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Subtitles corrected by SirGawen.
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Once upon a time there was a peasant.
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00:00:29,176 --> 00:00:32,771
He had a hard, hard life,
working all year round,
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little better off than a slave,
with no say in what went on.
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00:00:38,352 --> 00:00:40,183
He was diseased,
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he was downtrodden
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and he was dirty.
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(horse neighing)
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Who on earth would want to have been
a medieval peasant?
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00:00:59,106 --> 00:01:04,237
Being a peasant in the Middle Ages
must qualify as the worst job in history,
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but of course, we're only guessing,
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because, being peasants,
they didn't leave behind
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00:01:09,082 --> 00:01:11,676
much record of their existence.
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Except once, in the summer of 1381.
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The peasants left an indelible
mark on the history of England.
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The Peasants' Revolt
took everyone by surprise.
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It was quite astonishing.
From out of nowhere, it seemed,
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tens of thousands of peasants
arrived in Blackheath
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on the outskirts of London
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00:01:37,377 --> 00:01:40,642
and demanded the king abolish
all forms of servitude,
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taxation and the aristocracy.
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The king, who was only 14 at the time,
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quite understandably said
he'd need to think it over.
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The peasants, however,
wanted liberty, equality and brotherhood.
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00:01:52,592 --> 00:01:53,923
And when did they want it?
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00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,124
Now! 400 years
before the French Revolution.
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Talk about pushy!
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00:02:01,101 --> 00:02:03,262
The king, who'd been talking to the rebels
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00:02:03,303 --> 00:02:05,771
from the safety of a barge
in the middle of the river,
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decided to go home for his tea.
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00:02:10,710 --> 00:02:14,168
The peasants obviously needed
to make their point more forcibly,
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so they rampaged through London,
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killing lots of Flemish people.
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Not quite sure how that helped.
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00:02:20,821 --> 00:02:23,551
One group broke into the Tower of London.
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00:02:23,590 --> 00:02:25,785
They burst into the royal living quarters,
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00:02:25,826 --> 00:02:28,818
and there, according to
the tabloids of the time,
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they sat on the beds
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00:02:30,897 --> 00:02:34,025
and poked into everything
with their filthy sticks.
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00:02:34,067 --> 00:02:37,628
Some of them even tried
to kiss the king's mother.
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00:02:37,671 --> 00:02:39,002
(tuts)
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00:02:39,039 --> 00:02:43,237
They then dragged the Archbishop of Canterbury
and the treasurer out of the White Tower
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00:02:43,276 --> 00:02:44,675
and cut off their heads,
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00:02:44,711 --> 00:02:47,839
which they paraded round the town,
stuck on poles.
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00:02:47,881 --> 00:02:51,510
Now, if it sounds to you
like the lunatics have taken over the asylum,
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that's what a lot
of people at the time thought.
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00:02:53,587 --> 00:02:56,488
But they weren't lunatics,
the peasants' agenda
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00:02:56,523 --> 00:03:00,459
was informed, tactical
and most of all, political.
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00:03:00,494 --> 00:03:03,486
They targeted lawyers and court officials.
50
00:03:03,530 --> 00:03:06,624
They made bonfires
of legal and tax records.
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00:03:06,666 --> 00:03:10,500
They were deliberately
erasing their servile past.
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00:03:14,241 --> 00:03:17,039
How could such
a wretched group of underlings
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00:03:17,077 --> 00:03:19,739
have organized such
a sophisticated attack?
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After all, they were only
a bunch of bloody peasants.
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00:03:22,315 --> 00:03:23,646
Weren't they?
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00:03:25,719 --> 00:03:30,053
Medieval feudal society
was a pyramid with the king at the top
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00:03:30,090 --> 00:03:33,582
and the peasants at the bottom
doing all the hard work.
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00:03:33,627 --> 00:03:37,119
Nobody, not even the lords,
owned any land,
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00:03:37,163 --> 00:03:38,596
they simply had the use of it
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00:03:38,632 --> 00:03:41,829
as long as they provided
military service for the king.
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00:03:43,803 --> 00:03:45,464
The peasants toiled in the fields,
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00:03:45,505 --> 00:03:48,099
supporting those with
more important things to do,
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like, uh, praying
and fighting each other.
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00:03:50,744 --> 00:03:53,144
Yes, an excellent system if you ask me.
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00:03:53,179 --> 00:03:54,237
(breaks wind)
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00:03:54,281 --> 00:03:56,078
Ah! Stinking peasant.
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00:03:57,951 --> 00:04:01,011
But since the lord of the manor
was often away from his estate,
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00:04:01,054 --> 00:04:02,316
fighting in the king's wars,
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00:04:02,355 --> 00:04:06,689
he had to be able to rely on his peasants
to organize themselves.
