History

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Black Death

1. Black Death- A plague with two parts; Bubonic and Pneumonic. Mostly, people died by a flea bite after they had lived on rats.

2. Bubonic- Swelling-under arm and pain, fever+vomiting, bruises under the skin or bleeding, buboes develop+seizures then the die or buboes pop

3. Pneumonic- Straight away goes to your lungs and kills you, spreads via coughing

4. In June 1348, a French ship coming from the Middle East docked in Melbourne. It was carrying goods, but one the sailors were ill and started the Black Death.

5. At first the dead were buried in wooden coffins. But, since so many died, they had to make cemeteries outside city walls.

6. It killed 30% to 50% of England's population.

7. Each infected house to have watchmen to ensure no comes or goes. Bedding of the deceased must be aired by fire and perfume. No animals to be kept within the city. Any disorderly ale-houses, coffee shops to be closed. Woman attending the house must not leave for 28 days after the person has deceased.

Causes of the revolt

1. The Statute of Labourers 1351

This was a law passed at the end of the Black Death to stop the peasants taking advantage of the shortage of workers and demanding more money. Peasants were forced to work for the same wages as before, and landowners could insist on labour services being performed, instead of accepting money (commutation). This meant that the landowners could profit from shortages, whilst life was made very much harder for the peasants.

2. The young king

During the course of the Black Death and the years following it, England had a strong and warlike king, Edward III. However, his son, the Black Prince, died before him, leaving his grandson as heir to the throne. In 1377, Edward III died, and this boy of ten became king. The true power lay with the powerful barons, in particular the boy's uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

The barons, hated already by the peasants, began to take advantage of the situation.

3. The Poll Tax

England was involved in the Hundred Years War. This had left the treasury empty, and the barons were tired of paying for the war.

In 1377, John of Gaunt imposed a new tax, the Poll (head) Tax, that was to cover the cost of the war. Unlike normal taxes, this was to be paid by the peasants, as well as the landowners. Although this was meant to be a "one-off" event, it was so successful that it was repeated three more times. The first tax was 4d from every adult (adult:14yrs+), then it was raised to 4d for the peasants and more for the rich, and finally in 1380, it was raised to 12d per adult.

The barons liked the idea of the peasants helping to pay taxes, especially if the were acting as tax collectors, as some of the money was siphoned off into their pockets. It was much harder on the peasants, who could ill afford to pay, especially as the tax was collected in cash and not in farm produce.

By 1380, many were hiding from the collectors, and avoiding payment. For this reason, the amount collected dropped away, despite the fact that the tax had been increased.

4. The Black Death

I think this was the most important category that triggered the Peasants Revolt. The Black Death killed 1/2 o Europe, and at the beginning stages of it, the peasants would have thought it would only attack the lesser people like them because they weren't a needed part of society (they felt isolated from everyone else). When they realised it was a genuine virus/disease that would inevitably attack everyone, they released everyone was on the same level and revolted at the facts that they had been treated so badly for so long.

5. Social

The peasants after the BD when they got wages increased and lived like normal people. When it was taken away from them, they wanted to keep their standard of living.