The Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Popular revolts happened during the Middle Ages, but they were rare.  Most people accepted their lot in life, as hard as it was.  The King and God were far away and most people were concerned with feeding themselves and finding enough money to pay various taxes to have the time or inclination to revolt.  That all changed in the wake of the Black Death, 1348-49.  Whole villages were either wiped out or seriously decimated by the disease.  Estates were abandoned or undermanned.  Laborers walked off the land and made their way to the cities.  Landlords were forced to increase rents and land space to keep the land under cultivation.  The administration of Edward III issued several ordinances to keep laborers on the land and to return errant peasants who'd strayed into towns looking for work.  The King and the landlords increased taxes, both to meet revenue for the ongoing Hundred Years War and to keep people's heads down.

The repressive measures ultimately backfired.  In addition to the newfound freedoms of the labor market, many English people had discovered popular religion, including the teachings of John Wycliffe and later John Ball.  John Wycliffe had printed the first Bible in English.  Though many people couldn't read, there were enough who could, and could read to others.  Wycliffe's followers soon went from reading the Bible to discussing it and spreading their views.  Even after the English government condemned Wycliffe as a heretic and began confiscating copies of his Bible, the common people had their first tastes of freedom and popular action.  They wouldn't soon forget it.  On May 31, 1381, a local official tried to collect the royal poll tax in Brentwood, Essex.  A protest turned into a riot, and into an armed march, which gathered steam as it headed toward London, ultimately led by Ball and Wat Tyler. 

Tyler and Ball were met on Blackheath by representatives of King Richard II's government.  Negotiations stalemated and things turned ugly.  On June 13, 1381, the Kentish contingent wreaked havoc.  They broke open jails, destroyed John of Gaunt's sumptuous palace of Savoy House, set fire to the law college at the Temple, and killed any government representative they could find.  Finally, Richard himself met them at Mile End.  Despite his attempts at gaining control of the rebellion by putting himself at their head, more violence broke out.  Some of the rebels went to the Tower of London and killed the Lord Chancellor and Lord High Treasurer.  Richard took his Plantagenet courage in hand and went to Smithfield in an attempt to negotiate with the rebels further.  Armed conflict erupted and Tyler was killed, enraging his followers.  Richard calmed things down long enough for the Lord Mayor of London to rouse the city militia. 

The city militia disbursed the mob, but trouble had spread to other towns and counties were mobs were forming and heading toward London as fast as they could walk.  Cambridge University was attacked and buildings burned.  Hugh le Despenser, one of the King's favorites, marshalled an army and defeated the rebels at the Battle of North Walsham on June 25-26, 1381, but the conflagration had spread.  Richard had to mobilize 4000 soldiers and put down the revolt piecemeal, disbursing mobs and rounding up and executing their leaders.  The Revolt did have one effect, Parliament was deterred for several sessions from raising further money for the war effort.  But the general impact wouldn't last for very long.  It was the barons and members of the royal family who deposed Richard in 1400, not the common people.  The War ground on and taxes were collected.  Not until the time of the Reformation in the 16th century would England have a Bible in the vernacular and talk of religion would turn to current events, and then to grassroots political action.

King: Richard II of England

Questions surround Richard II and his reign.  Was he the cruel, irresponsible despot of Shakespeare or a typical Plantagenet king who didn't put up with any nonsense?  Was he crazy or was there a method to his madness?  Was he a poor king or just unlucky?  And, how did he die?

Richard (1367-1400) grew up surrounded by some of the most legendary men in his family.  His grandfather was Edward III, one of the longest-reigning kings in English history.  Lawgiver, military commander, patriarch of an impressive family that included both John of Gaunt and Edward the Black Prince.  Little Richard was born in Aquitaine.  Originally, he wasn't meant to be king.  His older brother, Edward of Angouleme, died in 1371, bumping Richard up a step in the succession.  The Black Prince had been a successful military commander, but he was slowly succumbing to the chronic dysentery which eventually killed him in 1376, when Richard was nine years old.  Edward III knew that he had to counteract the possibility of his older sons swooping in on the inheritance of a mere boy and quickly invested Richard as Prince of Wales.  Then Edward III died in 1377 and none of that mattered anymore.  Richard was king.