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00:04:06,726 --> 00:04:09,490
In many ways, a medieval peasant
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00:04:09,529 --> 00:04:13,465
had more say in how his life was
run than most people do now.
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00:04:13,500 --> 00:04:15,991
Of course, it's a way of life
that's all gone.
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00:04:16,036 --> 00:04:20,200
We'll never know what it was really like
to live under such a system,
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00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,868
except where I'm going now.
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00:04:28,281 --> 00:04:30,442
The village of Laxton in Nottinghamshire
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00:04:30,483 --> 00:04:35,113
is the only place in England that still works
on the medieval system,
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the centre of which
is the so called Court Elite.
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00:04:37,891 --> 00:04:39,859
Elected every year by the village farmers,
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in medieval times it had
the power to formulate bylaws,
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00:04:43,430 --> 00:04:47,594
collect rents and maintain law and order.
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00:04:47,634 --> 00:04:52,401
Today the court's only job
is to police the way the land is farmed.
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00:04:52,439 --> 00:04:55,738
Once a year, on jury day, the jurors head out
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00:04:55,775 --> 00:04:59,233
to check that no one
is breaking any of the rules.
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00:05:00,347 --> 00:05:02,508
The land is farmed in strips
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00:05:02,549 --> 00:05:05,177
in the same way
as it was 800 years ago.
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00:05:05,218 --> 00:05:08,984
And each farmer's strip of land
is separated not by fences
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00:05:09,022 --> 00:05:13,049
but by grassy borders
of common land, known as sykes.
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00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,451
This little green strip of grass
is the dividing furrow
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00:05:16,496 --> 00:05:17,520
between the two strips.
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00:05:17,564 --> 00:05:21,295
This one belongs to Mr. Gobson
and that one belongs to Mr. Noble.
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00:05:21,334 --> 00:05:23,996
- What do you mean, it's not straight!
- Well, no...
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00:05:24,037 --> 00:05:29,703
Wiggly, I imagined it would be
a couple of yards of nice grass.
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00:05:29,743 --> 00:05:34,680
And woe betide to anyone caught
ignoring this boundaries.
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00:05:34,714 --> 00:05:37,512
As soon as we got there,
an offence was spotted,
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a stray piece of turf.
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00:05:39,986 --> 00:05:41,851
Who do you think left this here, Roy?
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00:05:41,888 --> 00:05:44,413
- It ought to be put back.
- Put back in, yeah.
98
00:05:44,457 --> 00:05:46,550
So this is what you call
soil on the common land?
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Yeah, yeah. Shovel it in.
100
00:05:50,397 --> 00:05:51,830
You call shoveling in.
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00:05:51,865 --> 00:05:53,958
But we don't put it back in,
whoever's doing it should...
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Should have done it.
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00:05:55,468 --> 00:05:58,096
- That is a serious...
- Serious offence!
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00:05:58,138 --> 00:06:00,197
So how much do you think
they'll get fined for that?
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00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,175
Oh, about two pounds I think, yeah.
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00:06:03,209 --> 00:06:04,699
- Quite steep, actually.
- Yeah!
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00:06:06,179 --> 00:06:07,806
Then down to the serious matter
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00:06:07,847 --> 00:06:10,475
of marking out boundaries
of each farmer's land,
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using the same hi-tech methods
developed in the Middle Ages,
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00:06:14,821 --> 00:06:17,381
which leave plenty of room for debate.
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There, look.
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There?
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I reckon you want to be there.
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Five.
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Offences such as ploughing over boundaries
are taken very seriously
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and will be judged at
the meeting of the court.
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A solemn affair which takes
place as it has done for centuries,
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in the local pub.
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00:06:48,755 --> 00:06:51,588
Right then, gentlemen,
I'll call the court to order.
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00:06:51,624 --> 00:06:55,219
Oyez, oyez, oyez,
all manner of persons who owe suit
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00:06:55,261 --> 00:06:56,990
and service to the court lead
to the Queen's
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Most Excellent Majesty draw near
and give your attendance.
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00:07:00,734 --> 00:07:04,033
God save the Queen and the lord
of this court lead.
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00:07:04,070 --> 00:07:06,834
The presentments shows
the dikes are satisfactory,
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there's a fine of ten pounds
on Stewart Rose for ploughing
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too far into the meadow ends.
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Mr. Rose, do you have any comment on that?
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00:07:17,450 --> 00:07:24,515
Yeah, well, that was... I ploughed to
an original peg which was already in the syke,
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00:07:24,557 --> 00:07:29,893
so I thought I was ploughing in the right place
and I think a ten-pound fine is a bit harsh.
