Entertainment / Literature / Peasants Revolt: Also known as Wat Tyler's Rebellion, this uprising occurred in 1387 when lower-class Londoners and workers from the surrounding areas, fed up with repressive government measures such as the Labor Statutes of 1351, marched on London and incinerated the Savoy palace belonging to John of Gaunt and damaged property belonging to other noblemen, appealing directly to the young king, Richard II, for his intervention. The rebels burned unfavorable contracts and records of debt. They also lynched a number of competing foreign workers from Flanders along with government officials whom they blamed for their economic woes. According to legend, they chanted, 'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?' (i.e., when Adam and Eve first existed, who was an aristocrat?) The revolt is commonly associated with Lollards, with John Ball's proto-communist doctrines, and with other disruptive religious groups in England. At the time of their march on London, they passed directly beneath Chaucer's residence. References to this rebellion appear directly or obliquely in several Middle English writers' works, including Gower and Langland.
Search Google for Peasants Revolt:
Revolt Verb Synonyms: rebellion, revolution, uprising, mutiny, insurrection, coup d'‚tat, putsch, take-over
MORE