The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Epochs #198 ｜ Richard II

00:00:00.400 Hello and welcome back to Epochs, where if you remember last time I left the narrative

00:00:04.320 with the death of Edward III, who was an old king, he reigned for quite a long time,

00:00:10.160 he wasn't that old in our terms, he was in his 60s, but his first son, the Prince of Wales,

00:00:15.920 the Black Prince, had himself died in his 40s of some disease we're not entirely sure,

00:00:21.220 probably dysentery finally carried him off, but he'd been ill for a long time with something.

00:00:24.860 And so the crown passes down to his son, Richard, known to history as Richard II,

00:00:30.960 but he was a small child, he was about 9, 10, 10 years old, and so he ruled in his minority, so they say.

00:00:38.040 And so that's always worrisome in the pre-modern period, when you've got a child monarch,

00:00:43.440 because what it really means is there's going to be a power struggle over who controls him.

00:00:47.620 If it's not entirely clear who will control him, then there'll be some sort of power struggle,

00:00:52.080 and even if there isn't a power struggle, if the regent, or the person, or persons that control him

00:00:57.520 aren't good, then it's just the same as having a bad king.

00:01:01.080 So, where we went from a very strong monarch in Edward I, to a terrible monarch in Edward II,

00:01:07.640 back to a good one in Edward III, now we're back to a bad one with Richard II.

00:01:12.840 So it's a reign of instability and failures, as far as the English crown is concerned.

00:01:18.940 So, I'll pick up the story again with Professor Sir Charles Oman,

00:01:23.260 and maybe quote a bit from Churchin as well, in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

00:01:27.640 So, I'll let Oman continue. 0.98

00:01:30.640 He says this, quote,

00:01:31.840 The little king, Richard II, was a boy of 10 years old,

00:01:35.640 born in the year when his father went on his ill-fated expedition to Spain to help Don Pedro.

00:01:40.860 That was when his father, the Black Prince, was ruling in Aquitaine and had gone to help out in Nevere in Spain,

00:01:49.260 and that's where he'd first got his illness.

00:01:51.900 So, the Black Prince had been ill on and off for something like 10 years before he finally died.

00:01:57.720 Richard's mother was Joan, Countess of Kent, the heiress of that unfortunate Earl Edmund,

00:02:03.420 whom Mortimer beheaded in 1330.

00:02:04.860 She had been a widow when the Black Prince wedded her and had two sons by her first husband, Sir Thomas Holland.

00:02:12.300 These two half-brothers of King Richard were 10 years his seniors

00:02:15.920 and were destined to be not unimportant figures in the history of his reign.

00:02:20.980 Their names were Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, and John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon.

00:02:25.840 So, on top of Edward III having many, many sons, and therefore many, many grandsons,

00:02:31.100 on top of that, are Joan's children.

00:02:34.600 So, not only have we got a small boy ruling in his minority,

00:02:38.080 but we've got lots of different factions, lots of different power groups,

00:02:41.820 lots of different people vying for positions of influence.

00:02:45.940 It doesn't bode well.

00:02:47.280 There's too many people who want power for themselves,

00:02:50.440 as Abraham Lincoln once eloquently put it. 1.00

00:02:53.320 There's too many pigs for the tits. 1.00

00:02:55.160 Oman continues, 0.99

00:02:55.880 The helplessness of the young king, the son of the deeply mourned Black Prince,

00:03:00.640 at first touched the hearts of all men,

00:03:02.800 and the parties which were represented by John of Gaunt,

00:03:05.560 who was the third son of Edward III,

00:03:08.400 and he and his progeny become extremely important in the next generations.

00:03:12.840 So, John of Gaunt, a name to remember, the younger brother of the Black Prince.

00:03:17.140 So, very, very close to the throne.

00:03:18.660 The parties which were represented by John of Gaunt and William of Wycombe,

00:03:21.880 reconciled themselves and agreed to join in serving the king faithfully.

00:03:27.560 A council of regency was appointed, in which both were represented,

00:03:31.760 and it was agreed that Parliament alone should choose and dismiss the king's ministers.

00:03:36.580 So, on top of lots and lots of family machinations,

00:03:40.620 throw on top of that Parliament as just another faction, another power faction.

00:03:45.320 This happy concord, however, was not to last for long.

00:03:48.620 The conduct of the foreign affairs of the nation was left in John of Lancaster's hands,

00:03:53.900 that's John of Gaunt, so the king's uncle,

00:03:56.340 and the continued misfortunes in the French War were laid to his charge.

00:04:00.940 The troops of Charles V, the king of France, were still carrying everything before them.

00:04:06.040 They conquered all Aquitaine, save Bordeaux and Bayon,

00:04:09.740 and overran the Duchy of Brittany, the sole ally of England on the continent.

