English Peasants' Revolt 1381
This historical text was written by the monks from Evesham Abbey just after the uprising was stifled. These events took place on June 14th at a place called Smithfield, in the area of London and surrounding places due to the riots started around the south east of England and converged in London City. What we can extract of this text is the way of how a young king, Henry II, with the most valuable help of William Walworth, Mayor of London, defeated the insurgents by killing their leader Wat Tyler. The main idea we obtain of this writing is a formidable peasants’ army fighting for their freedom after being forced to be serfs by land owners and cut their incomes through low wages in order to raise benefits for their lords. But not only peasants upraised also artisans and skilled labourers inside cities Additionally, the Church plays his own role. Some members of the Church support the fight of common people from parishes and beside them. Others protect the interest of the Church staying beside the King and protecting its incomes “…should be equality among all people save only the King…” “…clergy already in possession (of the goods of Holy Church) should have a sufficient sustenance from the endowments…” The events related in this document have been highly contrasted by different sources. It is easy to find references through prestigious sources as it is the Britannica Encyclopedia, the National Archives or authors like Charles Oman, R.B. Dobson or Nigel Saul. Concerning to the type of document under this analysis we could call it a chronicle, it is the most similar to a journalist medieval account of happenings, carried out by the usual notaries, the monk. But, in contrast to today readers, medieval readers and copies were not so numerous. The document is recounted as a narrative description. The events happen chronologically with the recount of the incidents one after another. The gathering of the king and the peasants, the meeting between Henry II and