Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He led a group of rebels from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to oppose the institution of a

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

and to demand economic and social reforms. While the brief rebellion enjoyed early success, Tyler was killed by officers loyal to

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

during negotiations at

Smithfield, London Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...

Early life

Not much is known of Wat Tyler's early life. There are varying sources of his birth. One claims that he was born on January 4, 1341, while another source claims he was born around 1320. Most historians agree that he was born around 1341. He was fascinated by John Ball, his group having broken the radical priest out of jail. He was probably born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. “Wat” may have been his given name (derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

name ''Watt)'', or a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

form of the name ''Walter''; his original surname was unknown. It is thought that the name "Tyler" came from his occupation as a roof tiler, but this is not confirmed. Prior to the Peasants' Revolt, it is probable that he lived in Kent or Essex; he has variously been represented as coming from

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

and

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

in Kent, from

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

, which was in Kent at the time, and from

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

in Essex.

The Peasants' Revolt

The Peasants' Revolt began in May 1381, triggered by a recently imposed

of 4 pence from every adult, whether

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasa ...

or wealthy. The revolt was not only about money, as the peasants also sought increased liberty and other social reforms. They demanded that each labourer be allowed to work for the employer of his choice and sought an end to

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...

and other rigid social demarcation. There were uprisings across England, with much of the unrest focused on Essex and Kent. The uprising was opposed by a significant part of English society in those regions, including nobility and wealthy religious establishments. Many peasants and labourers were inspired by the teachings of John Ball, a radical priest who preached that all humans should be treated equally, as descendants of Adam and Eve, and who asked: "When Adam delved and Eve span/Who was then the gentleman?" How Wat Tyler became involved with the revolt is unknown, although a much later sixteenth-century source indicates that a man of a similar name, John Tyler, was its initiator. This account suggests that a poll-tax collector had indecently assaulted John Tyler's daughter. It is suggested the poll tax collector "pulled up his daughter's clothes to see if she arrived at the age of puberty". In revenge he killed the miscreant and triggered the insurgency. Regardless of the basis of that story, by June 1381, when groups of rebels from across the country began a coordinated assault on London, Wat Tyler had emerged as a leader of the Kentish forces. On 13 June, the rebels reached the capital and crossed

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...

. Once in the city, they attacked civil targets, destroying legal records, opening prisons, sacking homes, and killing individuals they thought were associated with the royal government. In response, the king,

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

(then 14 years old), met with the rebels on 14 June 1381 and agreed to make many concessions and to give full pardons to all those involved in the rebellion. While some of the rebels were satisfied by the king's promises and dispersed, Tyler and his followers were not.

Death

On 15 June 1381, Tyler and his Kentish forces met King Richard at Smithfield, outside London. There, Tyler spoke personally with the king and put forward his demands. At first, the meeting seems to have gone well, with Tyler treating the king in a friendly, if overly familiar, manner, and Richard agreeing the rebels "should have all that he could fairly grant". However, tensions quickly rose. According to a contemporary chronicler, Tyler acted contemptuously, calling for a flagon of water to rinse his mouth "because of the great heat that he was in" and when he received the water "he rinsed his mouth in a very rude and disgusting fashion before the King's face". Sir John Newton (a servant of the king) insulted Tyler by calling him "the greatest thief and robber in all Kent". Tyler attacked Newton, but was restrained and arrested by the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

, William Walworth. Tyler then attempted to stab the mayor, who was saved by his armour. Walworth slashed Tyler across the neck and head with his sword, and another of the king's servants, possibly Ralph de Standish, stabbed Tyler again, severely wounding him. Tyler managed to ride thirty yards before he fell from his horse. In the disorder that followed, he was taken to a hospital for the poor, but was tracked down by the mayor, brought back to Smithfield and publicly decapitated. Tyler's head was placed atop a pole and carried through the city, then displayed on

. In the wake of their leader's death, his followers were driven from London and the movement was shattered. Subsequently, Richard II revoked all the concessions he had made to the rebels and many were hunted down and executed. That effectively ended the revolt.

In popular culture

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the '' Mirour de l'Omme'', '' Vo ...

commented on Wat Tyler in his 14th-century poem ''

Vox Clamantis ''Vox Clamantis'' ("the voice of one crying out") is a Latin poem of 10,265 lines in elegiac couplets by John Gower (1330 – October 1408) . The first of the seven books is a dream vision giving a vivid account of the Peasants' Rebellion of ...

'': "The jay's voice is wild and he has only learnt the art of speaking from the classes with whom the Latin poet is identified." A number of works in the post-medieval period have featured Wat Tyler as protagonist. Tyler was the protagonist of the play ''Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, or, The Mob Reformers'' (1730) first performed at

Bartholomew Fair The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted to Rahere by Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew; and from 1133 to 1855 it took place each year on 24 August within the preci ...

in 1730. Wat Tyler is represented in

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

's '' Wat Tyler, A Dramatic Poem'', which was written in 1794 but not published until 1813. The first novel to feature Wat Tyler is Mrs O'Neill's ''The Bondman: A Story of the Days of Wat Tyler'' (1833). He is the protagonist in

Pierce Egan the Younger Pierce Egan the Younger (1814 – 6 July 1880) was an English journalist and novelist. The son of Pierce Egan, the author of '' Life in London'', he associated with his father in several of his works. Early life He was born in London, and his mo ...

's novel '' Wat Tyler, or the Rebellion of 1381'' (1841), a highly radical text published at the height of the second phase of the Chartist movement that argued for republican government in England. Egan's novel was subsequently abridged and plagiarised and published as ''The Life and Adventures of Wat Tyler: The Good and the Brave'' (1851). Wat Tyler is the protagonist of the penny dreadful serial novel ''Wat Tyler; or, The King and the Apprentice'' which appeared in weekly parts in '' The Young Englishman's Journal'' in 1867, and appears as a main character in

William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...