00:04:14.200 Moreover, fleets of Norman privateers had begun to appear in the Channel,

00:04:18.280 they landed boldly on the English coast and burnt Wynchelsea, Portsmouth and Gravesend.

00:04:24.620 So, we largely think of the Hundred Years' War as English armies in France,

00:04:29.460 laying waste to things, chevalchaying across the French countryside, 1.00

00:04:33.400 which is largely true, almost entirely true,

00:04:35.520 but not 100% of the cases we were just told there.

00:04:38.540 There were times here and there when the French did it to us, 0.97

00:04:41.660 and we certainly didn't control the Channel for large portions of it.

00:04:45.660 Again, we think of England sort of always controlling the Channel,

00:04:50.280 but, you know, it's not the case.

00:04:52.000 I'm on again, quote,

00:04:52.760 To restore the fortune of war, money was urgently needed,

00:04:56.740 and Duke John, John of Gaunt,

00:04:58.720 and Duke John kept asking for more and more

00:05:01.020 to discontent both of the Parliament and the nation.

00:05:04.340 He was granted in 1379 a poll tax,

00:05:07.520 wherein every man was assessed according to his estate,

00:05:10.780 from Dukes and Archbishops, who paid £6.13 and fourpence,

00:05:15.540 to Agricultural Labourers, who paid fourpence.

00:05:18.520 In 1830, followed another tax graduated from one pound to one shilling

00:05:23.760 on every grown man or woman.

00:05:26.000 So a tax on just being alive, a poll tax, basically.

00:05:29.440 It was the collection of this very unpopular tax

00:05:32.060 that precipitated the violent outbreak of a discontent

00:05:36.060 that had been smouldering among the lower classes 1.00

00:05:38.880 for the last 30 years.

00:05:40.980 Ever since the Black Death,

00:05:42.340 which, if you remember, hit England between 1348 and 1449,

00:05:46.280 and so, you know, 30 years ago now.

00:05:48.940 Ever since the Black Death,

00:05:50.100 a silent but bitter contention had been in progress

00:05:52.900 between the landholding classes and their tenants,

00:05:56.280 more especially those who were still villains

00:05:58.580 and bound to the soil.

00:06:00.900 Villain, you know, if you're bound to the soil legally,

00:06:03.680 you're an indentured slave, essentially.

00:06:05.880 A serf, that's no other way to put it.

00:06:08.240 The main stress of the struggle had come from the fact

00:06:11.040 that the dearth of labourers, the low number of labourers,

00:06:14.120 and the rise in wages, which resulted from the Black Death, 0.58

00:06:18.060 had caused the lords of the manors

00:06:20.000 to press more hardly on their tenants,

00:06:22.560 i.e. there are less people to do the work,

00:06:24.780 so the remaining people just simply have to work harder.

00:06:27.540 Well, you can't squeeze that lemon too hard.

00:06:30.980 You can't squeeze that until the pips go squeak,

00:06:33.000 because something's going to erupt.

00:06:34.660 They, the landholding class, 1.00

00:06:37.120 they tried to get all the labour they could

00:06:39.180 out of the villains

00:06:40.120 and refused to take money payments for their farms

00:06:43.460 instead of days of labour on the lords' fields.

00:06:46.520 It seems, too, that they strove to claim as villains

00:06:49.900 many who were or wished to be

00:06:51.860 free rent-paying, copy-hold or lease-hold tenants.

00:06:55.960 So, if anything, the powers that be,

00:06:58.160 the lords of the manors,

00:06:59.460 tried to just condemn even more people into their serfdom.

00:07:03.480 Moreover, when forced to hire free labour,

00:07:06.460 they tried to underpay it,

00:07:07.720 relying on the scale of wages

00:07:09.660 fixed by the statute of labourers in 1351

00:07:12.800 instead of abiding by the laws of supply and demand.

00:07:16.380 So, mentioned there is that quite important

00:07:18.660 statute of labourers.

00:07:20.080 So, if you remember last time,

00:07:21.560 Edward III had brought that in

00:07:23.000 to try and stabilise the situation.

00:07:25.660 1351, so straight after,

00:07:27.500 or really still during the Black Death,

00:07:30.380 to prevent all of society

00:07:32.360 or the entire labour market

00:07:33.760 from completely collapsing

00:07:35.420 or the few remaining people

00:07:37.100 just demanding extortionate

00:07:39.260 or truly unpayable wages.

00:07:41.580 It had been written into law,

00:07:43.320 written into statute, 0.86

00:07:45.040 and that they couldn't demand silly wages.

00:07:47.980 So, it's both good and bad.