In an effort to keep Richard's uncles, particularly John of Gaunt at bay, it was decided that instead of single Regent, the government would be in the hands of a council.  John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham were still powerful, but their power was counterbalanced by that of other lords, which kept Richard safe for the time being.  He was described throughout his life as tall (he grew to six feet), articulate and intelligent.  Coming from a long line of military men, there was hope for him to follow in the family tradition.  Richard enjoyed tournaments and seemed headed that way.  He had inherited a realm weakened by repeated waves of famine and plague.  Edward III's regime had passed repressive measures aimed at raising revenue and keeping peasants working the land.  This boiled over into the Peasants Revolt of 1381.  Bands of peasants led by Wat Tyler, John Ball and Jack Straw marched on London.  For the first time, Richard began to make his views known, opting for mercy and negotiation.  He agreed to meet the peasants face to face.  With the death of Tyler the mob grew unruly.  Rather than flee or turn his armies on the people, Richard rode forward at 14 years old and told them, "I am your captain.  Follow me!"  He was able to keep the crowd in order until they agreed to disburse.

But neither Richard nor his advisers had any intention of keeping their promises.  Richard later rode with armies tasked with putting down the last embers of the revolt.  In 1382, Richard married Anne of Bohemia.  The couple would come to fall deeply in love and she would be a steady support to her husband.  He would need it.  Richard, like his great-grandfather Edward II, had a habit of trusting his government to favorites.  He made one favorite, Michael de la Pole, Chancellor.  Though the de la Poles later became quite prominent, at the time they were a wealthy merchant family, sure to make the other royals and nobles jealous.  Another favorite was Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was of noble blood, but still considered an upstart.  While the usual allegations of homosexuality surfaced against Richard, there was another possible reason for his trusting favorites over his own relatives and other nobles.  Favorites were dependent on the king alone and more easily controlled than over-powerful uncles, cousins and other subjects. 

Matters came to a head in 1386, with the demands of Parliament that in exchange for more taxation, the King must give up de la Pole and de Vere.  Richard stated that he wouldn't dismiss so much as a scullion out of his kitchen for Parliament's sake.  Thomas of Woodstock, Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick and other nobles brought an appeal, or accusations of treason against de Vere and de la Pole.  They were joined by Henry of Bolingbroke, Gaunt's son and Richard's eventual nemesis, and Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham.  They force de Vere to flee for his life into exile.  De la Pole was arrested and ultimately executed for treason.  Richard would not forget this insult.  Plantagenets, too, paid their debts. 

John of Gaunt stepped forward to mediate a peace and provide a steadying influence just as the Scots invaded the North of England, forcing the King and his nobles to put their differences aside to meet the threat.  Richard dealt with the Scots and negotiated a peace with France.  He also achieved some military and diplomatic success in Ireland.  These triumphs may have made Richard feel that he had more political capital than he actually did.  He had several of the Lords Appellant, including Gloucester, Warwick and Arundel arrested for treason.  Arundel was tried and executed.  Gloucester, himself a Plantagenet, died under mysterious circumstances in prison and it was rumored that Richard ordered him poisoned to spare the public shame of executing a member of the blood royal.  With John of Gaunt's intercession, men loyal to Richard were created dukes, compensated with property of those lords who were, or would shortly be, condemned.  John of Gaunt and his son, Henry of Bolingbroke posed a serious personal threat to Richard, who was still childless despite two marriages.  When John died in 1399, any restraint against deposing King Richard died with him.

As Richard continued to focus on settling old scores, Henry of Bolingbroke was in France, amassing an invading army.  He landed in Yorkshire in June, 1399 and marched virtually unopposed toward London.  Edmund of Langley, uncle to both Richard and Henry, sided with Henry.  On August 19, 1399, Richard surrendered to Henry at Flint Castle, promising to abdicate if his life were spared.  He was brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower.  But Henry of Bolingbroke, now King Henry IV, wasn't entirely safe.  There were other adult members of the Plantagenet family more senior in the succession than he.  Henry claimed the right of kingship as the oldest son of a surviving son (John of Gaunt) from Edward III and was crowned King of England, thus kicking off the Wars of the Roses.

Richard was transferred to Pontefract Castle.  Meanwhile, some lords had remained loyal to Richard and were planning to rescue him and depose Henry.  Henry couldn't allow Richard to live, but couldn't put to death an anointed king of his own blood either.  Richard died approximately February 14, 1400, from being starved to death, though there's no proof of exactly how he died.  He wouldn't be the first, or the last, Plantagenet male to die under mysterious circumstances in prison.  Being a prince/king in the tower was a family tradition.  His body was displayed at Old St. Paul's Cathedral before being buried in King's Langley Church.  Later, his body was reinterred next to Anne of Bohemia in Westminster Abbey. 

Richard would be known as a patron of the arts.  He sponsored painters, writers such as Chaucer and Gower, and sponsored architectural achievements like the rebuilding of Westminster Hall with an ornate hammer-beam roof.  He also introduced more elaborate court etiquette, being the first king to be addressed as majesty, rather than as highness.  In the end, although Richard had his strong points, his reliance on personal favorites and his focus on settling scores and indulging in intrigue was his undoing.