Maidstone:
The Home of Revolting Peasants!
The county town of Kent can be found set amongst a scenic backdrop of rolling countryside better known as the Garden of England! An idyllic setting especially as the River Medway cuts through its centre. The river itself was once much more than a pretty vista, it provided a means of transporting local produce into the city of London via the River Thames. This was quite a lifeline as the transport network was rudimentary to say the least; roads were little more than dirt tracks that quickly turned into bogs as the weather deteriorated in the winter. They also provided a lucrative income for the many highway men that plagued the main roads into the surrounding towns and especially London!
Walking through the cobbled streets of Kent’s County Town, the many unique listed buildings are testimony to Maidstone’s long and colourful past, from the Archbishops Palace, which today plays host to scores of weddings, to the timber framed buildings that house the ever popular shops and restaurants. There is plenty of evidence of Maidstone’s past, with some of the previous inhabitants having a much greater impact on the present day than others! Although the area around the town was most certainly home for Stone Age man they left few mementoes of their time on earth, it was the Romans who really left their mark upon the town and the country as a whole; bequeathing Maidstone with the remnants of two villas and the country with a name and national identity. This small green island was known as Britannia and instead of being a disparate set of people belonging to a multitude of tribes as they once were when Caesar first stepped upon these shores. They now welcomed the fact that they were British and had a far greater claim to this land than the peoples who came after the Romans.
It was however during the Saxon incarnation that the settlement began its meteoric rise to fame when it was gifted to the Archbishops of Canterbury!
The name Maidstone is believed to come from the words “maeides stana” or “maegdan stane” meaning stone of the maidens or stone of the people. By the time that William the Conqueror had instigated the Domesday Book (basically a tax census) it was known as “Medestan or Meddestane eventually changing to its present name. At this time the settlement was home for some 250 individuals, which was quite large given that most villages consisted of around 100 to 150 inhabitants. By the thirteenth century Maidstone had become a thriving market town with a lucrative charter to hold weekly markets and annual fair attracting visitors from all over Kent and much further afield!
The industrious residents transported fresh fruit and vegetables quickly into London using the River Medway and the boats on their return journey brought hides for the local tanners to tan.
Fate has a habit of throwing the odd googly from time to time and this came in the form of the Black Death, a plague that swept through the whole of Europe during a three year period from 1348 until 1351. The town at the time had a population of around 2000 but this was devastated by the plague and in total a third of the residents died.
The loss of so many people created a number of problems from a shortage of labour to a scarcity of food. You would think that the poor peasantry would be able to benefit from the labour shortage by demanding higher wages however their “betters” were having none of it and a law was passed making it illegal for peasants to take advantage of the situation. This however didn’t stop the wealthy from reaping the rewards created by the shortages. Life was incredibly hard for the poor and it seemed unlikely that it was ever going to get better. This state of affairs continued for a number of decades, until eventually the peasantry realised that they had very little to lose and began to make known their discontent.
In close similarity to what is happening today, prices were rising and wages were failing to keep up resulting in starvation and shortages of basic commodities. When the Black Death initially struck this country it was ruled by King Edward III, a strong willed individual who was unlikely to entertain any unrest amongst his people. Unfortunately for the royal family the Black Prince, Edward’s son and heir, died before him, leaving a ten year old grandson as heir to the throne.
When Edward died and ten year old Richard II became king the country was placed in the careful hands of his uncle John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster and the grasping hands of the Barons. This particular group of people were hated by the peasants and historically were the cause of much mischief within the kingdom.
The coffers of the exchequer were empty because of the Hundred Year War and the Barons were fed up of paying for it, so it was decided to relieve them of the burden and impose a tax to cover the costs of the war, hence the Poll Tax! This was levied upon every person over the age of 14 and was initially intended as a “one off “. Unfortunately it was such a good source of revenue that it was repeated a number of times. The barons were much enamoured of the idea of robbing the poor to pay for the rich and busily siphoned money into their own pockets for safe keeping!
The tax was hard on the poor who had little ability to pay and they had no natural champions to fight for their cause. Even the church, an organisation that traditionally helped society’s unfortunate members sided with the gentry in exploiting the poor.
The peasants understandably felt betrayed and their anger was further increased by rebellious priests like John Ball who preached against the church and barons. Needless to say the Archbishop of Canterbury reacted quickly to his provocation and had him arrested and imprisoned in Maidstone Castle. John of Gaunt concerned by the decline in tax revenues sent the tax collectors out again in force. Shocked at having to pay for a second time the peasants of Kent and Essex reacted violently and a riot rapidly ensued. Peasants bandied together, turned on the landowners and burnt down local manor houses, so that any records of taxes and debts were destroyed.
Some of the harshest landowners were killed and others were captured whilst trying to flee. Other areas of the country joined the riot but the two rebellions in Kent and Essex were the most notable! The peasants gained momentum when they captured Canterbury and decided to appoint their own Archbishop. Into this maelstrom their new leader, Watt Tyler appeared. He must have been quite a strong individual as he managed to control the mob that by now was vast in number!
The peasants naively thought that if they explained their grievances to the king all would be put right, so they marched to London. Obviously the leaders of the mob had other game plans and decided to try and turn the events to their advantage. A meeting with King Richard II took place at Mile End. Watt Tyler gave him the not unreasonable demands of the peasants, that: the Poll Tax should be abolished, rents should be reduced to manageable levels, with a pardon thrown in for all of the rebels and a charter drawn up to cover the rights and privileges of common folk. The king agreed to the demands because he thought that by doing so the peasants would return home. Whilst the king was with the peasants, a small group of rebels raided the Tower of London and captured the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Legge (architect of the Poll Tax) and Sir Robert Hailes (kings treasurer). All three were beheaded on Tower Hill!
The peasants who had spoken to the king quickly departed with their charters to go home and return to normality; unfortunately a hardcore of rebels including Watt Tyler remained in a bid to gain even more from the king. Once again the King agreed to meet the rebels but this time at Smithfield. Watt Tyler, perhaps because of his previous success became insolent when addressing the king and refused to dismount from his horse even spitting in his presence. This gave the kings men all the excuse that they needed to attack him! The Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth wounded Watt with his sword and a squire finished him off. The young king shouted to the crowd that their demands had been met and that they should go home. Trustingly the rebels did as they were bid!
No king would bow down to the demands of peasants and he wasn’t going to start now. Despite lying to the crowd King Richard II sent his troops to hunt down the rebels and kill them. In Kent alone 1500 peasants were sent to the gallows and John Ball who had been imprisoned in Maidstone Castle was hung, drawn and quartered in the market place.
Despite the fact that the king had his revenge upon the peasants by killing the rebels and refusing to honour their demands things were never going to return to normal. Landowners were too scared to resume bullying and allowed more peasants to become free men, Parliament stopped trying to control wages and allowed market forces to determine pay; the Poll Tax didn’t rear its ugly head until Margaret Thatcher came to power. All of this signalled the end of the feudal system that came into being with the invasion of the Normans!
copyright© Wendy Stevenson 2011
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