00:07:49.840 Some historians say that was terrible,

00:07:52.000 like an evil thing to do.

00:07:53.580 And others argue that it actually

00:07:55.480 might have saved the country

00:07:57.060 from the fabric of society,

00:07:59.040 from completely imploding

00:08:00.360 and ending up in just abject anarchy.

00:08:03.740 It's probably a bit of both, right?

00:08:05.860 It may well be a bit of both.

00:08:07.340 Some people speak of that 1351 statute of labourers

00:08:10.860 as pure evil,

00:08:12.400 and others argue it's entirely necessary.

00:08:15.400 Anyway, 30 years down the line,

00:08:17.100 or the best part of 30 years later,

00:08:18.740 it's not really holding water.

00:08:20.340 It's not really okay.

00:08:22.020 It's become clear that,

00:08:23.400 at least a generation later now,

00:08:25.160 that it's out of date.

00:08:26.200 It may have been needed

00:08:27.580 to hold the fabric of society together

00:08:29.200 30 years ago,

00:08:30.580 but now it's just holding people down, right?

00:08:32.960 A generation later,

00:08:33.900 the argument that it was a good thing

00:08:35.880 isn't a very strong argument anymore.

00:08:37.660 It's simply keeping people

00:08:39.260 as indentured slaves,

00:08:41.320 or serfs, or villains,

00:08:42.740 however you want to phrase it.

00:08:44.320 Again, not allowing just free economy

00:08:46.220 or the laws of supply and demand,

00:08:48.380 as Oman puts it.

00:08:49.640 Simply not allowing that to play out

00:08:51.760 a generation later is not cool,

00:08:54.540 shall we say.

00:08:55.240 Oman goes on, 0.91

00:08:56.200 the pressure on the part of the lords

00:08:58.500 led to combinations in secret clubs

00:09:00.800 and societies among the tenants

00:09:02.880 who agreed to refuse the statutory wages

00:09:05.660 and determined to agitate

00:09:07.700 for the removal of all the old labour rents.

00:09:10.560 Their idea was to commute all such service

00:09:13.120 on their little holdings

00:09:14.460 into money rents

00:09:15.820 at the rate of four pence for every acre,

00:09:18.640 i.e. when the moneyed landed classes

00:09:20.480 realised that the people

00:09:21.860 sort of reasonably can demand higher wages.

00:09:24.720 They worked together in some sort of cabal

00:09:26.420 where possible to keep the people down.

00:09:29.320 But the rising of 1380...

00:09:31.620 This is the Peasants' Revolt,

00:09:33.120 the famous Peasants' Revolt.

00:09:34.700 But the rising of 1380

00:09:36.000 was due to many other causes

00:09:37.540 beside the grievance of the villains.

00:09:39.960 Much discontent can be traced

00:09:41.900 to the mismanagement of the French War,

00:09:44.300 which was all laid on John of Gaunt's shoulders.

00:09:46.840 There was this idea in the medieval mind,

00:09:48.860 in the pre-modern mind,

00:09:50.140 that if you were successful in war,

00:09:52.560 it was because God wanted it.

00:09:54.720 And, of course,

00:09:55.860 if you were unsuccessful in war,

00:09:57.700 it was because God wanted it.

00:09:59.420 The heavens wanted it that way.

00:10:01.180 So if you keep losing,

00:10:03.220 then God doesn't like you

00:10:04.780 or your cause doesn't favour your cause.

00:10:08.060 So it can be extremely damaging politically,

00:10:11.980 not just if you keep losing militarily.

00:10:14.380 John of Gaunt certainly suffers from that.

00:10:17.120 In the towns,

00:10:18.240 which were no less violently disrupted

00:10:20.100 than the countryside,

00:10:21.660 there was an old grudge

00:10:22.620 between the governing oligarchs

00:10:24.240 of wealthy citizens

00:10:25.440 and the poorer classes,

00:10:27.400 who felt themselves excluded

00:10:28.880 from any share of power.

00:10:30.720 I mean, that's just a statement of fact, really,

00:10:33.040 in the late 14th century still.

00:10:34.960 There was no concept of democracy,

00:10:37.240 none at all.

00:10:38.380 Obviously, there'd been ancient democracies of a type,

00:10:40.880 you know, ancient Athens, for example.

00:10:42.200 But in 14th century North Western Europe,

00:10:44.800 in England, there was no such thing.

00:10:46.760 Again, the average person

00:10:47.760 was something like an indentured slave.

00:10:50.340 In London, at least,

00:10:51.720 the journeymen and apprentices

00:10:53.060 were ready to rise

00:10:54.620 against the employers of labour.

