In 1377 the death of Edward III (r. 1327–1377) left his ten year old grandson Richard II (r. 1377–1399) on the throne. Richard’s eldest uncle, the unpopular John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, effectively governed England during the King’s minority.
The Circumstances Leading to Revolt
The realm Richard inherited was a troubled one. Upheaval was inevitable when Richard, guided by his uncle, imposed a poll tax on all persons over the age of fourteen — this was the third such tax since 1377. England had been burdened with unbridled taxation to pay for the exorbitant cost of its conflict with France in the Hundred Years War. The country also had not recovered from the effects of the Black Death which had wiped out large sections of the population — a third of the inhabitants of London alone were killed by the disease between the years 1348–9. The disease would periodically recur; the last major outbreak being in 1665. All this combined with social and religious strife made the country a veritable powder keg.
The Start of the Peasants Revolt
The rebellion began in the southeast counties of Essex and Kent. In June 1381 twenty thousand rebels led by Wat Tyler — a man who appeared from obscurity — entered London. For four days the capital was attacked and plundered. The mob ransacked Lambeth Palace, The Temple Church, liberated the prisoners at Marshalsea, Fleet and Newgate Prisons and put to the torch the duke of Lancaster’s residence, the Savoy Palace.
The King, his mother and the royal household sought refuge at the Tower of London as the violence escalated. Richard rode out from the Tower to meet with the rebels and hear their grievances – the gist of which has been obscured with time but seemed to have focused on charters of freedom from serfdom and pardons for the mob’s recent rampages.
The Tower is Breached
Jean Froissart writes in his Chronicles that “The Tower’s drawbridge’s and portcullis gates had not been raised behind him [the King], and a mob of at least 400 men stormed the castle. The men-at-arms guarding the Tower put up no resistance…”. The inattentiveness of those guarding the Tower showed not duplicity with the rebels, but rather a sympathy with their outrage. It exposed the truth that a fortress was only as impregnable as the loyalty and prowess of its defenders.
Once inside, the mob ransacked the kitchens, bedchambers, and armouries — even gaining access to the Queen Mother’s apartments where her furnishings and wall hangings were destroyed and her own person rudely handled. Surprisingly, the rebels did not hold the King personally responsible for the hated tax and still swore loyalty insisting that they were there to relieve him of his corrupt advisors. The Queen Mother and most of the royal household were able to escape. The King’s Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury and the Treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, however, were not so lucky and were dragged to Tower Hill and beheaded.
Swift Dénouement
The violence in London ended as quickly as it began. After four days of rioting, the King and several of his advisors and the Lord Mayor of London rode out to once again meet Wat Tyler and to hear the peasant’s demands. In a curious move, seemingly meant to incite a violent response, Wat Tyler produced a dagger. The Lord Mayor acted by stabbing him and killing him. The King intervened and mollified the group by his apparent acquiescence to their demands thus avoiding further violence and achieved the dispersal of Tyler’s followers.
Sources:
Hibbert, Christopher and the editors of the Newsweek Book Division. Tower of London. New York: Newsweek, 1971
Hilton, Rodney. Bond Men Made Free: Medieval Peasant Movements and the English Rising of 1381. London: Routledge, 1973
Inwood, Stephen. A History of London. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1998
Rubin, Miri. The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages. London: Penguin Books, 2006
Saul, Nigel. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997
