The Peasant's Revolt

After the Black Death, people were becoming increasingly angry about serfdom. As serfs, peasants had no choice but to work for their lords under the feudal system. Since the Black Death had killed off half the workforce, there were now far fewer serfs doing much more work. The last straw came in 1381, when the government demanded the third poll tax in four years, to fund yet another war in France. The poll tax was a tax where everyone had to pay a shilling. The peasants thought this was unfair as one shilling to a rich man was nothing but to a poor person, it was a lot of money. On the 30th May, a tax collector entered a village in Essex to force people to pay a poll tax. His brutal methods angered the villagers. Soon, both Essex and Kent were in revolt. They went into London and released John Ball from jail, a popular priest who campaigned for the poor. Many of London's poor joined them. On release John delivered a stirring speech. On the 13th June,…