00:10:56.420 There was also a grudge

00:10:57.360 against alien merchants and manufacturers, 0.66

00:11:00.240 especially the Flemings,

00:11:01.660 recently introduced to foster

00:11:03.400 the woolen trade in the eastern counties.

00:11:06.300 So a big part of England's economy

00:11:08.500 at this stage was trading wool

00:11:11.340 with what becomes Holland and Belgium

00:11:14.160 from the eastern counties.

00:11:16.200 So like Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Essex,

00:11:18.600 those places.

00:11:19.800 A massive part of the whole economy

00:11:22.140 of the country was that.

00:11:23.640 And if there were Flemings coming over 1.00

00:11:25.440 and stealing business in England,

00:11:27.840 that didn't go down well.

00:11:29.160 A certain amount of organisation

00:11:30.580 was given to the movement

00:11:32.040 by the teaching of itinerant agitators,

00:11:34.960 mostly friars,

00:11:36.460 who had been preaching communism

00:11:37.820 and the equality of all men.

00:11:39.920 If you remember before,

00:11:40.740 I'd mentioned Wycliffe,

00:11:42.440 a very, very early precursor

00:11:44.380 to Protestantism or Luther,

00:11:46.820 saying the sorts of things

00:11:47.740 Luther would say

00:11:48.660 in a century and a half's time.

00:11:51.060 You know, aren't all men equal 1.00

00:11:52.420 under the eyes of God?

00:11:53.860 Aren't we all?

00:11:54.660 Jesus in the Gospels

00:11:55.640 doesn't say anything about

00:11:56.600 how it's right or legal

00:11:58.480 for some people

00:11:59.480 to essentially own other people.

00:12:01.240 Is that godly?

00:12:02.380 John Ball,

00:12:03.040 the best known of these fanatical preachers

00:12:05.500 was want to perambulate the country

00:12:08.380 delivering sermons

00:12:09.620 on his favourite text.

00:12:11.460 And this is a quote,

00:12:12.260 I believe it's from Langland's

00:12:13.780 Piers Plowman.

00:12:15.260 When Adam delved and Eve Spann,

00:12:17.520 who was then a gentleman,

00:12:19.260 i.e., you know,

00:12:20.280 there were no lords and ladies

00:12:21.920 and serfs and villains

00:12:24.220 and tenants-in-chief

00:12:25.840 and rent payers

00:12:27.100 when there was only Adam and Eve,

00:12:28.900 right?

00:12:29.100 God didn't create a world like that.

00:12:30.860 So why are we doing it

00:12:31.660 that way now, basically?

00:12:33.040 It's just not fair

00:12:33.960 is what it boils down to.

00:12:34.920 It's just not fair

00:12:35.580 and we've had enough.

00:12:37.520 You, the landed gentry, 0.98

00:12:40.000 the moneyed class,

00:12:41.000 you need us,

00:12:41.940 the labourers,

00:12:42.800 the normal people,

00:12:43.720 you need us more

00:12:44.380 than we need you right now, right?

00:12:46.260 30 years after the Black Death,

00:12:48.500 you're living in a sort of

00:12:49.600 almost a post-apocalyptic world

00:12:51.700 in a way,

00:12:52.520 something like a half,

00:12:53.640 maybe as much as two-thirds

00:12:54.720 in places

00:12:55.220 of all people that have died.

00:12:57.160 And, you know,

00:12:57.560 one generation later,

00:12:58.520 you're still living

00:12:59.240 absolutely in the aftermath of that.

00:13:01.620 You're living in sort of

00:13:02.580 a ruined,

00:13:03.320 devastated landscape

00:13:05.000 in all sorts of ways.

00:13:06.780 Yeah,

00:13:07.040 almost post-apocalyptic.

00:13:08.940 So,

00:13:09.540 you guys need us

00:13:10.340 much more than we need you.

00:13:12.080 Oman again. 0.96

00:13:12.500 Wherever men were oppressed

00:13:14.040 and discontented,

00:13:15.560 they listened eagerly

00:13:16.700 to these discourses

00:13:17.780 and began to talk

00:13:18.920 of putting an end

00:13:19.760 to all difference

00:13:20.720 between man and man

00:13:21.900 and dividing all things

00:13:23.340 equally between them.

00:13:24.580 But it was only

00:13:25.240 the wider spirits

00:13:26.260 who were imbued

00:13:27.300 with these doctrines.

00:13:28.660 The majority,

00:13:29.740 like most discontented

00:13:30.820 Englishmen in all ages,

00:13:32.600 were only set

00:13:33.300 on the practical task

00:13:34.500 of endeavouring

00:13:35.480 to redress

00:13:36.000 their own particular grievances

00:13:37.500 and to better their condition.