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00:07:29,929 --> 00:07:31,988
You accept that
it was the wrong place now?
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Yes, likely, but I was ploughing
to where it had been marked out.
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Any comments from anyone else?
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I think the fine should stand.
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00:07:40,974 --> 00:07:45,138
In medieval times, a man could
be tried for murder in this court.
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00:07:46,112 --> 00:07:48,706
Well, the proposal of the court,
is to reduce the fine
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00:07:48,748 --> 00:07:51,239
from ten pounds to five pounds.
137
00:07:51,284 --> 00:07:52,683
Everyone in favour?
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00:07:52,719 --> 00:07:55,119
Yes.
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00:07:58,992 --> 00:08:03,224
Of course it suited the lords
to leave all this petty legal stuff
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00:08:03,263 --> 00:08:08,030
to the peasants to sort out for themselves
but there was a snag.
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00:08:08,067 --> 00:08:12,128
The experience of dealing with
the law and enforcing it,
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sometimes meant that the peasants became
minor legal experts in their own right.
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00:08:17,610 --> 00:08:21,842
And when they did,
they used that expertise to their own ends.
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00:08:24,818 --> 00:08:29,346
Sometimes however, they resorted
to rather unconventional tactics.
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00:08:29,389 --> 00:08:34,452
For example, in 1200, king John
proposed a visit to the city of Nottingham.
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00:08:34,494 --> 00:08:37,657
The residents of the nearby
village of Gotham realized that
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this meant he would pass
through their village,
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making it a king's highway and thus making
them liable to new taxes.
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00:08:45,471 --> 00:08:48,304
So when the king's messengers
arrived, what did they do?
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00:08:49,475 --> 00:08:52,967
Well, the entire village
pretended to be mad.
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00:08:53,847 --> 00:08:56,077
Since madness
was considered contagious,
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00:08:56,115 --> 00:09:00,279
the idea of a whole village
of lunatics was perfectly feasible,
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00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,756
and the king wisely
decided to make a detour.
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00:09:06,125 --> 00:09:11,722
But for all their cunning, surely peasants
were still nothing more than slaves.
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00:09:11,764 --> 00:09:16,224
In the same way the lord of the manor
had to provide military service to the king,
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00:09:16,269 --> 00:09:17,600
the peasants had to provide
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00:09:17,637 --> 00:09:20,265
the lord of the manor
with so many days' labour
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00:09:20,306 --> 00:09:22,706
in return of the land they held from him.
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00:09:22,742 --> 00:09:28,180
Historians have given this arrangement
the catchy title of ''feudal burden''.
160
00:09:28,214 --> 00:09:32,742
But just how much of a burden
were these feudal duties?
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00:09:32,785 --> 00:09:37,313
For example, the peasants who ploughed these
fields six or seven hundred years ago,
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00:09:37,357 --> 00:09:41,054
bore one of the heaviest
feudal burdens in the kingdom.
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That is to say that they had to work
for the lord of the manor
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00:09:43,930 --> 00:09:46,490
for something like fifty to sixty days in the year,
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00:09:46,532 --> 00:09:49,933
to provide their accommodation
and pay their taxes.
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00:09:49,969 --> 00:09:54,997
Nowadays, most of these fields
are occupied by the BMW car park.
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00:09:55,041 --> 00:09:59,171
Now to pay for their rent and taxes today,
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00:09:59,212 --> 00:10:03,148
an assembly line worker has to work
for something like eighty days of the year.
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00:10:03,616 --> 00:10:08,144
That's nearly a month longer
than the worst off medieval peasant.
170
00:10:09,622 --> 00:10:13,319
What's more, the feudal arrangement
was a two-way thing.
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00:10:13,359 --> 00:10:16,817
The lord had responsibilities
to his peasants.
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00:10:16,863 --> 00:10:21,163
In fact twice a year he was supposed to lay on
a feast for them as a sort of thank you.
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00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,862
I can't remember the last
time the tax man took me
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out for a slap-up dinner or a picnic!
175
00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,466
Of course the lord of the manor
lived like a lord,
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00:10:30,510 --> 00:10:34,674
but what kind of a stinking hovel
would his peasants have called home?
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00:10:36,215 --> 00:10:40,242
The answer can be found at
Britain's newest oldest village -
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00:10:40,286 --> 00:10:44,222
Cosmeston, on the outskirts of Cardiff,
where a team of archaeologists
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00:10:44,257 --> 00:10:48,717
have painstakingly
recreated a complete medieval village.
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00:10:48,761 --> 00:10:51,628
There's a surprising range
of properties on offer.
