Peasant Revolt
Why did the peasants revolt in 1381?
Background Information: The Black Death, which flooded through Europe between years 1348 and 1349, killed roughly half the population of England. Since peasants were usually quite poor and lived in tough conditions, many of them were wiped out completely during the Plague. This caused an increase in land but a shortage of labourers. Since the quantity of working class peasants dropped greatly, many survivors saw themselves differently. They thought the Lord had protected their lives as they were special and valuable. These few peasants left became in high demand. Many lords and upper class nobels desperately needed labour for their land and crops. Many of these peasants took advantage of this by demanding higher wages which was proven extremely chaotic. The Peasants Revolt, or laterly known as Wat Tyler's Rebellion was one of the biggest uprisings in history which happened in most large areas of England in 1381. The most familliar areas of which the uprising started included Kent and Essex, but the actual revolt occured in London. The King at the time was Richard II who only recently stepped up to take the throne, succeeding Edward III in Summer 1377. The most unique part was that Richard was only ten years old when he bacame a king. The Revolt itself was led by John Ball of Essex, who was a lollard priest and regurally preached a famous sermon"When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" meaning that people should be equal. For this, he was imprisoned at Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone, Kent shortly before the revolt began. It was a crime at the time because it disagreed with the Church. However, he was released by peasants from Kent as they were revolting. It was also led by Wat Tyler from Kent, an ex-soldier. Tyler was elected to be a leader possibly on the 7th by many peasants. Although there is little historical data about Wat's life, he was thought to have fought as an archer during wars in
Background Information: The Black Death, which flooded through Europe between years 1348 and 1349, killed roughly half the population of England. Since peasants were usually quite poor and lived in tough conditions, many of them were wiped out completely during the Plague. This caused an increase in land but a shortage of labourers. Since the quantity of working class peasants dropped greatly, many survivors saw themselves differently. They thought the Lord had protected their lives as they were special and valuable. These few peasants left became in high demand. Many lords and upper class nobels desperately needed labour for their land and crops. Many of these peasants took advantage of this by demanding higher wages which was proven extremely chaotic. The Peasants Revolt, or laterly known as Wat Tyler's Rebellion was one of the biggest uprisings in history which happened in most large areas of England in 1381. The most familliar areas of which the uprising started included Kent and Essex, but the actual revolt occured in London. The King at the time was Richard II who only recently stepped up to take the throne, succeeding Edward III in Summer 1377. The most unique part was that Richard was only ten years old when he bacame a king. The Revolt itself was led by John Ball of Essex, who was a lollard priest and regurally preached a famous sermon"When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" meaning that people should be equal. For this, he was imprisoned at Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone, Kent shortly before the revolt began. It was a crime at the time because it disagreed with the Church. However, he was released by peasants from Kent as they were revolting. It was also led by Wat Tyler from Kent, an ex-soldier. Tyler was elected to be a leader possibly on the 7th by many peasants. Although there is little historical data about Wat's life, he was thought to have fought as an archer during wars in