In response to post-Black Death labor shortages and rising wages, the English Crown issued the Ordinance of Labourers to cap wages and restrict worker mobility—policies that contributed to later rural unrest.
Parliament reinforced wage controls and compulsory labor rules in the Statute of Labourers, deepening tensions between landholders and workers in the decades before major revolts.
Violence associated with the Jacquerie erupted in northern France in late May 1358 amid wartime devastation and insecurity, opening one of the best-known late-medieval peasant uprisings.
Noble forces decisively defeated the main peasant host near Mello; rebel leader Guillaume Cale was captured and executed, and repression followed in the region.
A nationwide poll tax was imposed in 1377 to fund war costs, expanding the tax burden broadly and setting a precedent for later, more controversial levies.
In Florence, lower-status textile workers (including the ciompi) forced political concessions; Michele di Lando became gonfaloniere, briefly broadening participation in government.
Conflict over a Bruges-linked canal project escalated into an urban-led revolt centered on Ghent, reflecting wider tensions over trade, taxation, and lordship in Flanders.
Parliament authorized a new poll tax in late 1380, implemented in 1381 with minimum and averaged assessments; collection efforts provoked widespread resistance in southeastern England.
A royal official’s attempt to collect unpaid poll tax arrears at Brentwood (Essex) triggered violence that rapidly spread, helping launch the 1381 revolt.
The insurgent forces reached and entered London, escalating the crisis and enabling attacks on symbols and personnel of royal government.
King Richard II met rebel representatives at Mile End and granted charters and concessions under pressure, an attempt to disperse the insurgents and regain control.
At Smithfield, Wat Tyler was killed during a tense encounter with royal officials; the leader’s death proved pivotal in breaking rebel momentum in London.
A popular uprising began in Rouen against reimposed indirect taxes, part of a wider wave of fiscal unrest in France during 1382.
Ghent’s rebel army won a major battlefield victory near Bruges, strengthening the revolt before later French intervention reversed its fortunes.
At Roosebeke (Westrozebeke), French and allied forces crushed the Flemish host; rebel leader Philip van Artevelde was killed, shifting the conflict toward negotiated settlement.
Peasant uprisings and rural revolts in late medieval Europe: Jacquerie to the English revolts (1358–1381)
