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KS3 History - The Black Death (1348 - 1350) & The Peasants' Revolt (1381): The Black Death & Peasants' Revolt

A guide to resources on The Black Death and The Peasants' Revolt for your Year 7 History course, compiled by your librarians.

What methods were used to stop the Black death from spreading?

  flagellants

 

   When the bubonic plague struck Engliand, people had no amount of medical knowledge about it. This meant that people tried anything to help them escape the disease. One of the extreme was the flagellants.  Some other common cures were:

 

Vinegar and water treatment

If a person gets the disease, they must be put to bed. They should be washed with vinegar and rose water.



Lancing the buboes

The swellings associated with the Black Death should be cut open to allow the disease to leave the body. A mixture of tree resin, roots of white lilies and dried human excrement should be applied to the places where the body has been cut open.

 

Bleeding

The disease must be in the blood. The veins leading to the heart should be cut open. This will allow the disease to leave the body. An ointment made of clay and violets should be applied to the place where the cuts have been made.


Diet

We should not eat food that goes off easily and smells badly such as meat, cheese and fish. Instead we should eat bread, fruit and vegetables.

 

Sanitation

The streets should be cleaned of all human and animal waste. It should be taken by a cart to a field outside of the village and burnt. All bodies should be buried in deep pits outside of the village and their clothes should also be burnt.

 

Pestilence medicine

Roast the shells of newly laid eggs. Ground the roasted shells into a powder. Chop up the leaves and petals of  marigold flowers. Put the egg shells and marigolds into a pot of good ale. Add treacle and warm over a fire. The patient should drink this mixture every morning and night.


Witchcraft

Place a live hen next to the swelling to draw out the pestilence from the body. To aid recovery you should drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.

Black Death word search

Why did the Peasants' Revolt fail?

   Death of Wat Tyler
  
    The major reasons that Peasants' Revolt failed could be summurised as:
 
  • Lack of Leadership and planning. Watt Tyler was not a natural leader and lacked the ability to control those taking part. Furthermore, there appears to have been no orchestrated plans of action.

  • The majority of the rebels has a naïve belief that Richard would listen to their demands and sympathise them. Richard used this misplaced loyalty to buy time and organised a military response.

  • Lack of support from the Lononers. When the rebels rioted in London and went on a killing rampage, the support of Londerners evaporated.

  • The death of Wat Tyler caused no leadership for the revolt.

How did the Black Death spread?

    The Black Death is the name given to a disease called the bubonic plague which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. It was caused by fleas carried by rats that were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into their victims literally injecting them with the disease. Nearly all the victims died within three days once affected. The disease spread quickly because of the crowded, dirty living conditions of the English cities. Also the disposal of bodies was very crude and helped to spread the disease, Furthermore, those who handled the dead bodies did not protect themselves in any way. No amount of medical knowledge at that time could help England when the plague struck. The Black Death killed 1.5 million people out of an estimated total of 4 million people between 1348 and 1350.

How were the Black Death and Peasants' Revolt linked?

 

   The Black Death caused a loss of one third of lives in England. The direct result of it was an immediate labor shortage. Throughout the end of the century English laborers took advantage of the situation and demanded higher wages. This damaged the wealth of the landed classes who then made an appeal to the government.

   To curb peasants roaming around the countryside looking for better pay, the government introduced the Statute of Labourers in 1351 that stated:

   No peasants could be paid more than the wages paid in 1346. No lord or master should offer more wages than paid in 1346. No peasants could leave the village they belonged to.

   This created great anger amongst the peasants which was to boil over in 1381 with the Peasants Revolt. Hence, it can be argued that the Black Death was to lead to the Peasants Revolt.

Terry Deary's Five Horrid Things - Cures for The Plague

   Watch the video to further explore the cures for the Black Death!

(Source of video: youtube)

What were achieved from the Peasants' Revolt?

      On the surface, the peasants were crushed. However, the land owners had been scared, and in the longer term several things were achieved:

1. Parliament gave up trying to control the wages the landowners paid their peasants.

2. The hated poll tax was abolished.

3. The Lords treated the peasants with much more respect. They made more of them free men.

4. This marked the breakdown of the feudal system, which had worked well during the early Middle Ages, but was now becoming outdated as attitudes were beginning to change.

The Peasants' Revolt (1381)

In 1380, Richard II introduced a new tax called the Poll Tax in order to cover the cost of the war with France. This tax made everyone who was on the tax register pay 5p which was a great deal of money. By 1381, the peasants had had enough. The revolt started when tax collectors were killed by angry peasants in May 1381. Then about 60,000 peasants marched to London with their leader Wat Tyler. They got into the city of London because the people there had opened the gates to them. By mid-June the discipline of the peasants was starting to go. Many got drunk in London and looting took place. On June 14th, the king met the rebels and gave the peasants all that they asked for and asked that they go home in peace. Some rebels returned to the city and murdered the archbishop and Treasurer. On June 15th, the king met the rebels again. At this meeting, the Lord Mayor killed Wat Tyler. The death of Tyler and another promise by Richard to give the peasants what they asked for, was enough to send them home. However, Richard did not keep any of his promises. Rebel leaders were hanged later and the peasants were forced back into their old way of life - under the control of the lord.