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= = = = March on the capital = = = =
The Kentish advance on London appears to have been coordinated with the movement of the rebels in Essex , Suffolk and Norfolk . Their forces were armed with weapons including sticks , battle axes , old swords and bows . Along their way , they encountered Lady Joan , the King 's mother , who was travelling back to the ...
Word of the revolt reached the King at Windsor Castle on the night of 10 June . He travelled by boat down the River Thames to London the next day , taking up residence in the powerful fortress of the Tower of London for safety , where he was joined by his mother , Archbishop Sudbury , the Lord High Treasurer Sir Rober...
At Blackheath , John Ball gave a famous sermon to the assembled Kentishmen . Ball was a well @-@ known priest and radical preacher from Kent , who was by now closely associated with Tyler . Chroniclers ' accounts vary as to how he came to be involved in the revolt ; he may have been released from Maidstone gaol by the...
Discussions took place in the Tower of London about how to deal with the revolt . The King had only a few troops at hand , in the form of the castle 's garrison , his immediate bodyguard and , at most , several hundred soldiers . Many of the more experienced military commanders were in France , Ireland and Germany , a...
Since the Blackheath negotiations had failed , the decision was taken that the King himself should meet the rebels , at Greenwich , on the south side of the Thames . Guarded by four barges of soldiers , Richard sailed from the Tower on the morning of 13 June , where he was met on the other side by the rebel crowds . T...
= = = Events in London = = =
= = = = Entry to the city = = = =
The rebels began to cross from Southwark onto London Bridge on the afternoon of 13 June . The defences on London Bridge were opened from the inside , either in sympathy for the rebel cause or out of fear , and the rebels advanced into the city . At the same time , the rebel force from Essex made its way towards Aldgat...
The Kentish rebels had assembled a wide @-@ ranging list of people whom they wanted the King to hand over for execution . It included national figures , such as John of Gaunt , Archbishop Sudbury and Hales ; other key members of the royal council ; officials , such as Belknap and Bampton who had intervened in Kent ; a...
On the north side of London , the rebels approached Smithfield and Clerkenwell Priory , the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller which was headed by Hales . The priory was destroyed , along with the nearby manor . Heading west along Fleet Street , the rebels attacked the Temple , a complex of legal buildings and of...
Next to be attacked along Fleet Street was the Savoy Palace , a huge , luxurious building belonging to John of Gaunt . According to the chronicler Henry Knighton it contained " such quantities of vessels and silver plate , without counting the parcel @-@ gilt and solid gold , that five carts would hardly suffice to ca...
= = = = Taking the Tower of London = = = =
On the morning of 14 June , the crowd continued west along the Thames , burning the houses of officials around Westminster and opening the Westminster gaol . They then moved back into central London , setting fire to more buildings and storming Newgate Prison . The hunt for Flemings continued , and those with Flemish ...
Isolated inside the Tower , the royal government was in a state of shock at the turn of events . The King left the castle that morning and made his way to negotiate with the rebels at Mile End in east London , taking only a very small bodyguard with him . The King left Sudbury and Hales behind in the Tower , either fo...
It is uncertain who spoke for the rebels at Mile End , and Wat Tyler may not have been present on this occasion , but they appear to have put forward their various demands to the King , including the surrender of the hated officials on their lists for execution ; the abolition of serfdom and unfree tenure ; " that the...
While Richard was at Mile End , the Tower was taken by the rebels . A force of rebels , separate from those operating under Tyler at Mile End , approached the castle , possibly in the late morning . The gates were open to receive Richard on his return and a crowd of around 400 rebels entered the fortress , encounterin...
Once inside , the rebels began to hunt down their key targets , and found Archbishop Sudbury and Robert Hales in the chapel of the White Tower . Along with William Appleton , John of Gaunt 's physician , and John Legge , a royal sergeant , they were taken out to Tower Hill and beheaded . Their heads were paraded aroun...
In the aftermath of the attack , Richard did not return to the Tower but instead travelled from Mile End to the Great Wardrobe , one of his royal houses in Blackfriars , part of south @-@ west London . There he appointed the military commander Richard FitzAlan , the Earl of Arundel , to replace Sudbury as Chancellor ,...
= = = = Smithfield = = = =
On 15 June the royal government and the remaining rebels , who were unsatisfied with the charters granted the previous day , agreed to meet at Smithfield , just outside the city walls . London remained in confusion , with various bands of rebels roaming the city independently . Richard prayed at Westminster Abbey , be...
Richard probably called Tyler forwards from the crowd to meet him , and Tyler greeted the King with what the royal party considered excessive familiarity , terming Richard his " brother " and promising him his friendship . Richard queried why Tyler and the rebels had not yet left London following the signing of the ch...
