English Peasant Revolt of 1386

During the course of the middle ages, the most serious threat ever posed upon the English government can be said to have been the Peasant rebellions of 1381. There is an overall consensus amongst historians that government policy was in large part responsible for the rising. The King and the Government failed in various ways including their failure in maintaining territories that were in France and to defend the coasts of England, the tendency to bow to pressure from the landed classes and restrict the economic and legal rights of the peasantry, and the outrageous and inequitable taxes of the 1370s, culminating in the commissions to enforce the poll tax in the spring of 1381, all these factors combined to provoke a widespread and perhaps coordinated outbreak of rebellion in southeast England, as well as many more spontaneous and isolated revolts in the West, the Midlands, and the North. This essay however aims to determine the reasons behind the Peasants Revolt of 1381 took place mainly in the South-Eastern part of the country. The essay will proceed as follows - Firstly it will give background information on the revolts. It will then attempt to pay attention to the causes of the revolt. Finally it will provide information on the result of the Peasants revolt.

The Peasants Revolt of 1381 can be said to have been a challenge in the reign of the youthful Richard the 2nd. The revolt is also known for being the first uprising to involve a great number of people since the rebellion of Boutica Celtic which was against the Romans. (Vaughan; 1977) Some historians suggest that the rebellion was brought about by the introduction of the highly resented poll tax. This however cannot be said to be the only viable explanation as to why the rebellion took place in parts of Southeast England to be specific of geography. Even before the introduction of the taxes there seemed to be rising economic discontent and the rebellion did not just include the poor and destitute but also the upper classes and artisans and villeins who had relative success when compared to others. Another reason which can be given for the reasons behind the rebellion but also perhaps is a link in a group of reasons was the attempt by those who held power in terms of land to put a cap on wages. This affected the agricultural workers and the working class the most and is often referred to as being the Statute of Labourers. In addition the plague had put England into an almost crisis. There was a huge death toll and naturally one of the results of this were huge losses in the numbers of workers and thus created a shortage of labour who demanded higher wages and better treatment as a result of rising costs in living. The workers can be said to have had the upper hand considering that they were needed and came in short supply. The men of Kent marched to the city of London and shortly took control of the city. Richard the 2nd then went about to confront the rebellious. The rebellion lasted no more than a month and can be said to have failed as a social movement. Some historians include the "black death" in their studies of the peasant revolt of 1381. This is because when the Black Death had swept across Europe between 1348 and 1351 it left an estimated 30% of the population dead and some historians suggest that even after 30 years this still affected the English peasantry because it had resulted in a shortage of labour as well as food scarcity. By 1381 life had still not returned to what it had been before and community life had been disturbed leading to growing discontent amongst the poor and working classes.

The law that was the Statute of Labourers was passed at the end of the Black Death in 1351. It was passed so as to stop peasants from taking advantage from the shortage of workers that had resulted because of the many deaths. This forced labourers to continue working while earning the same wages even if their workload increased. Furthermore landowners could now insist on certain duties being performed and this meant that even though there was a shortage of labourers, landowners were still in a position to make profits when life had become increasingly difficult for the general population.

In addition to this crippling new law, there had been an increase in prices but wage increase had