The Peasants' the Revolt of 1381 (also known as the 14th Century Poll Tax riots), happened for complex and varied reasons, but two of the main reasons were plague¹ and war² both of which were normally fatal to large numbers of the poor involved. The rich had the advantage of the status of chivalry to protect them, when at war³. This opportunity for the peasants to express their collective displeasure was provided by a dispute within the monarchy as to whom would be king. This temporal power dispute was compounded by a loss of faith in the church.

The Bubonic Plague

Estimates⁴ vary but between the years 1334-51, the Bubonic Plague may have killed as many as 25 million in Europe people, that is between one half, and a one third of the population of each country the plague passed through. The drop in Peasant labour lead to a rise in wages paid to the common man, and as the peasant became accustomed to his increased value, he demanded greater freedom and mobility, to take advantage of this new opportunity. Parliament responded to these demands for freedom and increased earnings, by passing a law to stop the peasants freedom of mobility, this act was known as the Statute of Labourers 1351 AD. This act also attempted to halt the rise in labour costs by passing legislation to keep wages at pre-plague rates., and made it compulsory for all 'able-bodied' men and women to work.
This proved useless as wages continued to rise, those employers who needed workers paid the going rate, and out bid each other for workers. Enforcement was impractical as all classes were involved in breaking this law, the attempts that were made just increased the peasants resentment.
It did, however, cause massive resentment among the peasantry, a situation the archbishop of Canterbury Simon Theobald (Simon of Sudbury) the chancellor of England, paid for with his life.

The Hundred Years War

The series of conflicts, which became known as The Hundred Years War, started in 1337, and ran until 1453, between England and France. These ongoing conflicts were fought to determine primacy over France. The descendants of the Normans (now the English Kings) had claims to large areas of France, and had enlarged their holdings by conquest. After the Normans, the Angevin dynasty took control of the English throne. The Angevins controlled Normandy and England, and the provinces of Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Gascony, Saintonge and Aquitaine. The English kings had, in consequence, become more powerful than the French, and a struggle began for the control of France.

The King And Court

Edward III died in 1377, Richard II was chosen to be king, and by the time of the rebellion in 1381 AD, at 14 years old, had been for some 4 years. At the time the revolt, his chief advisor (and the power behind the throne) was his uncle, John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who had also made a claim for the throne when Edward III died
⁵. Richard was made king rather than Edward’s son John of Gaunt. as John had been allied Alice Perrers, Edward III's mistress and the corrupt court party she had led, this together with his plans to re establish the feudal system, including the tithes and taxes, this and Johns heavy handed approach to justice.

His administration of public affairs is said, furthermore, to have been stained by several acts of violence.

A chronicle of the day - anon

This past history lost John the support of his family and the majority of the noble families who had profited from the throne, but due to his lack of support his claim failed. John was no fool and remained the most powerful figure in the court and government of Richard II, dealing with military matters, he made his name as a diplomat

John of Gaunt was the 1st Duke of Lancaster, he had the title from the marriage his first wife Blanche of Lancaster 1345 - 1368⁶, he was well connected , Duke of Lancaster was one of his titles others were the Earldoms of Richmond, Lancaster, Derby, Lincoln and Leicester and also the King of Castile and Leon.
And at the time of the revolt John was married to his second wife Constance of Castile and had two children by her Katherine 1372 - 1418 and John 1374 - 1375.

The Church

Added to this, there was the complication that the common people were losing respect for the authority of the church. There were many hardships and the effect of the catastrophe that was the plague cannot be made clear enough. The established church had lost the confidence, and through that, the faith of a large section of the population. Large-scale reform⁷ of the Catholic faith was called for and heresies were commonplace.

It seemed as if God had deserted the people, the king had turned against them and no-one knew who or what to blame, and whether through fear or desperation, the peasants were turning against the state and the church.