00:13:39.520 I.e., you know,

00:13:40.180 people are essentially

00:13:41.160 selfish or rather

00:13:42.640 consumed by their own problems

00:13:44.560 in their own life

00:13:45.300 and it's difficult

00:13:46.000 to get them to

00:13:46.780 see the bigger picture

00:13:47.980 and act as a collective.

00:13:50.180 That's always a difficult thing,

00:13:51.580 even in the 14th century.

00:13:53.060 It was in June 1381

00:13:54.680 that the Rising

00:13:55.780 broke out so dangerously

00:13:57.200 in almost the whole

00:13:58.620 of eastern England

00:13:59.520 from Yorkshire to Hance.

00:14:01.440 It has gained its name

00:14:02.880 of Watts-Tyler's Rebellion

00:14:04.740 from Walter the Tyler

00:14:06.220 of Maidstone,

00:14:07.340 who was chief

00:14:07.940 of the insurgents in Kent.

00:14:09.640 Curiously enough,

00:14:10.420 four other men

00:14:11.480 bearing or assuming

00:14:12.820 the names of the Tyler

00:14:14.160 were prominent

00:14:15.160 in the Troubles.

00:14:16.400 The main incidents

00:14:17.160 of the Rising

00:14:17.800 took place around London,

00:14:19.420 towards which

00:14:20.160 the insurgents

00:14:21.020 flocked from all quarters.

00:14:22.900 Simultaneously,

00:14:23.880 the men of Essex,

00:14:25.220 under a chief

00:14:25.900 who called himself

00:14:26.760 Jack Straw,

00:14:27.800 marched to Hampstead,

00:14:29.040 those of Hertfordshire

00:14:30.240 to Highbury

00:14:30.900 and those of Kent

00:14:32.160 to Blackheath.

00:14:33.120 On their way,

00:14:33.820 they had done much damage.

00:14:35.520 Everywhere they pillaged

00:14:36.520 the houses of the gentry

00:14:37.860 and sought out

00:14:39.140 and burnt

00:14:39.820 the manor rolls

00:14:40.660 which preserved

00:14:41.600 the records

00:14:42.240 of the duties

00:14:43.080 and obligations

00:14:43.800 of the villains

00:14:44.700 to the lord of the manor.

00:14:46.500 From Essex,

00:14:47.560 the rebellion spread

00:14:48.460 into Norfolk and Suffolk

00:14:49.680 where Cavendish,

00:14:50.920 the Chief Justice of England

00:14:52.620 and several other notables

00:14:54.220 were murdered.

00:14:55.420 So a few things there.

00:14:56.480 There's a place in Essex

00:14:57.340 called Brentwood,

00:14:58.280 very close to where

00:14:59.160 I was born and raised.

00:15:00.720 It seems to be one of the places

00:15:02.740 where rebellion first sprung up.

00:15:05.320 There's a very important thing

00:15:06.600 to mention there.

00:15:07.680 Omar tells us about

00:15:08.560 that the manor rolls

00:15:10.440 were burnt

00:15:11.280 and that the record

00:15:12.260 of the duties

00:15:13.120 and obligations

00:15:13.820 were burnt

00:15:15.080 with those honour rolls.

00:15:16.140 Well, he's talking about debt,

00:15:17.900 money,

00:15:18.460 who and who wasn't a serf.

00:15:20.360 So massively important.

00:15:21.860 If you burn those

00:15:22.660 those manor rolls,

00:15:24.180 it's like wiping out credit

00:15:25.620 or something.

00:15:26.660 Or more than that.

00:15:27.400 It's bigger than that.

00:15:28.740 If you destroy all the records

00:15:29.960 of who owes who what

00:15:31.340 in various different ways,

00:15:34.100 then that can be

00:15:35.220 the whole ballgame.

00:15:36.160 It's extremely important

00:15:37.140 and also disappointing

00:15:39.020 from the point of view

00:15:39.920 of a historian

00:15:41.160 just because a lot of records

00:15:43.060 are gone.

00:15:44.380 They go up in smoke.

00:15:45.420 But still,

00:15:46.100 it may have been

00:15:46.700 for the greater good.

00:15:47.760 Who knows?

00:15:48.220 But also,

00:15:49.260 Oman is very low-key

00:15:50.700 on this,

00:15:51.640 but lots of people

00:15:52.940 were murdered.

00:15:54.060 Humiliated,

00:15:54.680 tortured, 0.97

00:15:55.080 murdered,

00:15:55.660 all sorts of stuff.

00:15:56.540 I mean,

00:15:56.720 it's a rebellion,

00:15:57.840 full medieval rebellion.

00:15:59.240 So scores got settled,

00:16:00.820 put it that way.

00:16:01.600 The story goes on.

