THE BLACK DEATH AND THE PEASANTS’ REVOLT
by Leonard Cowie
Chapter One: A Troubled England
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BD produced important social changes. English society was based upon the principle that there
were three main classes of people, each with its own purpose to fulfil. These were the clergy, the
nobility and the peasants – those who prayed, fought and worked.
The peasants (free people who could move around) were the largest group and it was accepted
that they supported the other two classes by their labours. The church and nobility owned great
estates to which the peasants were bound as serfs (could not leave the land of their lord) – by
custom to plough the fields for the masters – by law. Serfdom was upheld by moral and religious
reasons. Serfs were told to look upon their service as a calling from God. Serfdom would make
people better.
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Landlords were supposed to look after their serfs but many did not. When one lord was rebuked
for taking a cow from a serf he said: “Let it suffice that the boor that I have left him the calf and
his own life.” **
Medieval society was marred by a streak of cruelty and callousness. Death and suffering were
common and people often felt contempt for the law and would often resort to violence.
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Medicine was crude and often ineffectual. Medicine was mixed up with magic and ritual was
common. Disease was often regarded as God’s judgement for sin. Falling ill was a punishment
for past misdeeds.
Chapter Two: The Plague from the East
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The Black Death originated in the east. During 1346 rumours reached Europe that bad things
were happening in the east. It was commonly thought that plague was caused by corrupted air. It
was thought that this miasma had been drawn up from the depths of the ocean into the air.
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Word came from the east about the plague – but it was unsubstantiated and caused little alarm.
The plague came to Europe via the trade routes.
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By 1348 plague had reached Sicily and then to Italy. Ships from the east tried to make landing at
Genoa but were forced back to sea.
The first symptoms were the buboes or swellings in the lymph nodes – under the arms and in
the groin and neck – some as large as an apple or an egg. The infection then spread and
changed.
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Black spots appeared on the arms or legs – small and large – few and numerous. Some writers
noted changes in the disease which was pneumonic plague which appeared in the winter
months and stopped in the spring.
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Despite medical beliefs that the plague was spread by air, people soon noted that it was spread
through contact with the infected person or anything that they had touched.
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The plague took its toll on both the just and unjust. No amount of prayer and penance could stop
the plague. People became obsessed with death.
Chapter Three: The Black Death in Europe
In Florence some people sequestered themselves in walled communities to try and stay safe.
They ate and drank modestly and avoided luxury and distracting themselves with music and
conversation.
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Other people became reckless in the face of death. They allowed strangers into their houses.
There was no-one left to enforce any laws. Everyman was free to anything he liked.
Some tried to ward off infection, others fled the city. People carried flowers and herbs and spices
which the sniffed to try and keep out the smell of death and decay. People avoided each other.
Children were sometimes abandoned to their fate by their parents.
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The dead were hurried to their graves without customary burial rites.
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Death came swiftly and neighbours often dragged decaying neighbours into the street. Funerals
often ceased to exist. Consecrated ground was used up and large pits were dug instead.
“And there were so many dead throughout the city who were so sparsely covered with earth that
the dogs dragged them forth and devoured their bodies.”
People expected each day to be their last. Upwards of 100,000 people died in Florence.
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Manors, castles, stately homes were empty. Aristocratic families were wiped out. Young people
who were alive in the morning were often dead by nightfall.
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The plague reached France 1348-9. The young were more afflicted than the old. As the plage
spread to Germany and other countries there appeared religious fanatics called Flagellants who
whipped themselves into a frenzy to avert God’s wrath
Chapter Four: England Infected
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Plague reached the Dorset coast in August 1348. Some people were well in the morning and
dead by lunchtime. No-one who contracted the disease lived more than 3-4 days. King Edward
lll wrote to the Governor of Jersey telling him to forgive the fishermen the tax they usually paid to
the king.
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People suspected that the infection was spread by the breath of infected people.
