The Great Peasants' Revolt of 1381

The year was 1381, just over 30 years after the Black Death which had so changed England.
The country was ruled by a 14-year-old boy, Richard the Second.
In the villages of Essex and Kent, peasant farmers were not happy for many reasons.
In this year their anger led to mass protests, a march on London and a violent end.

TASK ONE: What happened and why?

Using the links below or your own research, find out

• why villagers were unhappy
• how they protested
• what happened when they reached London
• how the Revolt ended

The main events - main points, quite short, some difficult words.

Same story, more detail.
Another view of the same story.

Wikipedia

Peasants Revolt hoop shoot game.

TASK TWO: Is Thomas of Walsingham a good source of evidence?

Thomas of Walsingham lived at the time and wrote about the Revolt.

To read his account click here. You will need to print it out or save it to do the activity.

For the activity click here.