An argument then broke out between Tyler and some of the royal servants . The Mayor of London , William Walworth , stepped forward to intervene , Tyler made some motion towards the King , and the royal soldiers leapt in . Either Walworth or Richard ordered Tyler to be arrested , Tyler attempted to attack the Mayor , a...
The situation was now precarious and violence appeared likely as the rebels prepared to unleash a volley of arrows . Richard rode forwards towards the crowd and persuaded them to follow him away from Smithfields , to Clerkenwell Fields , defusing the situation . Walworth meanwhile began to regain control of the situat...
= = = Wider revolt = = =
= = = = Eastern England = = = =
While the revolt was unfolding in London , John Wrawe led his force into Suffolk . Wrawe had considerable influence over the development of the revolt across eastern England , where there may have been almost as many rebels as in the London revolt . The authorities put up very little resistance to the revolt : the maj...
On 12 June , Wrawe attacked Sir Richard Lyons ' property at Overhall , advancing on to Cavendish and Bury St Edmunds in west Suffolk the next day , gathering further support as they went . John Cambridge , the Prior of the wealthy Bury St Edmunds Abbey , was disliked in the town , and Wrawe allied himself with the tow...
Revolt began to stir in St Albans in Hertfordshire late on 13 June , when news broke of the events in London . There had been long @-@ running disagreements in St Albans between the town and the local abbey , which had extensive privileges in the region . On 14 June , protesters met with the Abbot , Thomas de la Mare ...
On 15 June , revolt broke out in Cambridgeshire , led by elements of Wrawe 's Suffolk rebellion and some local men , such as John Greyston , who had been involved in the events in London and had returned to his home county to spread the revolt , and Geoffrey Cobbe and John Hanchach , members of the local gentry . The ...
In Norfolk , the revolt was led by Geoffrey Litster , a weaver , and Sir Roger Bacon , a local lord with ties to the Suffolk rebels . Litster began sending out messengers across the county in a call to arms on 14 June , and isolated outbreaks of violence occurred . The rebels assembled on 17 June outside Norwich and k...
= = = = Northern and western England = = = =
Revolts also occurred across the rest of England , particularly in the cities of the north , traditionally centres of political unrest . In the town of Beverley , violence broke out between the richer mercantile elite and the poorer townspeople during May . By the end of the month the rebels had taken power and replac...
Word of the troubles in the south @-@ east spread north , slowed by the poor communication links of medieval England . In Leicester , where John of Gaunt had a substantial castle , warnings arrived of a force of rebels advancing on the city from Lincolnshire , who were intent on destroying the castle and its contents ...
News of the initial events in London also reached York around 17 June , and attacks at once broke out on the properties of the Dominican friars , the Franciscan friaries and other religious institutions . Violence continued over the coming weeks , and on 1 July a group of armed men , under the command of John de Gisbo...
In the Somerset town of Bridgwater , revolt broke out on 19 June , led by Thomas Ingleby and Adam Brugge . The crowds attacked the local Augustine house and forced their master to give up his local privileges and pay a ransom . The rebels then turned on the properties of John Sydenham , a local merchant and official ,...
= = = Suppression = = =
The royal suppression of the revolt began shortly after the death of Wat Tyler on 15 June . Sir Robert Knolles , Sir Nicholas Brembre and Sir Robert Launde were appointed to restore control in the capital . A summons was put out for soldiers , probably around 4 @,@ 000 men were mustered in London , and expeditions to ...
The revolt in East Anglia was independently suppressed by Henry le Despenser , the Bishop of Norwich . Henry was in Stamford in Lincolnshire when the revolt broke out , and when he found out about it he marched south with eight men @-@ at @-@ arms and a small force of archers , gathering more forces as he went . He ma...
On 17 June , the King dispatched his half @-@ brother Thomas Holland and Sir Thomas Trivet to Kent with a small force to restore order . They held courts at Maidstone and Rochester . William de Ufford , the Earl of Suffolk , returned to his county on 23 June , accompanied by a force of 500 men . He quickly subdued the...
On 20 June , the King 's uncle , Thomas of Woodstock , and Robert Tresilian , the replacement Chief Justice , were given special commissions across the whole of England . Thomas oversaw court cases in Essex , backed up by a substantial military force as resistance was continuing and the county was still in a state of ...
A wide range of laws were invoked in the process of the suppression , from general treason to charges of book burning or demolishing houses , a process complicated by the relatively narrow definition of treason at the time . The use of informants and denunciations became common , causing fear to spread across the coun...
The rebel leaders were quickly rounded up . A rebel leader by the name of Jack Straw was captured in London and executed . John Ball was caught in Coventry , tried in St Albans , and executed on 15 July . Grindecobbe was also tried and executed in St Albans . John Wrawe was tried in London ; he probably gave evidence ...
