The Peasants Revolt 1381 – Part Three.
‘After a peaceful slumber, Wat Tyler awoke, his cloak covered with the morning dew!
Having arisen early, he was focussed on the day and what he had resolved to do!’
Tyler had received word that the king wished to speak with him again. This pleased the rebel leader because he was intent on pressing his advantage. Tyler had some more demands he wished to put to the king. Still, what of yesterday?
‘Cor, what a day was yesterday! Me, a poor roof tiler talking man to man with the king! All those lords dressed in their finery and gold never uttered a dicky bird the whole time. Father John Ball was dead right! Stand up to the over fed rogues and they will fold like a tent! Swallowing too much venison and wine after a jousting session is all they ever do and it’s all they are good for! Us working peasants perform backbreaking labour on a diet of bread, a sup of small beer and perhaps a little pork! Tis a life that puts iron in your blood!’ Oh, there’s reverend John Ball.’
Morning Father Ball!
Good morning dear Wat! Yesterday was a great day for the common people!
And today, dear father, will be even better! Just wait and see! The king and his worthless gang of lackeys are coming to see us! We don’t have to go bow and scraping to him in his gorgeous palace surrounded by a crowd of simpering hounds! He is coming to us!
Father John Ball preaching to the rebels in 1381.
True to his word, Richard and the royal entourage, appeared in Smithfield at the appointed time. What the rebels did not know, was that many in the royal retinue were carrying weapons concealed beneath their garments.
‘This was a meeting intended to end the recent sorrow, pillage and strife!
But King Richard’s retainers secretly carried weapons, such as sword and knife!’
Tyler rode out to meet the king and began to converse with him. The rebel leader asked for further concessions, including the right for peasants to hunt in the forests and the abolition of tithes, to which Richard appeared to agree. What happened next is not entirely clear. It seems that William Walworth, the mayor of London, objected to what he considered Tyler’s disrespectful attitude towards the king. Walworth is said to have cried:
‘False stinking knave!
Tis time that you were laid in your grave!’
Walworth then struck Tyler with his short sword, knocking him from his horse. Tyler was fatally wounded and died soon after. The rebels, furious at this turn of events, began to reach for their bows and it appeared that a pitched battle was about to begin. The day was saved by the fourteen year old King Richard. Showing immense presence of mind and great courage, the king rode to the rebel lines and told them:
‘I am your one true leader, so dear men please be at peace!
Everything that you have asked for will be granted piece by piece!
One and all will now follow me to the city gate!
From there you will depart London in a spirit of great love, not vicious hate!’
King Richard exhorts the rebels to follow him.
The thoroughfares out of London that day were filled with gleeful peasants whooping with rapturous excitement. Their bright, laughing eyes glinting in the moonlight, and from their tongues came notes of pure joy. Tomorrow would be a better day, great hopes were about to be realised.
‘God protect dear Richard our sovereign king!
His praises, all of us here, do stand and sing!’
These happy sounds were soon replaced by howls of despair, and the cries of the peasant leaders as they were executed. King Richard soon broke every single promise that he made to the peasants that summer’s day in 1381. John Ball, who had fled to Coventry was captured, and after a show trial suffered the agonising death of being hanged drawn and quartered. The unfortunate priest was hanged for a short time and then castrated, before having his internal organs slowly cut from his abdomen and burnt before his eyes. Ball suffered this terrible punishment whilst still alive. To the authorities, he had become a figure of the utmost odium and had therefore to suffer accordingly.