00:16:02.600 The King's Council

00:16:03.600 at London

00:16:04.520 was quite helpless

00:16:05.720 for the sudden rising

00:16:07.180 had taken them

00:16:08.180 by surprise

00:16:08.820 and they had

00:16:09.680 no troops ready.

00:16:11.160 Seeing the city

00:16:11.900 surrounded by the rioters,

00:16:13.700 they shut its gates

00:16:14.620 and sent to ask

00:16:15.800 what were the grievances

00:16:16.960 and demands of the mob.

00:16:18.600 The claims that were formulated

00:16:19.880 by the leaders

00:16:20.680 of the rising

00:16:21.400 were more moderate

00:16:22.840 than might have been expected

00:16:24.380 for the wilder spirits

00:16:25.960 were still kept in order

00:16:27.400 by the cooler ones.

00:16:28.760 They asked that

00:16:29.660 villainage

00:16:30.280 should be abolished

00:16:31.340 and all lands

00:16:32.500 held on villain tenure

00:16:33.900 be made into

00:16:35.020 leasehold farms

00:16:36.040 rated at four punts an acre,

00:16:38.160 that the tolls

00:16:38.940 and market dues

00:16:39.860 which heightened

00:16:40.720 the price of provisions

00:16:41.900 should be abolished

00:16:43.140 and that

00:16:43.840 all who had been engaged

00:16:45.360 in the rising

00:16:46.260 should receive

00:16:47.200 a full pardon

00:16:47.900 for the murders

00:16:48.680 and pillage

00:16:49.580 that had taken place.

00:16:50.800 So some reasonable demands there

00:16:52.360 it seems

00:16:52.940 in retrospect

00:16:53.840 others perhaps not

00:16:55.260 but a time of

00:16:56.500 real political turmoil.

00:16:58.400 You know it's a bit more

00:16:59.000 than a riot

00:16:59.760 isn't it?

00:17:00.640 It is really

00:17:01.740 the fabric of society

00:17:02.900 becoming unravelled

00:17:04.460 here.