= = = Aftermath = = =
The royal government and Parliament began to re @-@ establish the normal processes of government after the revolt ; as the historian Michael Postan describes , the uprising was in many ways a " passing episode " . On 30 June , the King ordered England 's serfs to return to their previous conditions of service , and on...
Despite the violence of the suppression , the government and local lords were relatively circumspect in restoring order after the revolt , and continued to be worried about fresh revolts for several decades . Few lords took revenge on their peasants except through the legal processes of the courts . Low @-@ level unre...
There were no further attempts by Parliament to impose a poll tax or to reform England 's fiscal system . The Commons instead concluded at the end of 1381 that the military effort on the Continent should be " carefully but substantially reduced " . Unable to raise fresh taxes , the government had to curtail its foreig...
= = Rebels = =
Chroniclers primarily described the rebels as rural serfs , using broad , derogatory Latin terms such as serviles rustici , servile genus and rusticitas . Some chroniclers , including Knighton , also noted the presence of runaway apprentices , artisans and others , sometimes terming them the " lesser commons " . The e...
The rural rebels came from a wide range of backgrounds , but typically they were , as the historian Christopher Dyer describes , " people well below the ranks of the gentry , but who mainly held some land and goods " , and not the very poorest in society , who formed a minority of the rebel movement . Many had held po...
Many of the rebels had urban backgrounds , and the majority of those involved in the events of London were probably local townsfolk rather than peasants . In some cases , the townsfolk who joined the revolt were the urban poor , attempting to gain at the expense of the local elites . In London , for example , the urba...
The vast majority of those involved in the revolt of 1381 were not represented in Parliament and were excluded from its decision @-@ making . In a few cases the rebels were led or joined by relatively prosperous members of the gentry , such as Sir Roger Bacon in Norfolk . Some of them later claimed to have been forced...
Many of those involved in the revolt used pseudonyms , particularly in the letters sent around the country to encourage support and fresh uprisings . They were used both to avoid incriminating particular individuals and to allude to popular values and stories . One popular assumed name was Piers Plowman , taken from t...
= = Legacy = =
= = = Historiography = = =
Contemporary chroniclers of the events in the revolt have formed an important source for historians . The chroniclers were biased against the rebel cause and typically portrayed the rebels , in the words of the historian Susan Crane , as " beasts , monstrosities or misguided fools " . London chroniclers were also unwi...
At the end of the 19th century there was a surge in historical interest in the Peasants ' Revolt , spurred by the contemporary growth of the labour and socialist movements . Work by Charles Oman , Edgar Powell , André Réville and G. M. Trevelyan established the course of the revolt . By 1907 the accounts of the chroni...
Interpretations of the revolt have changed over the years . 17th @-@ century historians , such John Smyth , established the idea that the revolt had marked the end of unfree labour and serfdom in England . 19th @-@ century historians such as William Stubbs and Thorold Rogers reinforced this conclusion , Stubbs describ...
The name " the Peasants ' Revolt " emerged in the 18th and early 19th centuries , and its first recorded use by historians was in John Richard Green 's Short History of the English People in 1874 . Contemporary chronicles did not give the revolt a specific title , and the term " peasant " did not appear in the English...
= = = Popular culture = = =
The Peasants ' Revolt became a popular literary subject . The poet John Gower , who had close ties to officials involved in the suppression of the revolt , amended his famous poem Vox Clamantis after the revolt , inserting a section condemning the rebels and likening them to wild animals . Geoffrey Chaucer , who lived...
The revolt formed the basis for the late 16th @-@ century play , The Life and Death of Jack Straw , possibly written by George Peele and probably originally designed for production in the city 's guild pageants . It portrays Jack Straw as a tragic figure , being led into wrongful rebellion by John Ball , making clear ...
As the historian Michael Postan describes , the revolt became famous " as a landmark in social development and [ as ] a typical instance of working @-@ class revolt against oppression " , and was widely used in 19th and 20th century socialist literature . William Morris built on Chaucer in his novel A Dream of John Ba...
Conspiracy theorists , including writer John Robinson , have attempted to explain alleged flaws in mainstream historical accounts of the events of 1381 , such as the speed with which the rebellion was coordinated . Theories include that the revolt was led by a secret , occult organisation called " the Great Society " ...
= M @-@ 188 ( Michigan highway ) =
M @-@ 188 is a 4 @.@ 559 @-@ mile @-@ long ( 7 @.@ 337 km ) state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan . It runs from Eaton Rapids to the VFW National Home for Children , southeast of town through a rural area . Approximately 1 @,@ 000 vehicles each day use a highway that was first designated in the 1930s and...
= = Route description = =