The Peasants Revolt of 1381 was a major uprising across England sparked by a poll tax and social tensions following the Black Death. The Black Death had killed millions and caused a labor shortage, which led to demands for higher wages from peasants. When the poll tax was imposed, Wat Tyler emerged to lead thousands of peasants in marching on London, where they destroyed the Savoy Palace and killed the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Richard II agreed to meet with Tyler but Tyler was killed in the negotiations, after which the king hanged 200 rebel leaders to put down the revolt.

1. Unit 6.2 The Peasants Revolt
Unit 6 : Late medieval England

2. Words to learn
Words Terminology
Statue of Labourers A 1351 law fixed the maximum wage for peasants revolt
Yeoman A new class in late medieval England: commoner who farmed
their own land
Sumptuary laws Rules explaining what clothing different ranks within the feudal
system could wear
Poll tax A flat rate tax paid by all adults, literally meaning ‘per head’ of
the english people
Savoy Palace John of gaunt medieval home, destroyed during the Peasants
revolt
Peasant’s Revolt A major uprising across England that took place 30 years after
the Black death

3. Problems after the Black death
1. Reducing numbers of population
3. Shortage of workers
4. Class conflict : yeoman
5. Turning against Catholic Church
6. Powerless king
8. Wat Tyler rebellions
Solutions
2. King Edward III – Statute of Labourers
7. Sumptuary laws – dividing classes with what they wear
9. King put down the rebellion

4. Problems after the black death
• By the 1351, the worst of the
Black death was over in
England. In some historians’
estimates , it had killed around
2 million people.
• Having lost such a large
proportion of the country’s loss
population, landowners found it
difficult to find peasants to
work on their land
• Shortage of peasants make
them demand for very high
wages and would only work
with those who were willing to
pay them good price

5. Was the solution effective?
• King Edward III tried to
stop this in 1351 by
introducing Statute of
Labourers, which give
peasants fixed wages at
the pre-Black death
levels
• However it has failed
because peasants and
landowner paid little
attention to it

6. Class Conflict
• Enterprising peasants with
money to spare were able to
buy up the land and empty
houses belonging to the plague
victim for very cheap price
• This people who owned new
houses and farm land up to
100 acres known as Yeoman.
• The yeoman could be richer
than the landlord , this
threatened the hierachy and
status of traditional landlord.

7. Turning against Catholic Church
• Some Black Death survivor
turned against the authority of
the catholic Church
• The reasons are because they
were powerless and could not
able to prevent the Black death
from spreading
• They stopped attending mass at
church and some attack the
priest.
• Power has slowly moved to the
people and nobles and rich ppl
were not happy.

8. Dividing classes
• In 1363, the Sumptuary Laws
were passed , laying out
detailing what different classes
were allowed to wear.
• Gold clothes and purple silk are
only reserved for Royal families
• Lords could wear precious
stones and knight could wear
fur-trimmed cloaks.
• While peasants weren’t allowed
to wear anything but plain cloth
costing less than 12 pence a
length

9. Powerless king
• Tension between the lords
and the people came to
head in 1381. At this times
the 14 year old king named
Richard II was sat on the
throne
• His uncle John of Gaunt
controlled most of the
government matter.
• John of Gaunt was an
unpopular noble and only
have little concern to
common people

10. Poll tax : 4 pence/head
• In the mean time, English
were fighting with France
in 100 years war
• And to help supplying the
war, John of Gaunt
established Poll Tax (4
pence/head) for every
adult in England.
• It’s a flat rate for the rich or
for the poor.
• People were unhappy
about the tax and it has led
to the growing rebels
Currency rate
£1 = 20 shillings. 1
shilling = 12 pence.

11. The growing rebellion in Essex
• On May 30 1381, a royal
official arrived in Essex town
of Brentwood to collect the
Poll Tax
• The Essex peasants refused
to pay, they killed the clerk
officer and sending back the
royal officer back to London
• Within 3 days, the whole
Essex was in open rebellion
against the king and
thousands of them decided
to march to London to meet
the king.

12. The rebellion’s leader : Wat Tyler
• A yeoman called Wat Tyler
organised around 4000
peasants to march on London
• They were armed with bows,
clubs and axes, they reached
London on June 13, 1381.
• In London, the rebels stormed
into Newgate and Westminster
prison and burn down John Of
Gaunt palace..
• Simon Sudbury ( Archbishop)
and Sir Robert Hales (Kings
treasurer) were killed and their
heads were placed on spikes
and paraded around London

13. Wat Tyler was killed
• To bring end to this chaos, King
Richard II agreed to meet with
rebels just outside London on
June 15, 1381.
• Wat Tyler met to negotiate
with king.
• Some quarrelling happened as
Wat Tyler killed the King’s man
and act rudely by spat on him.
• He was run through with
swords and killed in the quarrel

14. Richard Response
• Richard seized the initiative ,
and promise to agree to the
peasants demand as long as
they return back to their towns
and villages.
• The king actually had little
intention to keep his promises
• Richard tracked down the rebels
and hanged 200 of their leaders
and left their body rot for
lessons to the others
• The revolt has failed but in next
200 years , peasants gradually
became freemen and no longer
tied to work for their land lords