Jonty Claypole

I'm sorry, Sophie.

So Lollard is politically incorrect.

Yeah.

The last thing I want to say on the wider context is about Richard II, who is the king under whom Chaucer is writing The Canterbury Tales.

And actually, Chaucer by this point has very senior roles.

Towards the end part of his writing The Canterbury Tales, he's actually become clerk of the king's works.

He's responsible for the upkeep and construction of royal palaces.

Well, within government.

He's the sort of Robert Moses, I think, isn't he?

He's the power broker.

So Richard II comes to the throne aged 10.

So obviously he has John of Gaunt, his uncle, to look after things.

And Richard's reign gets off to not a great start because very early on there is something which in politically incorrect terms is known as the Peasants' Revolt.

The Peasants' Revolt happens in 1381.

There are lots of theories about why the Peasants' Revolt happens.

I think it's fair to say that a very material and in a way the sort of main one is the deeply unpopular poll tax that's being introduced to fund the wars against France.

So those of us of my age who remember the protests against the poll tax in Britain in the 1990s, we weren't there first, guys.

This happened in 1381.

Earlier, a poll tax had been introduced to four pence a year.

Not a lot now.