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1349 was the worst year. Between a quarter and a third of the population did not survive. In
January 1349 it was noted by the Bishop of Bath that many people were dying without the Last
Rites being performed and that his remaining priests should, “…publicly command and persuade
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all men…that, if they are on the point of death and cannot secure the services of a priest, then
they should make confession to each other…whether to a layman or, if no man is present, then
even to a woman.”
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Plague reached London. It was a dirty city even though there had been moves to clean it up
since 1309 by prohibiting people from dumping sewage and rubbish in the streets and instead
they should dump it in the Thames. Fines were to be imposed on those who did not obey.
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People who had dung in front of their houses were also to be fined – as well as those people
who left dung outside other people’s houses. About 30,000 out of a population 70,000 died in
London.
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Some people suffered from abscesses all over their body and if they had them lanced they had a
chance of survival. But those who had small black pustules almost never survived. Many villages
were totally wiped out. A group called the Flagellants came to London as the plague was waning
and held their public demonstrations in front of St Paul’s Cathedral. They were soon deported as
undesirable aliens.
Chapter Five: Prayer and Despair
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As the plague subsided it was obvious that there were too few people to carry out the work. The
summoning of Parliament was postponed twice during 1349.
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There were scarcely enough of the living to bury the dead. Monasteries were particularly hard hit
because of the close living quarters. The pestilence was immediately followed by a pestilence
among beasts. Lands were uncultivated and animals were untended.
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Medieval people did not keep statistics and often figures were exaggerated.
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As the plague swept north the Scots decided to attack the English. But the Scots got the plague
as well. 1350 was a bad year for Scotland as they suffered the full force of the Black Death.
By the end of 1350 there was scarcely anywhere in Britain that did not have the
plague. Families were broken; communities shattered. English society itself had
been shaken to its very foundations.
Chapter Six: A Changed Society
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There was a hope that those who had survived were in God’s grace. That somehow they would
be more tolerant and full of love and charity.
“But no sooner had the plague ceased than we saw the contrary.”
People gave themselves up to gluttony, games of hazard, unbridled lechery, strange fashions
and indecent manners. People displayed, not their best qualities but their worst. They thought
there would be an abundance of everything since the population had dropped. In some countries
there was famine.
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Most commodities were more costly – twice the price of before the plague. Law suits and
disputes increased. Villages were robbed and pillaged.
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Labourers wanted more money and priests left their stipends – seeking more money elsewhere.
People’s immortal souls were in danger. Many priests had died and there followed an influx of
middle-aged widowers seeking to be priests. Many were ordained but many were illiterate
although some could read but with little understanding of what they were reading.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury tried to insist that priests serve their own church and be
moderately paid. Most teachers were clerics which brought about huge changes in English
education. School children had been educated in Norman French which was not a procedure
followed in other countries. But with so few left who could speak French, students had to be
taught in English.
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By 1385 children in all the grammar schools in England were taught in English. This was
considered a disadvantage for young men who might want to work and travel abroad.
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1362 a law was passed ordering law courts to use English instead of French. Many poorer
people had been disadvantaged by not speaking French. It was thought people would be more
law abiding if they understood the laws in English. All written work in courts was to be in Latin.
New universities were set up to fill the gaps.
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There was a great shortage of labour.
Horse 40/- now half a mark
Fat ox now 4/Cow 12d
Heifer 6d
Fat wether 4d
Sheep 3d
Lamb 2d
Large pig 5d
Stone of wool 9d
Sheep and ox strayed over lands and among crops. There was not enough labour to bring in the
crops as they were – even when there were higher wages. Crops rotted in the fields. Landlords
began competing for tenants and labourers and had to offer better terms.
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Many buildings fell into disrepair. “In the following winter there was such a dearth of
servants for all sorts of labour as it was believed had never been seen before.
For the sheep and cattle strayed in all directions without herdsmen, and all
things were left with none to care for them.”
Lords often remitted rents to half or 1-3 years to prevent their tenants leaving.
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It became common for tenants to have a reduced rent until the landlord could find someone
willing to pay more. Other lords charged a higher rent but remitted some of the feudal duties.
