Beverley. and East Yorkshire took part in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Surely not! We saw pictures of rebels from Kent and Essex following Wat Tyler into London.
The people of 1381 is an innovative research project developed from several universities and set to produce the most comprehensive database for study of the 1381 Revolt. It is an exceptionally large research project to re-examine records for 1381. It shows that in June 1381 disputes and even riots occurred across the East, the South, and parts of the midlands. Beverley, York and Scarborough were the most northerly places. More riots broke out in Beverley than in most towns. The three days of rioting, looting and murder in the narrow streets must have been frightening.
The people of 1381 project is likely to profoundly change our understanding of the Peasants’ Revolt. This uprising involved a larger number of people than any similar revolt in medieval Europe and rocked the country in the summer of 1381.
Central to the project is the creation of a database to provide the first overview of events, places and people involved. Historians now use computers to survey thousands of records, and digitalization enables them to identify previously undetected connections which led to this wide spread rebellion. Search 1381 online for records of people’s employment and lives, with a database for each place, listed alphabetically.
The revolt in Beverley has raised many questions. The violence arose from the anger among the ‘lesser sort’, craftsmen and traders, such as butchers, towards the richer merchants and those who profited from the cloth trade. For many years they ran the town’s government, until this was overthrown by the smaller business men. Their anger against the wealthy led to the riots which included looting and murders. Disturbances occurred in many smaller places, mainly from anger at rising taxes.
Andrew Prescott from Glasgow University is one of the main leaders of this significant project which is pioneering the use of computerization and digitalization in analysing trends in national revolts. He has published research on 1381, and written biographies of Wat Tyler and other leaders of the 1381 revolt.
Helen Killick is one of the two full time researchers working for the past four years at the centre of this project at Reading University. She is introducing the research into building the 1381 website, the heart of this project, and can be used by anyone interested.