1381 Population Decline

The population dramatically decreased prior to the Peasant’s Revolt in 1381; the Black Death alone killed almost 50% of the population in 1349, and this was promptly followed by the Grey Death, famine, and the continuation of the Hundred Years War. It was as a result of this population decline, however, that the Peasant’s revolt was sparked – although the church also contributed to the outbreak, as did the Poll tax and the work of the king, Richard II.

The dramatic decline in population prior to the Peasants Revolt of 1381 was an almost direct result of the Black Death that plagued the country in 1349; almost 50% of the population was killed, and massive famine spread across the country due to the shortage of labour – coupled with heavy
However, the new clergy were often poorly educated, and therefore the popular respect for the church was reduced dramatically; the church were always seen as guidance to the local villagers – they were the only ones capable of reading important letters, for example, yet for the uneducated clergy this proved near impossible, and so the local peasants came to doubt those they looked to for a source of comfort and inspiration. Moreover, many of the abbots and bishops sided with the barons over the priests – mainly because the church was a major landowner – which therefore led to the church becoming hated; many peasants felt betrayed by an organisation that should be helping, rather than exploiting them. Owing to the increasing dislike towards the church, a number of rebellious priests turned hostile towards the Church and barons and preached against them – in particular John Ball, who coined the famous verse ‘when Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?’, which basically states that there had been no group of non-working layabouts in that period of time, why should they be tolerated now? This suggests that the church was largely at fault for the outbreak of the Peasants Revolt; had the church not betrayed the common people at their time of need then those same people would not have felt the sudden desire for change. Having said this, the church would not have been seen in such a bad light for standing alongside the barons had the barons not been forced to collect an increasing number of taxes from the peasants – a number that was increasing due to the reduced population