00:17:05.260 The rule of law

00:17:06.280 itself

00:17:06.940 coming under attack

00:17:08.560 whether righteously

00:17:09.500 or not

00:17:09.940 but you know

00:17:10.580 it's an extremely

00:17:11.480 perilous situation

00:17:12.640 at least as far

00:17:13.860 as the crown

00:17:14.480 is concerned

00:17:15.260 and or the baronage

00:17:16.620 the moneyed class

00:17:17.660 landlords

00:17:18.300 a class struggle

00:17:19.580 it's a class struggle

00:17:20.980 the peasants revolt

00:17:21.840 certainly

00:17:22.480 to continue

00:17:23.300 these demands

00:17:24.360 were not too violent

00:17:25.580 to be taken into consideration

00:17:27.080 while the councillors

00:17:28.320 hesitated

00:17:28.860 the young king

00:17:29.980 who displayed a spirit

00:17:31.280 and resource

00:17:31.940 most unusual

00:17:32.740 in a boy of 14

00:17:33.880 announced that

00:17:34.940 he would himself

00:17:35.980 go to meet the rioters

00:17:37.660 and try to quiet them

00:17:39.200 for as yet

00:17:40.060 they had not said

00:17:41.100 or done anything

00:17:41.860 implying disrespect

00:17:42.780 for the royal name

00:17:44.220 so what Tyler

00:17:45.420 and John Ball

00:17:46.220 and the like

00:17:46.880 want a fairer deal

00:17:48.520 but they're not calling

00:17:49.540 for the king's head

00:17:50.520 or anything like that

00:17:51.640 but yeah Richard

00:17:52.360 Richard II

00:17:53.040 at the age of 14

00:17:54.080 volunteers

00:17:54.900 he's prepared to

00:17:56.220 personally ride out

00:17:57.620 and meet them

00:17:58.220 man to man

00:17:59.060 face to face

00:17:59.940 it's really quite brave

00:18:01.200 for a 14 year old

00:18:02.120 I'd say

00:18:02.520 you know

00:18:02.920 a murderous mob

00:18:03.880 that are riding roughshod

00:18:05.180 over the rule of law

00:18:06.040 he's just going to go out

00:18:07.240 and personally parlay

00:18:08.960 with them

00:18:09.400 okay

00:18:09.780 but meanwhile

00:18:10.720 traitors inside the city

00:18:12.600 betrayed London Bridge

00:18:14.140 to the rebels

00:18:14.860 Tyler and the Kentish men

00:18:16.540 crossed the Thames

00:18:17.580 and the whole mob

00:18:18.580 of the capital

00:18:19.220 rose to join them

00:18:20.360 so London itself

00:18:21.620 also now

00:18:22.520 largely in revolt

00:18:23.840 their united forces

00:18:25.140 started operations

00:18:26.680 by burning

00:18:27.720 John of Gaunt's

00:18:28.480 great palace

00:18:29.160 of the Savoy

00:18:29.840 in the Strand

00:18:30.840 and along with it

00:18:31.980 the temple

00:18:32.520 the chief abode

00:18:33.640 of the men of law

00:18:34.500 they slew many

00:18:35.560 foreign merchants

00:18:36.340 and some lawyers

00:18:37.600 and the two classes

00:18:38.960 whom they seem

00:18:39.720 most to have hated

00:18:40.580 but brought no general

00:18:41.980 pillage or massacre

00:18:42.960 so it's bloody

00:18:44.020 very very bloody

00:18:45.360 but it's not

00:18:46.280 complete anarchy

00:18:47.580 it's difficult to really

00:18:48.820 get a feel

00:18:50.000 for this moment

00:18:51.320 in the peasant revolt

00:18:52.200 how bad it was

00:18:53.460 I think if you were

00:18:54.420 actually there

00:18:55.300 it would have seemed

00:18:56.420 like there was

00:18:57.100 no law and order

00:18:57.960 I mean there's no

00:18:58.860 police force for example

00:19:00.140 no

00:19:00.420 that's not until

00:19:01.340 what the 19th century

00:19:02.980 so there's certainly

00:19:04.180 no police force

00:19:05.180 or anything even close

00:19:06.520 the crown would have

00:19:07.360 needed troops

00:19:08.400 and they haven't got any

00:19:09.940 at this moment

00:19:10.840 in London

00:19:11.460 or they've got very few

00:19:12.840 rather should I say

00:19:13.840 there are some knights

00:19:15.120 around as we shall see

00:19:16.420 and one goes on

00:19:17.280 on the 14th of June

00:19:18.540 Richard

00:19:19.160 the king

00:19:19.860 the 14 year old king

00:19:20.740 Richard

00:19:21.440 persisting in his resolve

00:19:23.320 of bringing the insurgents

00:19:24.820 to reason

00:19:25.440 rode out of the old gate

00:19:27.060 and met the multitude

00:19:28.460 at Mile End

00:19:29.460 that's in East London

00:19:30.440 after hearing their petitions

00:19:31.940 who declared

00:19:32.960 that they contained

00:19:33.960 nothing impossible

00:19:34.840 and that he would

00:19:35.980 undertake

00:19:36.580 that they should be

00:19:37.640 granted

00:19:38.020 so it looks like

00:19:39.020 he's going to give

00:19:39.660 the peasants

00:19:40.700 what they want

00:19:41.220 but while the king

00:19:42.180 was parlaying with them

00:19:43.380 Tyler and a band

00:19:44.780 of extremists

00:19:45.660 burst into the tower

00:19:47.220 that's the Tower of London

00:19:48.260 where the council

00:19:49.300 had been sitting

00:19:50.060 and committed

00:19:51.100 a hideous outrage

00:19:52.240 they called Simon

00:19:53.520 of Sudbury

00:19:54.200 the Archbishop

00:19:55.380 of Canterbury

00:19:56.100 who was massively

00:19:57.020 hated by the way

00:19:57.880 and blamed

00:19:59.040 for loads of the things

00:20:00.320 that were going wrong

