(20) Causes of the Peasants' revolt

• Causes of the Peasants' revolt

  Life for the Peasants of Medieval England was hard. They were at the bottom of the feudal system working for a lord and serving the king. In the fourteenth century the peasants had had enough; they decided to fight back.
• Causes of the Peasants' revolt- economic

  • In 1348 the Black Death arrived in England and killed most of the peasant workforce, so fields of crops were left to rot and villages were abandoned. As there were few workers, the peasants could demand higher wages
  • Richard II raised taxes to fund his wars against the French - poll tax
  • by 1380 everyone over 15 had to pay four groats per year to the King, a massive increase from the one groat they had previously paid
• Causes of the Peasants' revolt- political

  • local lords and even the king worried that the peasants were becoming too powerful and that the feudal system would break down
  • in 1351 King Edward III passed the Statute of Labourers which restricted the movement and wages of the peasants; they were forced to return and work for their lords again
  • the peasants wanted reform to reduce the influence of landowners
• Causes of the Peasants' revolt- religious

  • many priests started to preach that the Church was exploiting the peasants by making people pay pardons for their sins
  • John Ball, a Priest, said that God has created everyone equally and there should be no rich or poor - Ball was arrested
• Causes of the Peasants' revolt- social

  • The Black Death plague spread across the country, killing a third of the popular - mostly the poor
  • many peasants started to move around from village to village looking for the best paid work
  • between 1377 and 1379 , 70% of the people brought before the Justice of the Peace were accused of breaking the Statute of Labourers
  • peasants returning from the war in France were forced to go back to their old lives and pay higher taxes