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00:10:51,664 --> 00:10:57,193
First up, a medieval bachelor pad,
or rather, an affordable studio apartment
182
00:10:57,236 --> 00:11:00,069
suitable for the single working peasant.
183
00:11:01,441 --> 00:11:03,534
Must have been a pretty unpleasant life.
184
00:11:03,576 --> 00:11:09,105
It could be, but again we gotta get rid of all
of our modern views on what makes a good life.
185
00:11:09,148 --> 00:11:12,242
So this is how the lowest of the low lived.
186
00:11:12,285 --> 00:11:14,879
- Yeah, we're right at the bottom.
- It's quite spacious.
187
00:11:14,921 --> 00:11:19,017
Well, that's right, he has a nice little cottage
but that's about all he has going for him.
188
00:11:19,058 --> 00:11:20,491
So what does he do?
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00:11:20,526 --> 00:11:23,518
He's a landless labourer.
Here's a chap, with his land taken away...
190
00:11:23,563 --> 00:11:24,860
- Bottom, bottom.
- Right at the bottom.
191
00:11:24,897 --> 00:11:27,923
And so he's got a fire,
he's cooking himself something...
192
00:11:27,967 --> 00:11:30,629
He had a very basic pot
here above his hearth,
193
00:11:30,670 --> 00:11:35,300
tiny amounts of wood to be used,
none of roaring fires that we'd think of
194
00:11:35,341 --> 00:11:38,469
because all of his wood has to pay
the Lord of the Manor, wood penny,
195
00:11:38,511 --> 00:11:41,776
go out to the woods
and he could just collect what's fallen.
196
00:11:41,814 --> 00:11:43,611
And he's got a bed, I see.
197
00:11:43,649 --> 00:11:46,641
Delightful bed here!
This is just a mattress full of straw
198
00:11:46,686 --> 00:11:49,917
thrown on top of it and a cover
of rough old woolen blankets.
199
00:11:49,956 --> 00:11:51,321
Plenty of fleas I expect.
200
00:11:51,357 --> 00:11:54,656
Hopefully not too bad
because hanging above them,
201
00:11:54,694 --> 00:11:56,628
we have some fleabane.
202
00:11:56,662 --> 00:11:58,960
So in theory,
that keeps the fleas away.
203
00:12:11,177 --> 00:12:13,771
If that was the bottom
of the bottom of the heap,
204
00:12:13,813 --> 00:12:16,475
what was it like on the top
of the bottom of the heap?
205
00:12:16,516 --> 00:12:20,282
Next on tour, an up-market,
semidetached family home,
206
00:12:20,319 --> 00:12:24,380
a decidedly, dezrez for the upwardly mobile
professional peasant couple.
207
00:12:26,526 --> 00:12:28,050
So whose house is this then?
208
00:12:28,094 --> 00:12:29,857
Now this is the reeve's house.
209
00:12:29,896 --> 00:12:31,761
And what's a reeve?
Tell me what a reeve is.
210
00:12:31,798 --> 00:12:34,289
We're going up-market here,
every year the freemen of the village
211
00:12:34,333 --> 00:12:36,460
vote for who they want to be the reeve.
212
00:12:36,502 --> 00:12:39,096
And the reeve is almost like
a village manager, keeps an eye
213
00:12:39,138 --> 00:12:42,198
on things makes sure that
everybody's farming the land properly.
214
00:12:42,241 --> 00:12:44,175
He's a wealthy man, a wealthy villager.
215
00:12:44,210 --> 00:12:47,202
He doesn't make his money out of being reeve,
he owns a lot of land.
216
00:12:47,246 --> 00:12:50,477
That's right, he is the Land Rover,
green welly farmer.
217
00:12:50,516 --> 00:12:52,677
And very, very upper class fireplace.
218
00:12:52,718 --> 00:12:55,152
- Ah, he can afford it. Yeah.
- Definitely!
219
00:12:55,188 --> 00:12:57,053
A Welsh dresser I see.
220
00:12:57,090 --> 00:12:59,422
How very important especially
for reeve's wife,
221
00:12:59,459 --> 00:13:03,122
the first thing you see as you come in,
is of her fine pottery display.
222
00:13:03,162 --> 00:13:05,995
- So she's showing it off to everybody.
- Showing her jugs off to everybody!
223
00:13:06,032 --> 00:13:07,727
- How rich I am.
- Exactly!
224
00:13:09,602 --> 00:13:13,504
We have some nice examples here,
this one is Saintonge pottery.
225
00:13:13,539 --> 00:13:14,938
Sounds French to me!
226
00:13:14,974 --> 00:13:16,942
That's right, this is from the Bordeaux region,
227
00:13:16,976 --> 00:13:19,444
Probably is part of
the wine trade from that area.