00:20:01.380 within the state

00:20:02.140 who was also Chancellor

00:20:03.460 Sir Robert Hales

00:20:04.780 the High Treasurer

00:20:05.800 the Legge

00:20:06.580 who had formed

00:20:07.640 the obnoxious pole tax 0.99

00:20:09.140 dragged them forth

00:20:10.220 to Tower Hill

00:20:11.080 and there slew them

00:20:12.620 end quote

00:20:13.240 so once again

00:20:14.400 let's not underestimate

00:20:15.600 that

00:20:16.480 these are the most

00:20:17.580 important men

00:20:18.400 of the realm

00:20:18.980 easily

00:20:19.540 the Archbishop of Canterbury

00:20:21.020 and the High Lord Treasurer

00:20:22.340 they're the people

00:20:23.160 directly below the king

00:20:24.620 and of course

00:20:25.320 the king being a boy

00:20:26.280 these men

00:20:27.380 are controlled policy

00:20:28.460 and so the peasants

00:20:29.320 have just broken in

00:20:30.280 to the inner sanctum

00:20:31.220 of power

00:20:31.600 dragged these people

00:20:32.480 out by their hair

00:20:33.760 by the scruff

00:20:34.220 of their neck

00:20:34.760 or whatever 1.00

00:20:35.240 and murdered them 1.00

00:20:36.520 Simon Sudbury 0.55

00:20:37.440 apparently had his

00:20:38.120 throat cut

00:20:38.920 on cheap side

00:20:40.140 by a bread knife

00:20:41.040 right

00:20:41.400 it is like

00:20:42.280 bursting in

00:20:43.260 on the prime minister

00:20:44.280 or the president

00:20:44.940 or something 1.00

00:20:45.540 and murdering them 0.99

00:20:46.700 it's as serious 1.00

00:20:48.400 as it gets

00:20:49.260 notwithstanding

00:20:50.260 these murders

00:20:51.060 the young king

00:20:52.020 persisted

00:20:52.740 in his design

00:20:53.800 of treating

00:20:54.560 with the insurgents

00:20:55.600 I feel like

00:20:56.380 he felt like

00:20:57.500 he had a little

00:20:58.020 other choice

00:20:58.520 if they can do that

00:21:00.060 with impunity

00:21:00.900 he hasn't got

00:21:02.100 a very strong hand

00:21:02.880 has he

00:21:03.260 he bade Tyler

00:21:04.320 and his host

00:21:05.160 meet him next day

00:21:06.460 in Smithfield

00:21:07.340 outside the city gates

00:21:09.000 they came

00:21:09.800 but Tyler

00:21:10.540 who had throughout

00:21:11.520 shown himself

00:21:12.180 the most violent

00:21:12.920 of the insurgents

00:21:13.900 began wrangling

00:21:14.960 with the king's suite

00:21:16.120 the king's men

00:21:17.140 and unsheathed

00:21:18.220 his weapon

00:21:18.760 before Richard's face

00:21:20.160 this so enraged

00:21:21.440 William Woolworth

00:21:22.400 the mayor of London

00:21:23.340 that he drew

00:21:24.260 a short sword

00:21:24.980 and hewed the rebel

00:21:26.120 down from his horse 0.99

00:21:27.180 I stabbed him 0.97

00:21:28.420 you know 1.00

00:21:29.100 how dare you

00:21:29.980 draw your sword

00:21:30.800 in front of the king

00:21:31.940 like you're going

00:21:32.840 to threaten him

00:21:33.420 like you're going 1.00

00:21:33.760 to kill him 0.99

00:21:34.280 well I'm not having that 1.00

00:21:35.320 so he just killed

00:21:36.180 what Tyler

00:21:36.720 right there on the spot

00:21:37.520 it seems

00:21:37.960 in front of everyone

00:21:39.020 as well

00:21:39.680 in front of

00:21:40.540 in front of

00:21:41.220 all the peasants

00:21:42.200 who were running

00:21:43.100 amok through London

00:21:44.160 you might have thought

00:21:44.880 that might be

00:21:45.280 a suicidal thing to do

00:21:46.460 but anyway

00:21:47.180 that's apparently

00:21:48.040 how it went down

00:21:48.780 apparently that's what happened

00:21:49.760 then one of the king's squires

00:21:51.540 leapt down

00:21:52.580 and stabbed him 0.98

00:21:53.460 as he lay 0.98

00:21:54.140 finishing him off

00:21:55.800 making sure

00:21:56.640 again in front of everyone

00:21:57.960 that

00:21:58.420 what Tyler

00:21:59.240 was dead

00:21:59.980 Woolworth's act

00:22:01.040 was likely to have

00:22:02.160 cost the king

00:22:02.840 and his whole party

00:22:04.020 their lives

00:22:04.640 for the insurgents

00:22:06.000 bent their bows

00:22:07.100 and shouted

00:22:07.860 that they would avenge

00:22:09.100 their captain

00:22:09.680 there and then

00:22:10.400 but Richard

00:22:11.300 again only 14

00:22:12.560 with extraordinary

00:22:13.540 presence of mind

00:22:14.700 in one so young

00:22:15.860 pushed his horse forward

00:22:17.260 and bade them

00:22:18.400 stand still

00:22:19.120 for they should have

00:22:20.400 their demands granted

00:22:21.320 and he himself

00:22:22.600 would be their captain

00:22:23.740 since Tyler

00:22:24.780 was dead

00:22:25.300 so there in Smithfield

00:22:26.760 he had a charter

00:22:27.940 drawn up

00:22:28.560 conceding all that

00:22:29.880 the insurgents asked

00:22:31.020 and pardoning them

00:22:32.360 for their treason

00:22:33.120 satisfied with this

00:22:34.620 the Kentish men

00:22:35.640 dispersed

00:22:36.140 to their homes

00:22:37.060 has a great

00:22:39.640 first

00:22:41.300 atori

00:22:41.480 as

00:22:42.380 was

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The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - February 14, 2025

PREVIEW： Epochs #198 ｜ Richard II

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