Richard of Wallingford (14th century), constable of

Wallingford Castle Wallingford Castle is a medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon ' ...

and landowner in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, played a key part in the English peasants' revolt of 1381. Though clearly not a peasant, he helped organise

Wat Tyler Wat Tyler (1341 or – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in Kingdom of England, England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to City of London, London to oppose the collection of a Tax per head, poll tax and to dem ...

’s campaign, and was involved in presenting the rebels’ petition to

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, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

. The petition called for an end to

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

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. It developed du ...

, the ending of services to a feudal lord, to abolish market monopolies and restrictions on buying and selling goods. Tyler refused to accept a charter offered by the king, despite Richard of Wallingford's encouragement. Richard of Wallingford took a letter from the king to St Albans, where a rebellion was in progress. William Grindecobbe, leader of the revolt in St Albans, and his supporters including William Cadington, John Barbour were complaining about the suppression of rights to grind grains. They believed that this was permitted by an ancient charter of liberties of

King Offa Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...

, that had been since been denied by the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

St Albans Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, also known as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be an abbey follo ...

. Wallingford argued with the abbot about these rights. using the king's letter and called for the ancient charter to be produced. However, during the course of the discussions, news arrived that Tyler had been killed, which led to the rebels reducing their terms. With Richard II back in control, most of Wallingford's co-rebels were executed, but Wallingford was sent to jail and later pardoned by the king. Meanwhile, the king revoked all the charters issued during the rebellion, and restored the rights of the abbot of St Albans. Richard of Wallingford, constable, is not to be confused with the earlier

Richard of Wallingford Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) was an English mathematician, astronomer, horologist, and cleric who made major contributions to astronomy and horology while serving as abbot of St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. Biography Richard was b ...

, mathematician and abbot of St Albans Abbey.

References

# Hedges, J.K. (1881) ''Wallingford History'', Wm Clowes, London # Lindsay, P.; Groves, R. (1950) ''The Peasants Revolt, 1381'', Hutchinson, London {{DEFAULTSORT:Richard of Wallingford 14th-century English people Wallingford, Richard of Wallingford, Richard of Wallingford, Richard of Recipients of English royal pardons