228
00:13:19,479 --> 00:13:21,743
If anybody amongst the peasants
is gonna be drinking wine,
229
00:13:21,781 --> 00:13:23,180
it's gonna be the reeve and his family.
230
00:13:23,216 --> 00:13:27,778
Doesn't sound that bad to me though,
may be I could be a medieval peasant.
231
00:13:27,820 --> 00:13:29,287
I'll think about it.
232
00:13:30,223 --> 00:13:33,624
Strip wood floors, shelves of
holiday knick knacks
233
00:13:33,659 --> 00:13:35,752
and a nice drop of Bordeaux wine.
234
00:13:35,795 --> 00:13:39,595
Maybe the medieval ideal home
wasn't so different from today's.
235
00:13:39,632 --> 00:13:43,068
But I'm still a bit nervous
about what they had to eat.
236
00:13:43,102 --> 00:13:46,230
It's this, pottage.
237
00:13:48,374 --> 00:13:50,899
Evidently the recipe of pottage is
238
00:13:50,943 --> 00:13:55,243
''take anything and put it into pan of water,
and boil it up for two hours.''
239
00:13:55,281 --> 00:13:57,442
And the reason you have
to boil everything you pick out
240
00:13:57,483 --> 00:14:01,078
of the fields for two hours, is because
they used human excrement on fields,
241
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,315
so even lettuce had to be boiled.
242
00:14:03,356 --> 00:14:05,654
Which made the salad's rather soggy.
243
00:14:05,691 --> 00:14:07,989
Anyway let's try the pottage.
244
00:14:11,297 --> 00:14:16,200
Well, it's, um, pretty disgusting.
245
00:14:16,235 --> 00:14:22,765
Um, but you could have cheered it up I suppose
with a few herbs, maybe even some garlic.
246
00:14:22,808 --> 00:14:26,244
They also had an instant form of pottage,
247
00:14:26,279 --> 00:14:29,043
and you take
this into the fields with you,
248
00:14:29,081 --> 00:14:34,075
and then you could, er,
liquefy it with a bit of beer
249
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:38,819
and eat that...if you wanted to.
250
00:14:39,825 --> 00:14:41,816
Anyway the good news about being a peasant
251
00:14:41,861 --> 00:14:44,159
was that you got to drink plenty of beer.
252
00:14:44,197 --> 00:14:48,190
They didn't have hops, until 1420
when they were imported from Flanders.
253
00:14:48,234 --> 00:14:52,261
So before that,
you had to flavour the beer with other things,
254
00:14:52,305 --> 00:14:55,604
er, like bogmyrtle this one is flavoured with.
255
00:14:55,641 --> 00:14:59,099
It's basically the same sort of stuff,
let's have a taste of that.
256
00:14:59,145 --> 00:15:03,275
Of course they, they tended
to drink alcoholic drinks rather than water
257
00:15:03,316 --> 00:15:07,412
because the water was
usually not very drinkable.
258
00:15:11,724 --> 00:15:13,919
Oh, that's very nice actually.
259
00:15:16,028 --> 00:15:18,690
Every village was dominated by its church.
260
00:15:18,731 --> 00:15:22,326
The peasant's social life
revolved around it.
261
00:15:29,609 --> 00:15:33,670
The medieval church certainly
knew how to attract a congregation.
262
00:15:33,713 --> 00:15:36,147
It was the place where
the peasants had their parties,
263
00:15:36,182 --> 00:15:40,448
where they did their amateur dramatics
and where they even held football matches.
264
00:15:40,486 --> 00:15:43,922
Oh, and the local priest
often used to brew his own beer.
265
00:15:46,025 --> 00:15:49,392
Which is certainly more of a draw
than playing the guitar.
266
00:15:50,029 --> 00:15:54,227
And the church expected its peasants
to be duly grateful.
267
00:15:54,267 --> 00:15:56,201
Here in Painswick, Gloucestershire,
268
00:15:56,235 --> 00:16:00,262
a rather quaint ceremony
has survived from medieval times.
269
00:16:00,306 --> 00:16:04,606
Peasants would show their love of the church
by giving it a big hug.
270
00:16:04,644 --> 00:16:08,102
Welcome, everyone,
to this years clipping service.
271
00:16:08,147 --> 00:16:12,379
And I think we have our arms
right away round the church.
272
00:16:12,418 --> 00:16:17,981
And so now we're going to embrace,
and we're going to clip our lovely church.
273
00:16:25,331 --> 00:16:30,530
Another reason they were so fond of the church
may have been it provided plenty of holidays
274
00:16:30,569 --> 00:16:32,400
or rather ''holy days''.
275
00:16:32,438 --> 00:16:35,737
If you thought we have more
leisure time today, think again.