's '' Merry England; or, Nobles and Serfs'' (1874). In Charles Dickens' ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

'' (1853), his name is invoked by Sir Leicester Dedlock as an example of what would happen if any concessions were made to "some person in the lower classes". Tyler features as a sympathetic hero in the novel ''

A Dream of John Ball ''A Dream of John Ball'' (1888) is a novel by English author William Morris about the Great Revolt of 1381, conventionally called "the Peasants' Revolt". It features the rebel priest John Ball, who was accused of being a Lollard. He is famed ...

'' (1888) by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

. Wat Tyler is also mentioned in ''

Redburn ''Redburn: His First Voyage'' is the fourth book by the American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1849. The book is semi-autobiographical and recounts the adventures of a refined youth among coarse and brutal sailors and the s ...

'' by

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

and in ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...

'' by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

. Tyler features briefly in the historical fiction ''The Mediation of Ralph Hardelot'' (1888) by William Minto. The juvenile novel ''A March on London'' (1897) by G. A. Henty, depicts Tyler briefly as a "sullen and resentful" demagogue. Henty's book was illustrated by W.H. Margetson. ''Long Will'' (1903), a novel by

Florence Converse Florence Converse (1871–1967) was an American author. Biography Florence Converse was born in New Orleans in 1871. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1893 and was a member of the editorial staff of '' The Churchman'' from 1900 to 1908, ...

, depicts a meritorious Wat Tyler. The 1921 play ''Wat Tyler'' by Halcott Glover interprets Tyler as a sympathetic protester against feudal tyranny, who is driven into violence by John Ball's preaching. ''Riot at Gravesend'' (1952), a novel by William Howard Woods, focus on the combats between the rebels and the authorities. ''Who Then Was The Gentleman?'' (1963) is a novel by Charles E. Israel, that renders a courageous and charismatic Wat Tyler. ''A Summer Storm'' (1976), a novel by Jane Lane, depicts Tyler as a villain. The novel ''The Confession of Jack Straw'' (1991) by Simone Zelitch features Tyler as a central character. The children's novel '' Fire, Bed, and Bone'' (1997) by

Henrietta Branford Henrietta Diana Primrose Longstaff Branford (12 January 1946 – 23 April 1999) was an English author of children's books. Her greatest success was '' Fire, Bed and Bone'' (1997), a historical novel set during the English peasants' revolt of 138 ...

has Wat Tyler as one of its characters. Wat Tyler is the principal character in the historical novel, ''Now is the Time'' (2015) by

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of '' The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documen ...

. English composer

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...

wrote an opera, ''Wat Tyler'', about Tyler's life. Bush's opera was premiered at the

Leipzig Opera The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany. History Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Sing ...

in 1953. Singer-songwriter Martin Newell references Wat Tyler and the Peasant's Revolt in his song "The Jangling Man" from the 1990 album ''Number Thirteen'', in reference to the poll tax riots. English folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner references Wat Tyler's negotiations at Smithfield in "Sons of Liberty" from the 2009 album ''

Poetry of the Deed ''Poetry of the Deed'' is the third studio album by London-based singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 7 September 2009. The album was released on Xtra Mile Recordings in the UK and Epitaph Records worldwide. Unlike Turner's previous sol ...

'', and again mentions Tyler by name in "One Foot Before the Other" from 2011 album ''

England Keep My Bones ''England Keep My Bones'' is the fourth studio album by London-based singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 6 June 2011, on Xtra Mile in the United Kingdom, and on 7 June 2011, on Epitaph Records worldwide. Preceded by the single, " Pegg ...

''. Provisional IRA member and Irish political prisoner

Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...

referenced "Wat the Tyler" and his poor in one of his wider-known poems written while in prison, "The Rhythm of Time". A cultural history survey of Wat Tyler's portrayals in post-medieval literature down to the modern period has been written by Stephen Basdeo who argues that most of Tyler's appropriations in popular culture appear at times of political excitement.Basdeo, Stephen, ''The Life and Legend of a Rebel Leader: Wat Tyler'' (Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2018), p. 1.

Tributes

A section of the

A249 road The A249 is a road in Kent, England, running from Maidstone to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between the M2 and M20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the port at Sheerness. In 2006 an upgraded du ...

passing through Maidstone is named "Wat Tyler Way" in his honour. "Tyler's Causeway" running from Newgatestreet Village towards the A1000 in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

named for the route taken by some of his followers fleeing the capital following his death. A road on the western edge of Blackheath is called Wat Tyler Road Wat Tyler Country Park in

is named after him.

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...

Borough Council's Offices are in Wat Tyler House. A memorial commemorating Wat Tyler and the Great Rising of 1381 was unveiled on 15 July 2015 in

References

External links

Wat Tyler Country Park

nbsp;– a description, from a chronicle of the time, which relates the final meeting between Wat Tyler and King Richard II.
Wat Tyler's Rebellion in Froissart chronicle.
nbsp;– excerpts, from a Full 12 volume edition of Froissart chronicle related to Wat Tyler's Rebellion.
EASF radical history wiki
An East Anglia-specific look at the rebellion
The Peasants' Revolt
BBC Radio 4 discussion with Miri Rubin, Caroline Barron & Alastair Dunn (''In Our Time'', Nov. 16, 2006) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Wat Year of birth unknown 14th-century births 1381 deaths Place of birth unknown English rebels English revolutionaries English tax resisters Medieval Kent Peasants' Revolt People from Kent Year of birth uncertain