The Peasants' Revolt: England's Failed Revolution of 1381

by Alastair Dunn

The Peasants' Revolt was the greatest mass rebellion in British history. Throughout June and July 1381, 60,000 men and women from as far afield as Yorkshire, Norfolk, and London rampaged across the country in response to the attempted collection of the hated "Poll Tax." Towns such as London, Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds, and St Albans witnessed enormous disturbances in which local rivalries became enmeshed in the broader movement of resistance. The risings produced highly charismatic leaders, including William Grindecobbe, Wat Tyler, and John Wrawe ("The King of Suffolk"), although the rebels did not have a monopoly on charisma. The most dynamic personality of the entire revolt was the semi-psychotic Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, who converted his household into a miniature army.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0752429655
• ISBN13: 9780752429656
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Tempus
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Informative

Coming into the book with only a light understanding of the Peasants' Revolt, I came away with a much deeper understanding. The information is well-presented. Interesting anecdotes are included and historical myths are busted. The author assumes a greater knowledge than the reader may actually have, referring to other events in other centuries without explanation. Also, there is a tendency to wander around a bit, moving in & out of the chronology of the events of 1381 which can be somewhat confusing. These weaknesses aside, it's a great and informative read.

Top notch book!

This proves to be an excellent book on the 1381 Peasant Revolt that took place during the early years of Richard II's reign. The book will probably be compared with Charles Oman's book on the same subject but Alstair Dunn's book have been updated and improved upon from Oman's book. The book shows that the main revolt that started out in Kent was just a beginning of series of revolts that took place throughout eastern part of England during that year. There were various reasons for this revolt, mostly the costly and unsuccessful war with France. The author's subtitled,"Failed Revolution" proves to be an interesting but accurate description as the leaders of these revolts truly wanted to changed the economic and social structures of their kingdom. The book proves to be well written, easy to read and superbly researched by the author. Its a short book, less then 200 pages of text. But it does the subject justice in explaining the how, when, who and why of the events of June 1381. The only real weakness lies in lack of illustrations which this book needed. I thought the book also needed a more detail set of maps as well. But overall, the book come highly recommended to anyone who may be interested in medieval English history.