276
00:16:35,775 --> 00:16:39,176
Nowadays we enjoy
eight public holidays a year.
277
00:16:39,211 --> 00:16:43,272
In the Middle Ages,
the church insisted on eighty.
278
00:16:44,083 --> 00:16:48,213
Well a clearer picture of peasant lifestyle
seems to be emerging.
279
00:16:49,121 --> 00:16:51,851
But I really wanted
to get under their skin,
280
00:16:51,891 --> 00:16:56,157
so I was introduced to some
real-life medieval peasants.
281
00:16:56,195 --> 00:16:58,026
Far from being sickly and diseased,
282
00:16:58,064 --> 00:17:00,532
forensic studies
have revealed that the inhabitants
283
00:17:00,566 --> 00:17:05,526
of a remote Yorkshire village received
surprisingly sophisticated health care.
284
00:17:06,072 --> 00:17:10,065
What about this chap here? We got a skull
with a big hole in the middle of it.
285
00:17:10,109 --> 00:17:11,576
Right, this is extraordinary.
286
00:17:11,610 --> 00:17:17,549
What this seems to be is a cranial injury
that was treated by neurological surgery.
287
00:17:17,583 --> 00:17:22,486
This individual suffered a blunt injury to the
head around the time of the Norman conquest.
288
00:17:22,521 --> 00:17:26,719
Where this hole is, that's where the bone
was shuttered into small fragments.
289
00:17:26,759 --> 00:17:30,160
And if you look carefully at this,
you can see the surgeon made his incision.
290
00:17:32,765 --> 00:17:35,063
The guy's been hit in the head
and the surgeon said,
291
00:17:35,101 --> 00:17:37,763
''I've got to get rid of these
pieces or fragments of skull,''
292
00:17:37,803 --> 00:17:40,499
- They knew that was bad to have them.
- Exactly, yes.
293
00:17:40,539 --> 00:17:42,905
So this guy's wandering around
with a hole in his head.
294
00:17:42,942 --> 00:17:45,934
Oh, yes, yes, this would
have been covered by his scalp.
295
00:17:45,978 --> 00:17:49,141
- The skin would have grown over it.
- Yes, exactly.
296
00:17:49,181 --> 00:17:52,947
He wouldn't have had a hole right through
to the brain, and he lived perfectly all right.
297
00:17:55,287 --> 00:17:58,984
The bones reveal that some peasants
lived well into their sixties.
298
00:17:59,024 --> 00:18:03,654
And whilst there are signs of malnutrition,
the diet did have its benefits.
299
00:18:04,630 --> 00:18:08,066
One of the up signs is that they did have
quite good dental health.
300
00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:11,160
And there's very little tooth decay
and we can see...
301
00:18:11,203 --> 00:18:13,068
That's because they're not
having sugar or stuff like that.
302
00:18:13,105 --> 00:18:15,699
They're not having sugar
and also it's a very coarse diet
303
00:18:15,741 --> 00:18:18,141
which seemed to scour the teeth clean,
304
00:18:18,177 --> 00:18:20,975
and we can see this here
and that means there is no chance
305
00:18:21,013 --> 00:18:23,709
for dental decay to get started.
306
00:18:23,749 --> 00:18:27,549
But the toothbrush still wouldn't have gone
amiss in some cases.
307
00:18:27,586 --> 00:18:32,080
If we look at this one here, as you can see,
huge shaggy deposits on the teeth.
308
00:18:32,124 --> 00:18:33,455
Uh, it's disgusting!
309
00:18:33,492 --> 00:18:38,930
Well, this is actually mineralised dental plaque,
that accumulated over the years of his life.
310
00:18:38,964 --> 00:18:43,094
That shows quite clearly there's no effort
at oral hygiene amongst these people.
311
00:18:43,135 --> 00:18:45,865
Oh God, he must have had
terrible breath!
312
00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,905
Chronic halitosis seems
to have been a bit of an issue.
313
00:18:50,943 --> 00:18:53,878
In Wales a peasant woman
could divorce her husband
314
00:18:53,913 --> 00:18:56,575
on the grounds of bad breath.
315
00:18:56,615 --> 00:18:58,674
Clearly they weren't stupid!
316
00:18:58,717 --> 00:19:02,278
And historians now believe that
the peasant class
317
00:19:02,321 --> 00:19:05,415
wasn't ignorant as was once
assumed either.
318
00:19:05,458 --> 00:19:09,053
It was all about getting
your child in the right school
319
00:19:09,094 --> 00:19:12,757
which in the Middle Ages meant
being snapped up by the church.