The Revolt Begins

The revolt was to bring the end the feudal system in England. Serfdom was being brought down by the call for more rights for the common man. Some landowners were trying to stop the movement of the labour force. They were doing this by enforcing their rights given to them by the feudal system to tie the workforce by law to their home manor. The shortage of manpower caused by the Bubonic Plague meant the peasant could earn more if he was mobile (working for the highest payer) and could move as he wished. This however, was not the spark that ignited the revolt. That fell to taxation. The campaigns in France were costing a considerable amount. Parliament passed, in 1380, a third poll tax⁸, this received royal assent and was introduced to fund this war for France. The cost of this tax was, passed through the feudal system, the king passed on to the peasant class, via the nobles. Their money was collected in taxation, and even their goods were taken in distress in order to pay for the war.

• On Thursday the 30 May, 1381

The unrest in England started as a local rising in Brentwood Essex, when the first tax collector was attacked. From this, the revolt spread rapidly from village to village and tax collectors were attacked across south-east England and in a matter of days towns and villages in Kent, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Norfolk were involved. Armed gangs of rioters were attacking and destroying churches and monasteries and the properties of some of the nobility.

What added to the danger of this revolt was that those involved were not just peasants. They were supported by some of the gentry, knights and minor lords, who became involved in the unfolding events. These educated men supplied organisation, leadership and direction to the growing army of peasants. One of the most important of these men was Richard of Wallingford, Constable of Wallingford Castle. He was involved in the presentation of the rebel’s petition to the king.

• On Saturday the 1 June.Word of the events in Brentford reach Baddow and Colchester and poll tax collectors were attacked.

• By Wednesday the 5 June. The rebellion had spread into Kent. Wat (Walter) Tyler was elected as one of the leaders of the revolt. As the rebels progressed across the country their numbers grew and Canterbury, Rochester and Dartford joined.

• Saturday the 8 June.The town of Maidstone in Kent rebelled against the new tax. The rebel army moved towards London. As it crosses the country many more people join them from towns and villages they pass through.

• Sunday the 9 June. 10 days after the first attack the rebellion reached the town of Cambridge.

• On Wednesday the 12 June. The rebel army from Essex reaches London and makes camp at Mile End⁹.

• Thursday the 13 June. Saw the arrival of the men of Kent led by Wat Tyler and Jack (or John) Ball¹⁰ The rebel armies from Essex and Kent join forces at Blackheath. Wat Tyler now has a force of nearly 20,000 men to command. An attempt to petition the king is rejected and in retribution Wat Tyler led the mob into the city of London. The mob loot and burn a large number of noble’s houses in the city. Fleet and Newgate prisons were destroyed and John of Gaunt’s residence, the Savoy Palace is destroyed. The Hospital of St John in Clerkenwell was later looted and burned. The Hospital was attacked because it was a possession of the Knights of Rhodes (originally the Hospitallers of Jerusalem, an influential military order of monks).

• Friday the 14 June. The king now agrees, to hear the petition of the rebels at Mile End, upon receiving guarantees of his safety. On hearing the petition of grievances presented by Richard of Wallingford, the king agrees to the terms placed before him : To end feudal serfdom; To end the service to a feudal lord; To abolish market monopolies and the restrictions on buying and selling of goods. During the audience Tyler led the mob into the city on a second raid. The Tower of London was taken and plundered, the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Theobald (Simon of Sudbury) was captured. His fate was to be beheaded on Tower Hill. Archbishop Simon was blamed by the peasants for the position they were in. He was so unpopular the Tower guards stood aside and let the rebels take him and his staff away to their execution.

• Saturday the 15 June. The king Richard II visited Westminster Abbey with his party. After prayers, he proceeded to Smithfield. Wat Tyler meets with the king and proceeds to present more demands including the seizure of church lands and property. The next part of the story is best left to someone closer to the events¹¹.

