The Peasants’ Revolt
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Why did the villagers of Fobbing protest the poll tax in May 1381?
It is May the 30th, 1381. Thomas Baker, a smallholder of some local standing, approaches the marketplace in Brentwood, a town east of London and the county of Essex. He has walked for four hours to join hundreds of villagers who have been summoned to a meeting on this damp day. Alongside neighbours from his village of Fobbing, Baker greets acquaintances from nearby Coringham and Stamford-le-Hope. There are strangers from further afield too, their boots covered in the same Essex mud. And they are all equally angry about rumors that their tax bill is about to rise again. Now, with the guard standing to attention, one of the officials, John Bampton, gets to his feet. A wealthy landowner, he is also a justice who often oversees disputes.
But the news that he is here today in his role as a royal tax commissioner is received with jeers. The guards rattle their weapons, and the crowd mostly settles, but heckles and sardonic laughter continue to sound from the back. Ignoring it, Bampton makes his announcement. The payment of the poll tax, set at the amount of 12 pence per person, is due immediately. People react in dismay. There are groans, shouts of indignation. One woman throws a vegetable at the awning, but it lands wetly in the mud. Amid the noise, Thomas Baker raises his hand. As calmly as he can, he says they cannot afford to pay another tax. There are cries of agreement from those around him, but then the guards march forwards to seize him.
As he is led away, Brampton announces that anyone refusing to pay will be arrested. The crowd grows restive. One elderly woman at the back lifts her skirt as if to flash her backside. People laugh, but they know the reference is serious. There have been tales from the neighboring county of Kent that a tax inspector has been insisting on feeling under the skirts of young women, apparently to check if they are old enough to pay their taxes. At least, that was his excuse. His assaults have caused outrage and deepened the belief that these tax men are not to be trusted. As Bampton tries to restore order, Thomas Baker breaks free from the guard. His fellow villagers surge forwards and storm the shelter. The guards are outnumbered.
As fighting breaks out, Bampton barely manages to gather his vital tax scrolls before fleeing to his horse and riding away. But though the villagers win the skirmish and avoid paying the tax for now, a battle is coming. they must find a way to fight back on a larger scale, to stage a rebellion the like of which has never been seen in England.
The so-called Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was the first mass popular uprising in England. A true people's revolution, it involved not just peasants but also tradesmen, merchants, artisans, priests, village leaders, an emerging middle class from the countryside. Their demands were radical, an overhaul of a centuries-old system of power held by aristocrats and the church, and the end of the exploitation of the masses by the elites. By the time it was over, a small, disparate band of disillusioned common people had swollen into an army of tens of thousands, forcing the king himself to listen. But how did a village ruckus explode into a national crisis? Who were the rebels willing to die for a cause? And who clung on to power after London fell into anarchy?
I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is a short history of the Peasants' Revolt.
In the three centuries since the Norman conquest of 1066, the English have been living under a strict feudal system. The land is owned by a 1% elite, the king, the nobles and gentry, and the church. That land is worked by around 90% of the population, either tenants who pay rent for farms or unpaid serfs, their status only differing from that of slaves by virtue of their being bought and sold with the land, and not individually. The remaining minority are those who do not work in agriculture. Merchants, tradespeople, artisans, lower-level clergy. By the 14th century, with the growth of towns and cities, they form an increasingly influential middle class.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did the villagers of Fobbing protest the poll tax in May 1381?
0:02–6:40
2
How did the Statute of Labourers (1351) fuel resentment among peasants and tradesmen?
6:40–14:02
3
What triggered the escalation from a local skirmish to a nationwide revolt?
14:02–21:22
4
Who were the key rebel leaders—Watt Tyler, John Ball, and Thomas Baker—and what were their aims?
21:22–28:25
5
How did King Richard II’s meeting at St John’s Chapel change the course of the rebellion?
28:25–35:37
6
What happened at the showdown on Smithfield on 15 June 1381?
35:37–41:38
7
Why did the king’s concessions collapse and how did the royal army respond?
41:38–47:07
8
What were the long‑term consequences of the 1381 revolt for serfdom, taxation, and English folklore?
47:07–55:26