320
00:19:13,699 --> 00:19:17,658
Village priests often taught
the sons of villagers their ABC,
321
00:19:17,703 --> 00:19:21,503
and perhaps one in ten of these boys
would go on into the clergy.
322
00:19:21,540 --> 00:19:26,204
Some sons of the peasants went on to become
high flying members of the intelligentsia,
323
00:19:26,245 --> 00:19:29,271
like this chap here, William of Wykeham.
324
00:19:30,216 --> 00:19:32,684
William may have been born
a humble peasant,
325
00:19:32,718 --> 00:19:37,815
but he rose to become the richest
and one of the most powerful men in England.
326
00:19:37,857 --> 00:19:40,826
He was Lord Chancellor not once, but twice
327
00:19:40,860 --> 00:19:43,260
and he put his fortune to good use.
328
00:19:43,295 --> 00:19:47,755
He founded this place, one of the oldest
public schools in the country,
329
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,233
Winchester College.
330
00:19:50,269 --> 00:19:52,362
Oh, very nice.
331
00:19:54,940 --> 00:19:59,570
William never forgot his origins.
and he established this school
332
00:19:59,612 --> 00:20:03,412
to provide education for 70 boys
from peasant backgrounds.
333
00:20:05,217 --> 00:20:07,310
Not so many peasants
around here nowadays,
334
00:20:07,353 --> 00:20:11,756
but William's cryptic motto still hangs above
today's pupils -
335
00:20:15,027 --> 00:20:16,722
''Either learn or go.''
336
00:20:16,762 --> 00:20:19,959
And then he adds, there is a third choice...
337
00:20:21,033 --> 00:20:22,694
''be beaten''!
338
00:20:27,306 --> 00:20:30,241
But we should be clear that literacy
wasn't soughtt after
339
00:20:30,276 --> 00:20:33,473
by the peasants so they could do
a spot of bedtime reading
340
00:20:33,512 --> 00:20:35,742
or improve their crosswords skills.
341
00:20:35,781 --> 00:20:40,480
What they wanted is to be able
to make out enough words in Latin
342
00:20:40,519 --> 00:20:45,047
to check references to themselves
and their land in the court rolls.
343
00:20:46,458 --> 00:20:48,517
And checking court documents
344
00:20:48,561 --> 00:20:52,053
was something that was going to come in
very useful for the peasants
345
00:20:52,097 --> 00:20:55,157
in the tumultuous times that lay ahead.
346
00:20:55,868 --> 00:20:58,735
For most of the 13th and early 14th century,
347
00:20:58,771 --> 00:21:01,205
England had an enormous
Mediterranean feel.
348
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:05,404
Bumper crops and a booming economy
and the population doubled.
349
00:21:05,444 --> 00:21:07,912
But then, that old enemy
of the English struck -
350
00:21:07,947 --> 00:21:11,339
no I don't mean the All Blacks
(dru¿yna rugby z Nowej Zelandii) -
I mean the weather.
351
00:21:11,483 --> 00:21:13,951
Heavy rain and low temperatures
caused crops to rot
352
00:21:13,986 --> 00:21:16,079
and entire villages to sink.
353
00:21:16,121 --> 00:21:17,986
People were starving to death.
354
00:21:18,023 --> 00:21:20,287
Surely it couldn't get any worse
than this...
355
00:21:21,126 --> 00:21:22,423
but it could.
356
00:21:22,995 --> 00:21:26,123
On top of the famine
came something even more dreadful,
357
00:21:26,165 --> 00:21:27,928
the Black Death.
358
00:21:27,967 --> 00:21:31,403
An already weakened population
was devastated.
359
00:21:31,437 --> 00:21:34,873
To many people it seemed that
God had deserted them,
360
00:21:34,907 --> 00:21:38,035
and they struggled to reconcile
this terrible catastrophe
361
00:21:38,077 --> 00:21:40,011
with their beliefs.
362
00:21:40,045 --> 00:21:42,570
Here in the church
at Ashwell in Hertfordshire,
363
00:21:42,615 --> 00:21:46,449
the Plague has left its mark, quite literally.
364
00:21:46,485 --> 00:21:50,615
Over 650 years ago, the desperate local priest
365
00:21:50,656 --> 00:21:55,355
scratched these words
onto the walls of his bell tower.
366
00:21:55,394 --> 00:21:58,022
You can see here it says, ''primula pestis'',
367
00:21:58,063 --> 00:22:01,555
the first Plague, 1349,
368
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,832
and then below he's incised
into the walls, in deep letters,
369
00:22:05,871 --> 00:22:07,463
a big M, that's a thousand
370
00:22:07,506 --> 00:22:09,337
and then 350.