Wat Tighler, in the presence of the King, sent for a flagon of water to rinse his mouth, because of the great heat that he was in, and when it was brought he rinsed his mouth in a very rude and disgusting fashion before the King's face. And then he made them bring him a jug of beer, and drank a great draught, and then, in the presence of the King, climbed on his horse again. At this time a certain valet from Kent, who was among the King's retinue, asked that the said Walter, the chief of the commons, might be pointed out to him. And when he saw him, he said aloud that he knew him for the greatest thief and robber in all Kent.... And for these words Watt tried to strike him with his dagger, and would have slain him in the King's presence; but because he strove so to do, the Mayor of London, William Walworth, reasoned with the said Watt for his violent behaviour and despite, done in the King's presence, and arrested him. And because he arrested him, he said Watt stabbed the Mayor with his dagger in the stomach in great wrath. But, as it pleased God, the Mayor was wearing armour and took no harm, but like a hardy and vigorous man drew his cutlass, and struck back at the said Watt, and gave him a deep cut on the neck, and then a great cut on the head. And during this scuffle one of the King's household drew his sword, and ran Watt two or three times through the body, mortally wounding him. And he spurred his horse, crying to the commons to avenge him, and the horse carried him some four score paces, and then he fell to the ground half dead. And when the commons saw him fall, and knew not how for certain it was, they began to bend their bows and to shoot, wherefore the King himself spurred his horse, and rode out to them, commanding them that they should all come to him to Clerkenwell Fields.

A chronicle of the day - anon

The Mayor of London issues a summons to the men of the wards of London to attend in arms, the king attended with a company of mounted armoured knights bearing points (lances).
And they enveloped the commons like sheep within a pen, and after that the Mayor had set the wardens of the city on their way to the King, he returned with a company of lances to Smithfield, to make an end of the captain of the commons. And when he came to Smithfield he found not there the said captain Watt Tighler, at which he marvelled much, and asked what was become of the traitor. And it was told him that he had been carried by some of the commons to the hospital for poor folks by St. Bartholomew's, and was put to bed in the chamber of the master of the hospital. And the Mayor went thither and found him, and had him carried out to the middle of Smithfield, in presence of his fellows, and there beheaded. And thus ended his wretched life.

A chronicle of the day - anon

The rebellion in London was over. The king’s first action was to revoke the concessions granted in the Mile End petition.

• On Sunday the 16 June. In one of the last acts of rebellion Cambridge University is attacked, and books and records are burnt.

• Tuesday the 18 June. The suppression of the rebellion begins and the arrests start. After the rioters have been dispersed the king ordered that the traitors be captured and executed. A large number were taken and brought for execution in London. So many gallows were set up around the capital and in the south east of the country the king relented and pardoned the remaining prisoners, providing that they paid a fee of twenty shillings for the document of pardon.

• On Monday the 15 July. In the marketplace of St Albans the rebel priest of Kent Jack (or John) Ball is executed by being hung, drawn and quartered, the last of the ringleaders is punished for his rebellion.

• The rebellion was ended. The last act was that John Wycliff was forced to leave Oxford in 1383 due to his continued opposition to the church.

The Trouble Tax And Grasping Government Has Caused In England and the Colonies

• The Icini uprising 60 AD, Boudicca and the Icini¹²and Romans in Britain.

• Danegeld this tax led to the expulsion of the Vikings from England.

• Lady Godiva's ride as protest to her husbands taxation of Coventry.

• The Ship Tax led to the English Civil War and the execution of Charles I.

• The 1647 Corn excise tax riots

• The 1764 American Colony Sugar export tax.

• And The American War of independence was a tax related tiff.

The 1990 Poll Tax Revolt.

And as if history had taught them nothing the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher, decided to introduce a Poll Tax and despite many warnings pushed the act through Parliament.
The people however had a long memory. On 31 March 1990, around 180,000 and 250,000 protesters started at Kennington Park.

They marched through the city of London The trouble started in Trafalgar Square when the police started arresting protesters. Things started getting out of hand at around 4 pm, and despite bringing in mounted police violence broke out.

By 6 pm the protesters by now rioters made their way out of the city damaging and destroying expensive shops, banks, car showrooms and leaving public houses and smaller shops untouched. The rioters went virtually un punished due to police inefficiency, and it is thought to have forced the resignation of the Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher. The people on this occasion came out on top, though it is interesting to note that a Tyler and a Thatcher were losers on both occasions.