October 2019 Group Meeting Report
James Dickinson battled his way from deepest Sussex, through wind and rain, to tell us about the tumultuous times of King Richard II and The Peasants Revolt at our October meeting – sorry I did not mean there were any revolting peasants at our meeting!!
Not dissimilar to our present situation, these were times of conflict and uncertainty and disharmony with our European neighbours. By the time of Richard’s birth in 1367 England had been beleaguered by wars with France and Scotland and outbreaks of plague, later called The Black Death, leading to the demise of between two and a half and three and a quarter million people, causing social and economic disruption.
Richard was described by some of his contemporaries as arrogant, frivolous, vain, capricious and extravagant. According to these male chroniclers this was his mother’s fault for indulging his every whim! His parents were a glamourous couple. His father, Edward The Black Prince, was revered for defeating the French at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers and his mother Joan, The Fair Maid of Kent, was renowned for her beauty. Richard succeeded to the English throne on the death of his grandfather and father but as he was only ten his uncle, John of Gaunt, assumed control. If this was a pantomime we would all be booing and hissing at the mention of Gaunt’s name due to the continuous raising of taxes to pay for wars, the rising of prices and rents and severe punishments for non-payment during his tenure.
After The Black Death a shortage of people to work the land meant those who had been serfs were in a stronger position. They increasingly rebelled against the feudal system, high rents and punitive taxation – especially the introduction of an unpopular Poll Tax. Refusal to register lit a fuse resulting in what we now call The Peasant’s Revolt in 1381. The names of the leaders, still familiar to us, include Jack Straw from Suffolk, Wat Tyler, formerly an archer, from Kent and the Priest John Ball. James vividly described the route of their advance on The City of London, converging on Blackheath, storming prisons and destroying John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace on their way. Richard, who was only fourteen, met them at Mile End and agreed to their demands. However at a further meeting at Smithfield Wat Tyler was arrested and stabbed and the military took control. Most of the leaders were executed, after which the movement collapsed.
With some settled periods, Richard’s rule continued to be troubled. The next rebellion came from a faction of the nobility who demanded the dismissal from office of other nobles and eventually Richard was deposed by his first cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (Henry VI), son of John of Gaunt. He died in disputed circumstances whilst imprisoned in Pontefract Castle in 1400.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser
James Dickinson battled his way from deepest Sussex, through wind and rain, to tell us about the tumultuous times of King Richard II and The Peasants Revolt at our October meeting – sorry I did not mean there were any revolting peasants at our meeting!!
Not dissimilar to our present situation, these were times of conflict and uncertainty and disharmony with our European neighbours. By the time of Richard’s birth in 1367 England had been beleaguered by wars with France and Scotland and outbreaks of plague, later called The Black Death, leading to the demise of between two and a half and three and a quarter million people, causing social and economic disruption.
Richard was described by some of his contemporaries as arrogant, frivolous, vain, capricious and extravagant. According to these male chroniclers this was his mother’s fault for indulging his every whim! His parents were a glamourous couple. His father, Edward The Black Prince, was revered for defeating the French at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers and his mother Joan, The Fair Maid of Kent, was renowned for her beauty. Richard succeeded to the English throne on the death of his grandfather and father but as he was only ten his uncle, John of Gaunt, assumed control. If this was a pantomime we would all be booing and hissing at the mention of Gaunt’s name due to the continuous raising of taxes to pay for wars, the rising of prices and rents and severe punishments for non-payment during his tenure.
After The Black Death a shortage of people to work the land meant those who had been serfs were in a stronger position. They increasingly rebelled against the feudal system, high rents and punitive taxation – especially the introduction of an unpopular Poll Tax. Refusal to register lit a fuse resulting in what we now call The Peasant’s Revolt in 1381. The names of the leaders, still familiar to us, include Jack Straw from Suffolk, Wat Tyler, formerly an archer, from Kent and the Priest John Ball. James vividly described the route of their advance on The City of London, converging on Blackheath, storming prisons and destroying John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace on their way. Richard, who was only fourteen, met them at Mile End and agreed to their demands. However at a further meeting at Smithfield Wat Tyler was arrested and stabbed and the military took control. Most of the leaders were executed, after which the movement collapsed.
With some settled periods, Richard’s rule continued to be troubled. The next rebellion came from a faction of the nobility who demanded the dismissal from office of other nobles and eventually Richard was deposed by his first cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (Henry VI), son of John of Gaunt. He died in disputed circumstances whilst imprisoned in Pontefract Castle in 1400.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser