Why did the peasants revolt

When asking for the payment from the people of Fobbing, there was a refusal. This led to the Commissioners being attacked and killed. Soon, neighbouring villages decided to join together to oppose the taxes and to claim their rights of freedom from ties and unfair, treacherous government.

Many men met at Maidstone in the days following this and appoint a rebel leader, Wat Tyler. Tyler and Ball orchestrate the next steps of these rebels. The Peasants Revolt had begun. The Causes of the Peasants Revolt were a combination of things that culminated in the rebellion. These were: Long term impact of the Black Death; the impact of the Statute of Labourers; the land ties that remained in place to feudal lords and to the church.

The Poll Tax was viewed as unjust and unneeded. This was at a time when the views of John Ball were being spread. His calls for freedom from oppression found a welcome audience in these circumstances. The third Poll Tax in a short period provided a spark for all of this discontent to become an uprising. This book goes beyond the births, deaths, and marriages of the 15th century.

The glamour of the court and coronations is joined by plots, uprisings, and reprisals. Scientific, literary, religious, and trade developments and breakthroughs are explored. Political wrangling's, social justice, and the legal system's intrigues emerge in events from each day of the year. Large bloody battles, claims of hereditary rights and campaigning feature alongside quirky stories of everyday life. A unique event from each day of the year is to be found in this book.

Summary: Causes of the Peasants Revolt The Causes of the Peasants Revolt were a combination of things that culminated in the rebellion. Close this module. When were the Princes in the Tower last seen? Buy Now. Henry II. Richard I. King John. Henry III. Edward I. Edward II. In an attempt to prevent further trouble, the king agreed to meet the Wat Tyler at Mile End on 14th June. At this meeting, Richard II gave into all of the peasants demands and asked that they go home in peace.

Satisfied with the outcome — a promised end to serfdom and feudalism — many did start the journey home. Whilst this meeting was taking place however, some of the rebels marched on the Tower of London and murdered Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Robert Hales, the Treasurer — their heads were cut off on Tower Hill. It is thought that this was the idea of the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Walworth, who wanted the rebels out of his city, perhaps fearing the damage that they could cause within its cramped medieval streets lined with tinder dry wooden houses.

It is not exactly clear how the king talked his way out this little predicament with the massed crowd of rebels surrounding him, but it must have been good. Whatever the king said or promised, it must have been sounded very convincing, as it resulted in the revolting peasants dispersing and returning home! But what of the fate of Wat Tyler? Richard did not, or could not due to his limited power in Parliament, keep any of his promises.

He also claimed that as these promises were made under threat, they were therefore not valid in law. The remaining rebels were dealt with by force. The poll tax was withdrawn and the peasants were forced back into their old way of life — under the control of the lord of the manor, bishop or archbishop.

The ruling classes however did not have it all their own way. In successive years of the 17th century, London suffered two terrible disasters. In the spring and summer of an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died…. The Essex insurgents made contact with sympathisers across the Thames in north Kent, and, while the meeting at Bocking was taking place, Lesnes Abbey was attacked.

Although the revolt was triggered by the collection of the poll tax, it was fed by other grievances. The fitful progress of the French war and French raids on southern England convinced many people that those advising the young King Richard II were treacherous.

The King's uncle John of Gaunt was particularly hated and, in the aftermath of the Good Parliament of , many were convinced that royal officials were corrupt. There was also resentment against labour legislation controlling wages and terms of service of craftsmen and other workers introduced as a result of labour shortages after the Black Death, so that many artisans and townsfolk joined the rising.

A major demand of the rebels was the abolition of labour and other services for holding land and their replacement by flat-rate rents. The rebels included not only poor serfs but also tenants with land and goods who held manorial offices. The involvement of better-off tenants reflects both their aspirations and their frustration at the demands made on them by landlords.

In Essex, the first wave of disturbances culminated on 10 June in the burning of property at Cressing Temple belonging to the Hospitallers whose Prior Robert Hales was Treasurer of England. The escheator of Essex was beheaded at Coggeshall. The records of the sheriff and escheator were ceremonially burnt.

In Kent, rebels attacked Rochester Castle, destroyed houses of unpopular officials and burnt administrative records. The craftsman Wat Tyler, whose origins are mysterious, emerged as leader of the Kentish rebels. There are also references to another leader named Jack Straw, but this was probably a fictitious name. On 10 June, Tyler led the rebels into Canterbury, where they executed prominent citizens and freed prisoners held in the castle.

Tyler's men returned towards London and on 12 June camped on Blackheath, south-east of London, where they were joined by John Ball, a veteran radical priest. Priests such as John Ball and John Wraw in Suffolk played a prominent part in the disturbances, suggesting links between the rising and radical Christian egalitarianism. Some chronicles reproduce letters in English attributed to Ball which perhaps provide insights into rebel ideology, but equally may have been intended by the chroniclers to suggest heretical influence.

On 13 June, the King attempted to talk to the rebels from a boat at Rotherhithe. As the rebel bands approached the city, there was a huge uprising in London. John of Gaunt's Savoy palace and the headquarters of the Hospitallers at Clerkenwell were destroyed.

The King met the rebels at Mile End on 14 June and gave them letters freeing them from bondage. There were many other massacres, particularly of Flemish merchants. The disturbances were equally serious in East Anglia. In Cambridge, there were attacks on Barnwell Priory and the University, while in Ely a rebel leader preached from a pulpit in the abbey and a local justice was beheaded. In Norfolk, insurgents led by Geoffrey Lister, a dyer, killed the veteran soldier Sir Robert Salle and local justices, and attacked property in Norwich and Yarmouth, where they destroyed a royal charter granting Yarmouth a much resented trading monopoly.

The disturbances spread as far as Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Somerset.