New Plaque at Smithfields Market commemorates Wat Tyler, John Ball, and the
Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
by Guest Blogger Jo Manning
Smithfield Market in London
For me, as an avid student of
English history, the Peasants’ Revolt of late spring/early summer of 1381,
which began in Essex, was every bit as significant an event as the Magna Carta
was in 1215, more than a century earlier.
Unlike those behind the Magna
Carta, those revolting were poor folk, peasants who were still laboring under
the harshness of serfdom and poor economic conditions. The Black Death had ended just 35 years
before; the perennial war against the French was going badly, and, guess what,
the poor were to have levied against them a Poll Tax.
Such behavior on the part of
the French aristocrats was to turn out very badly for them centuries hence, but
this was still only the 14th century…and it was England. Anger
against the Poll Tax soon turned into demands that all men deserved more
freedom, equal treatment under the law, and a more equitable distribution of
wealth.
Kent joined with Essex and there began a
march towards London, reaching the gates of the city on the 13th of
June. The Kentish rebels were led by a man named Jack Straw; the Essex
contingent was led by an ex-soldier named Wat (Walter) Tyler. The rebel army
met with the 14-year-old King Richard II, but before demands were heard, the
Lord Mayor of London, a William Walworth, attacked and killed Wat Tyler. The
rebels were in disarray when the king stepped forth and made a promise to the
peasants that he would abolish serfdom. Satisfied that a major demand had been
met, the rebels returned home…only to meet death by hanging by the government
soldiers who followed them, giving no quarter to anyone who’d participated in
the revolt.
(Put not your faith in princes…ah, always so true!)
Another important individual associated with
the rebellion was a Lollard preacher named John Ball, who had been imprisoned
by the Archbishop of Canterbury and freed by the rebels. He was a staunch
believer in the equality of all men and is famous for a sermon he preached that
asked, “When Adam delved and Eve span,
who was then the gentleman?” That
quote lived on after his execution and still lives today.
What
did the rebels gain? Well, no poll tax was collected for hundreds of years
after and perhaps a good deal of fear was put into the mean hearts of the rich
and of the church – which protected the rights of the rich – Tyler, Straw, and
the murderer mayor Walworth, were immortalized and took their place in English
history and mythology. The Lollards faced at least a hundred years of
persecution owing to the part the priest John Ball played in the rebellion.
New plaque at Smithfield Market…
Interpretations
by historians of those who took part in this rebellion against royal authority
have gone back and forth over the years. Were they the vicious mob portrayed by
the aristocratic chroniclers? Or were they actually the first working-class
heroes in England, fighting for the rights of all? It is estimated that about
60,000 rebels (and not all of them were necessarily peasants) took part in this
revolt.
Another view of the plaque
The
plaque at Smithfield Market, where the confrontation between the rebels and the
king took place, is considered long overdue, and welcomed by many who would
rather deem it the English Rising than the Peasants’ Revolt and trace the
beginnings of democracy in England to this important event.