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Chapter Seven: Peasant Discontent
Lords complained that there were three things that were not good when they were out of control;
water flood, wasting fire and the common multitude of small folk.
“For the poor and small folk, who should cleave to their labour, demand to be
better fed than their masters. Moreover, they bedeck themselves in fine colours
and fine attire, whereas (were it not for their pride and privy conspiracies)
they would be in sackcloth of old.” (John Gower, small landowner)
Gower also complained about the demand for higher wages. He lamented the loss of the good
old days when peasants were ‘content’ with drinking water and not eating wheaten bread. And
when they considered eating bread and milk to be a feast.
“Now they work little, dress and feed like their betters, and ruin stares us in the
face.”
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King Edward lll did try to address the problem of wages. In 1349 a statute was passed forcing
the able-bodied to work and to fix wages at their 1346 level.
In 1351 – the first Parliament since the plague passed the Statute of Labourers. This defined the
labour laws. Lords were instructed not to pay more than they had previously. But it was not easy
to get labour at all and higher wages were paid.
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The King fined lords who had given higher wages. He also tried to restrain the peasants by
arresting them. Many seemed to have escaped prison and fled to the forests. Others were freed
when they promised not to take the higher wages. Many labourers refused to accept salt meat
instead of fresh meat and to eat yesterday’s cabbage. They resented the King for making the
Statute. There was some sympathy for peasants who were expected to agree to low wages
while prices rose.
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Langland sympathised with the poor and he attacked the greed of the landlords.
Tensions rose further in the land when in 1377 Edward lll died and ten-year-old Richard ll
became the king.
In his first Parliament it was noted that serfs were refusing to work for their lords and may be
conspiring to revolt.
Chapter Eight: John Wycliffe and John Ball
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The peasants were reaching flashpoint and were further inflamed by Wycliffe (1325-84). He
wished to reform the church. He called on the church to give up its property and live in poverty to
assist the poor. He also denied that the pope could excommunicate anyone, and that the King or
church could not give land in perpetuity. He sent out ‘Poor Priests’ called Lollards to preach to
the people. His words were quickly misconstrued by his preachers and he had to quickly deny
that peasants could refuse to serve their lords.
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He did criticise lords who ripped off their workers. The chief agitator on behalf of the peasants
was a priest called John Ball. It was commonly thought that Ball was a follower of Wycliffe. He
spoke against the lords and the clergy and he had the support of the common people. He
believed that tithes should come from the rich.
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He had been forbidden to preach in churches and so he preached in the streets and villages and
fields. The church often condemned him and he was often thrown in jail.
Ball preached,
“My friends , the state of England cannot be right until everything is held
communally, and until there is no distinction between nobleman and serf, and
we are all as one.”
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“They are dressed in velvet and furs, while we wear only cloth. They have wine,
and spices and good bread, while we have rye, and straw that has been thrown
away, and water to drink. They have fine houses and manors, and we have to
brave the wind and rain as we toil in the fields. It is by the sweat of our brows
that they maintain their high state…Let us go to the King...When the king sees
us, either he will listen to us, or we will help ourselves.”
By 1381 Ball had gathered many supporters. He called for a march on London. Some in London
began to hear about the peasants’ grievances and thought that all the silver and gold was in the
hands of the rich and that the country was badly governed. They began to send word to the
counties to come at one to London where they “…would press the King so hard that there would
not be a slave left in England.” The messages, sent to villages in Essex and Kent, contained
codewords that would be understood by Ball’s followers.
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The peasants were on the brink of rebellion. Peasants began to say that their servitude was
excessive and in the beginning of the world no man was a slave. In 1358 there had been a
peasant (Jacquerie) rebellion in France.
Chapter Nine: The Flame of Rebellion
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The immediate cause of the Peasant’s Revolt was a Toll Tax. They were graduated by wealth
and rank. Three were implemented between 1377 and 1380. Everyone was to pay 3 groats and
the rich to pay not more than 60 groats and none less than 1 groat. Tax commissioners were to
be employed to collect the tax.
