The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - February 14, 2025


PREVIEW： Epochs #198 ｜ Richard II


Episode Stats

Length

23 minutes

Words per Minute

175.08412

Word Count

4,041

Sentence Count

153

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

15


Summary

When Edward III died, his son, Richard II, became King of England. He was a child, so there was a power struggle over who would rule him and who would be his regent. This is the story of how this happened.


Transcript

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.
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.
00:02:53.320 There's too many pigs for the tits.
00:02:55.160 Oman continues,
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,
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,
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
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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
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
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,
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.
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,
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
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
00:20:35.240 and murdered them
00:20:36.520 Simon Sudbury
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
00:20:45.540 and murdering them
00:20:46.700 it's as serious
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
00:21:27.180 I stabbed him
00:21:28.420 you know
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
00:21:33.760 to kill him
00:21:34.280 well I'm not having that
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
00:21:53.460 as he lay
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
00:22:42.660 45
00:22:43.760 17
00:22:45.960 20
00:22:54.300 20
00:22:54.580 20
00:22:54.720 20
00:22:55.460 20
00:22:55.680 20
00:22:56.120 22
00:22:56.240 21
00:23:00.240 21
00:23:01.600 21
00:23:02.240 21
00:23:02.380 22
00:23:03.080 21
00:23:04.100 21