associated with taxes and serfdom and 472 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,679 Speaker 1: other issues that were being protested. The mob focused on Flemings, 473 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: who were a widely hated ethnic group in London. Flemish 474 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: homes and businesses were targeted, looted and burned, and roughly 475 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: one hundred and forty Flemings in London were massacred. Wat 476 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 1: Tyler and the King met for a second time on 477 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: June fifteenth. The goal was to persuade Tyler to get 478 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,959 Speaker 1: the rebels to disperse from London. Instead, Tyler presented additional demands, 479 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,679 Speaker 1: including an end to tithing in a redistribution of wealth 480 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: during a heated argument between Tyler and London Mayor William Walworth. 481 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: Tyler was stabbed, probably by Walworst, but that is not 482 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: entirely clear. The King at this point did something which 483 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: is fascinating to me, which is that he rode out 484 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: to the assembled bob told them that he was their 485 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: leader now, and led them out of town. Tyler was 486 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: taken to the hospital of Saint Bartholomew, where Walworth later 487 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: went and killed him. Walworth had also raised his own 488 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: fighting force, about five thousand men, and he dispatched them 489 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: to start putting down this rebellion. With Tyler gone, the 490 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: government moved to put down the rebellion, an aggressive and 491 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: bloody effort that went on for weeks. Hundreds of people 492 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: were killed in fighting all around southeastern England. John Ball 493 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: was captured on July thirteenth, and he was hanged, drawn 494 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: and quartered two days later. Although the King had made 495 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: a series of very broad promises to wat Tyler, most 496 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: of them were never carried out. He withdrew the charters 497 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: that had given the serfs their freedom on June twenty third, 498 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: reportedly saying villains ye are and villains ye shall remain 499 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: in case you'rekirius, just like escheater is the etymology for cheat. 500 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: This is where the word villains come from. So people 501 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: thought these cheaters were cheaters, and they thought the serfs 502 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: were villains. He never carried out the other reforms he 503 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: had promised in that meeting either. The people who were 504 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: believed to be ringleaders of this whole rebellion were rounded up, 505 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: some were hanged, some were drawn and quartered, But after 506 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: the the executions were done, the king did order a 507 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: general amnesty, and amnesty records are one of the sources 508 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: of information for who these rebels actually were and where 509 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: they lived. At the same time, a lot of people 510 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: took this as an opportunity to get a pardon for 511 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: crimes that they had not committed, either fearing that they 512 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: might be accused of something later or just thinking that 513 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 1: a documented pardon might be a useful thing to have 514 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: in a time that was clearly so socially and politically chaotic. 515 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: The only thing that this uprising really concretely achieved was 516 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: that the government stopped pursuing this whole pull tax issue. 517 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: At the same time, though this was England's first large 518 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: popular uprising, so on a more intangible level, it demonstrated 519 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: to everyone that such a thing was even possible. This 520 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: kind of peasant uprising really was not unique to England 521 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: in the fourteenth century. The same conditions that led people 522 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: in England to rise up existed in most of the 523 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: rest of Europe as well. Popular revolts, civil wars, and 524 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 1: other social life unrest were widespread all across Europe from 525 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: the thirteen hundreds through the fifteen hundreds. A lot of 526 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: the gains that the lower classes did see during these 527 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: centuries were not simply because the Black Death had killed 528 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,840 Speaker 1: so many people. It came out of this widespread unrest 529 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,760 Speaker 1: and violence. This is always the case with everything in history. 530 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,920 Speaker 1: This uprising has been interpreted and reinterpreted in the centuries 531 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: since then. Even though the rebels destroyed a lot of 532 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: the records of their own lives and personal histories, the 533 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: uprising is still pretty heavily documented through court records, medieval chronicles, 534 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: and works of literature. But all these sources have their 535 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: own biases. The court records, for example, are from a 536 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: legal system that was innately biased against the defendants, and 537 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: then the chroniclers who detailed the day to day occurrences 538 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: of the uprising often disagree with one another on the 539 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: specific details. The chroniclers in general also didn't necessarily understand 540 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: the people involved or what they're going evences were. There 541 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: are eight different accounts of the whole uprising, including the 542 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 1: Anonymal Chronicle, which was probably written at Byland Abbey, the 543 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: Chronicles of Henry Knighton, who was an Augustinian canon, the 544 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: Chronicles of Thomas Walsingham, who was a Benedictine monk, and 545 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,479 Speaker 1: the Chronicles of Jean Foiscois, who was a medieval poet 546 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: and court historian. In general, their lives were fairly removed 547 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: from the people that they were writing about, and they 548 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: lumped the rebels together as uneducated peasants motivated by wilful ignorance. 549 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: Froisar characterized John Ball as mad. So we kicked off 550 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: this episode by talking about bad takes about the Black Death, 551 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: which sort of compressed the whole timeline between the Black 552 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: Death and the Renaissance, just skipping over centuries of unrest, 553 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: and also something we didn't really get into in this episode, 554 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: imagining the Renaissance as a time that was a lot 555 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: better for working people than the medieval period had been, 556 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: which was not necessarily true. At all, But there have 557 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: also there's been some bad takes about the thirteen eighty 558 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: one Rebellion, including that it literally inspired the French Revolution. 559 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: While there is some similarity between the uprisings focus on 560 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: freedom and equality and the French Revolution ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, 561 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: I guess you could also make comparisons between the reign 562 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: of Terror and the beheading of officials and parading their 563 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 1: heads around London. That idea just leapfrogs over four hundred 564 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: years of history. Yeah, the cause and effect stuff that 565 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: sometimes happens when discussing history loses to a little bit 566 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:42,479 Speaker 1: of track of timeline and nuance. Yeah yeah, I mean 567 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: you can make lots of arguments about all kinds of things, 568 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 1: where like we see patterns in history when we look 569 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: back on them, or how one thing set conditions in 570 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: place that made another thing more likely. But the Black 571 00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: Death caused the Renaissance really oversimplified. Thanks so much for 572 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is out 573 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: of the archive, if you heard an email address or 574 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: a Facebook RL or something similar over the course of 575 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 1: the show, that could be obsolete. Now. Our current email 576 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:21,759 Speaker 1: address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can 577 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,239 Speaker 1: find us all over social media at Missed Inhistory, and 578 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, 579 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 580 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 581 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 582 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.