Today in Labor History June 15, 1381: Wat Tyler was murdered during negotiations with King Richard II (who was only 14 at the time). Tyler, a leader of the Peasant’s Revolt, led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to fight the poll tax and for economic and social reforms. They attacked government buildings and prisons, freed prisoners, destroyed legal records, sacked the homes of the rich, and murdered people they thought were connected to the royal government. The king had agreed to most of their demands and had promised full pardons to all those involved in the uprising.

Wat Tyler has been portrayed in many books, including “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens (1853), “A Dream of John Ball” (1888) by the socialist William Morris, “Redburn” (1849) by Herman Melville and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” (1889) by Mark Twain. Chumbawamba covers “Cutty Wren,” Peasants’ Revolt song, on their album “English Rebel Songs.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJzHBQIlJwk&list=RDWJzHBQIlJwk&start_radio=1

#workingclass #LaborHistory #wattyler #england #peasants #revolt #rebellion #polltax #prison #dickens #morris #books #novel #fiction #writer #author @bookstadon