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Widespread tax evasion took place. Lists of eligible taxpayers were to be made and the
commissioners had to bring the tax (less their cut) to the Exchequer. Tax evaders were to be
arrested and punished.
The Revolt itself began on the 30th May 1381. A tax commissioner named Thomas Bampton
summoned men from three villages; Fobbing, Corringham and Stanford to Brentwood to ask
them who had been evading tax. Thinking they had not paid, he wanted a new tax. The people
of Fobbing had a receipt for the tax they has already paid and they refused to pay more. The
men of Fobbing were joined by the other two villages and they all gathered together and refused
to pay more. Thomas Bampton ordered their arrest but the people resisted and threatened to kill
Bampton and his sergeants. Bampton fled to London. The villagers fled to woods and his until
they were too hungry to stay longer. They then went about to other villages to get support.
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The King sent Sir Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, into Essex to restore order.
He swore in local people to speak against the villagers who had refused to pay more tax. The
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villagers went to speak to him and told him he was a traitor and that he was telling lies about the
tax. They made him swear on the Bible that he would never hold such a session again. They
made him give them a list of names of those who had spoken against them. They caught as
many as possible and cut their heads off and tore their houses down. Sir Robert fled.
By this time there were around 50,000 disgruntled villagers and they went to manors and
townships and those who would not join them had their homes torn down. They caught three
clerks of Thomas Bampton and cut their heads off and carried them on poles for several days.
They were now determined to kill all lawyers, jurors (special witnesses who had knowledge of
the case and could speak against others), and servants of the King.
The flame of revolt spread through Essex.
The men called for all able bodied men to join them and demand their freedom. They threatened
that those who did not come and help would be punished.
‘
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The Essex rebels sent messages to the people of Kent. They rose up too and stopped all
pilgrims on the road to Canterbury to swear allegiance to the King and Commons and that they
would join the rebellion when needed and that they would not consent to raising any new taxes.
The rebels in Kent released all prisoners from jail, including John Ball.
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The Kentish rebels decided to march on London. On the 10th June 1381 they were joined by Wat
Tyler and Jack Straw. They were going to demand that no Englishman should remain a serf.
They sent word to other counties to come to London and thereby surround London. Another
group attacked Rochester Castle and seized the governor, Sir John Newton who was coerced
into becoming their commander-in-chief. The mob marched to Blackheath burning and lootingespecially lawyers’ homes for enforcing the Statutes of Labourers. Thousands of peasants
waited just outside London for the King.
Meanwhile Richard was lodged in the Tower for safety with 600 of his advisers and Council.
Chapter Ten: March and Massacre
Sir John Newton was sent to the king with a message requesting a meeting at Blackheath the
next day. 60,000 rebels were stirred up by John Ball that night:
When Adam delved and Eve span
Who was then the gentleman?
He wanted them to kill the lords then the lawyers, justices and jurors, and anyone else who
might be harmful to the community in the future. The people called out that he should be
Archbishop and Chancellor and that the Archbishop should be executed.
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The King arrived to speak to the rebels on his barge. But the royal party, feeling unsafe, did not
stay long and soon departed. The Earl of Salisbury called out: “Gentlemen, you are in no fit state
nor are you properly dressed to speak to the King.”
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The mob then attempted to get in to London – destroying homes on the way and releasing
prisoners from Marshalsea Prison. The bridge was closed to them but sympathisers inside the
city opened the gate and let them in. Peasants from Essex Kent, Sussex and Bedford entered
London led by War Tyler and Jack Straw and John Ball. All of London was in terror. They
destroyed the Palace of Savoy, the home of John of Gaunt, the King’s uncle.
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They ransacked the Temple and destroyed documents that listed feudal dues. At night they
camped around the Tower. Richard could see the fires from the Tower. His advisers had little
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advice for him. He ordered that it be cried out that all every man between fifteen and sixty should
go to Mile End where the King would meet them at seven o’clock.
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As the King exited the Tower 400 rebels led by Tyler, Straw and Ball dashed in and created
havoc. They murdered Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury who was a Lord Chancellor
and had introduced the Poll Tax.
