the throne when eleven years of age. A council was appointed to help him to rule; and although not on the council, the king’s uncle, John of Gaunt, had great influence. The oppressive poll-tax was again placed on the people, and was made so heavy that great discontent spread among them. Wiclif’s followers, the ‘‘Lollards,” went through the country and helped to make the labourers, villeins, and smaller farmers, more and more restless.
12. Peasant Revolt, 1381.—When a people are in a dissatisfied mood it takes but little to make them do acts of violence. So when a tax collector insulted the daughter of a tiler, her father killed the ruffian. This was a signal for a general rising in Yorkshire, Kent, Essex, and other counties. Wat Tyler headed the men of Kent, and John Ball, one of Wiclif’s priests, preached to the angry multitude at Blackheath, asking them the question:
Who then was the gentleman?’
Under Jack Straw, a thatcher, came the men of Hssex, armed with scythes, clubs, and other rude weapons. The mob moved on to London, opened the doors of the prison, and burnt and destroyed many buildings. No one among the nobles and ministers seemed to know how to treat these misguided people. The king alone, although a mere lad of sixteen years, kept cool and undismayed. He rode out to meet one body of the rioters, and asked them what they wanted. They asked to be freed from the hated poll-tax, to have the market dues taken off, to be allowed to pay rent instead of working for their lords, and to have the villeins set free. When the king promised to do these things, the people, glad at heart, went home. But while Richard was treating with these men, another body broke into the Tower and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Treasurer; while a third body remained under Tyler in London. Richard went out to Tyler’s men and sought to quiet them. Tyler placed his hand on the rein of the king’s horse, and Walworth, Mayor of London, struck him and killed him. The mob would have killed the king and Walworth had not Richard cried out: ‘‘I am your Captain, follow me.” The king then led the way, and the crowd followed him quietly outside London, He gave the people written promises to remedy their wrongs, and then they went home. But these promises were never