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They also beheaded Sir Robert Hales at Tower Hill. They killed many prominent citizens and
Flemish weavers who were thought to be sending gold out of the country.
Chapter Eleven: King Richard and Wat Tyler
The King made his way to Mile End where 60,000 men had assembled.
“My friends, I am your King and your lord. What do you want? And what do you wish to say?”
Those who heard him replied:
“We want you to set us free for ever, us and our descendants and our lands, and to grant that
we should never again be called serfs, nor held in bondage.”
The King promised them what they wanted and arranged to have it drawn up in writing. He
promised a banner for: Kent, Essex, Bedford, Cambridge, Stafford and Lincoln. He gave a free
pardon to the people of the counties if they returned home. Half the mob dispersed and thirty
secretaries drew up the letters.
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However, many of the peasants refused to leave. Tyler, Straw and Ball remained with 30,000
followers. The next morning the massacre continued.
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The King went to church and then sent a message for all rebels to meet at Smithfield. They were
led by Wat Tyler. The King asked the Mayor of London, William Walworth, to summon Tyler.
Tyler was shockingly over-familiar with the King. He approached on a small horse so that he
might be seen. He dismounted but held a small dagger in his hand, he half bent his knee and
then took the King by the hand and shook it roughly saying “Brother, be of good comfort and
joyful, for you shall have, in the fortnight that is to come, praise from the commons even more
than you have yet had, and we shall be good companions.”
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The King asked them to leave and Tyler demanded his charter and the King promised him what
he wanted. Tyler sent for a flagon of water and washed his mouth out in a rude and disgusting
manner. Then he demanded a jug of ale and drank deeply. Then he remounted his horse. Then
a man of the King’s from Kent recognised Tyler and called out that he was “…the greatest thief
and robber in Kent..” Tyler tried to attack him with his knife, in the King’s presence. The Mayor
arrested him but Tyler stabbed him (luckily he was wearing armour under his robes). Then the
Mayor struck Tyler with his sword on his neck and head and another of the King’s men drew his
sword and ran Tyler though. As he was dying he called for the commons to avenge him then he
fell from his horse.
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The King was in great danger because many of Tyler’s followers were archers and they cried
out,
“They have cut down our captain.”
The king rode up to them and said “Gentlemen, what do you want? You have no captain but me.
I am your King. Keep the peace.” Some of the crowd then began to disperse. The King left the
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rest out to Clerkenwell Fields where they were surrounded by citizens and guards summoned by
the Mayor.
Meanwhile the Mayor went to look for Tyler at Smithfield and was surprised to find the body
gone. He had been taken to a local hospital. The Mayor had him taken to the middle of
Smithfield and beheaded. With the death of Tyler the revolt in London collapsed. Many fell to the
ground before the King and pleaded for mercy for their misdeeds. Mercy was granted and the
hurried off home.
Chapter Twelve: The End of the Revolt
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While this had been happening in London there had been serious rioting around the countryside.
The Bishop of Norwich rounded up rebels and heard their confessions and executed them. The
King sent out an order to capture rebels and many were rounded up and executed.
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Most of the ringleaders were rounded up and executed. John Ball did not deny the evidence
against him and was hanged in the King’s presence on the 15th July 1381. William Grindcobbe
led the rising at St Albans and was arrested and released on the condition that he subdued his
followers. Instead he declared to them: :Friends, who after so long an age of oppression, have at
last won yourselves a short breath of freedom, hold firm while you can, and have no thought for
me and what I may suffer. For if I die for the cause of liberty that we have won, I shall think
myself happy to end my life as a martyr. Act now as you would have acted supposing that I had
been beheaded at Hertford yesterday.” He was taken back to prison and executed.
On the whole the government acted with moderation. Executions were later followed by pardons.
The royal charters were “recalled and annulled”
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But it was impossible to set the clock back. The issues remained and sporadic risings took
place.
The revolt had failed but serfdom was already declining. Landlords found it more profitable to
release serfs and hire labour.
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