371
00:22:09,375 --> 00:22:14,904
In 1350 he puts,
''miseranda ferox et violenta'',
372
00:22:14,947 --> 00:22:18,348
miserable, fierce and violent
the Plague has been.
373
00:22:18,384 --> 00:22:21,376
And then below he writes,
''the dregs of the population
374
00:22:21,420 --> 00:22:24,617
''left behind to bear witness,
and a mighty wind
375
00:22:24,657 --> 00:22:26,522
''thunders across the world.''
376
00:22:33,999 --> 00:22:36,991
The Black Death was a catastrophe.
377
00:22:37,036 --> 00:22:39,266
But ironically those
who survived,
378
00:22:39,304 --> 00:22:41,898
found they were better off
than they ever had been.
379
00:22:41,940 --> 00:22:44,875
You see the population of
England had been almost halved,
380
00:22:44,910 --> 00:22:46,673
and labour was scarce,
381
00:22:46,712 --> 00:22:50,978
and ordinary farm workers suddenly found
they were in a position to call the shots.
382
00:22:52,551 --> 00:22:55,850
Peasants begun to refuse
to fulfill their feudal duties.
383
00:22:55,888 --> 00:22:58,448
They started to negotiate wage increases
384
00:22:58,490 --> 00:23:02,017
and even began
to be paid in hard cash.
385
00:23:03,028 --> 00:23:06,964
Some left their manors
and acquired their own free land.
386
00:23:08,734 --> 00:23:11,760
All this, of course, got up
the noses of the aristocracy.
387
00:23:11,804 --> 00:23:14,534
If there was more wealth around,
they saw no reason why
388
00:23:14,573 --> 00:23:16,165
the peasants should have it.
389
00:23:16,208 --> 00:23:19,609
So they introduced laws
to restore compulsory labour
390
00:23:19,645 --> 00:23:24,446
and force wages back down
to the levels before the Black Death.
391
00:23:24,483 --> 00:23:27,884
But what seems to have especially irritated
the aristocracy
392
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,480
was the way the peasants were dressing.
393
00:23:31,490 --> 00:23:36,291
This season's peasant ditched drab work wear
in favour of bright colours,
394
00:23:36,328 --> 00:23:38,819
tighter hose and even fur.
395
00:23:38,864 --> 00:23:41,230
Some peasants were spending
almost the same on clothes
396
00:23:41,266 --> 00:23:42,790
as certain noblemen.
397
00:23:43,669 --> 00:23:47,161
So rules were introduced dictating
what different classes could wear.
398
00:23:47,206 --> 00:23:50,403
For example, for any person
below the level of craftsman,
399
00:23:50,442 --> 00:23:54,902
pointy shoes were
a fashion crime, literally.
400
00:23:54,947 --> 00:23:58,246
All of which stoked the fires
of peasant resentment.
401
00:23:58,283 --> 00:24:02,515
The final straw was when
the barons imposed a poll tax
402
00:24:02,554 --> 00:24:04,215
to pay for their war in France.
403
00:24:04,256 --> 00:24:06,417
This was bitterly resented
404
00:24:06,458 --> 00:24:10,258
because it meant that everybody
had to pay the same, rich or poor,
405
00:24:10,295 --> 00:24:13,958
and to make it worse,
the government got its sums wrong -
406
00:24:13,999 --> 00:24:17,435
they based their calculations
on the population size
407
00:24:17,469 --> 00:24:19,300
before the Black Death.
408
00:24:19,338 --> 00:24:22,671
So when they failed to raise
the amount they expected,
409
00:24:22,708 --> 00:24:24,835
they imposed a second poll tax.
410
00:24:24,877 --> 00:24:28,540
And that was when
the unthinkable happened,
411
00:24:28,580 --> 00:24:31,105
the peasants took up arms and revolted.
412
00:24:34,353 --> 00:24:37,254
From all over England
they converged on Canterbury
413
00:24:37,289 --> 00:24:38,586
and marched to London.
414
00:24:38,624 --> 00:24:41,058
Maybe as many as 60,000 of them.
415
00:24:42,861 --> 00:24:45,125
With no emails or mobile phones,
416
00:24:45,164 --> 00:24:48,031
how could the peasants
have organized all this?
417
00:24:48,066 --> 00:24:52,059
Could it be that they were
making use of their newly acquired literacy
418
00:24:52,104 --> 00:24:54,197
to spread the word of the revolt?
419
00:24:56,275 --> 00:25:00,075
Two of the chroniclers record
what they claim were letters
420
00:25:00,112 --> 00:25:03,445
that the peasants were
circulating amongst themselves.
421
00:25:03,482 --> 00:25:06,542
Now, the letters are written in
English but they're very cryptic
422
00:25:06,585 --> 00:25:08,746
and we don't really know what they mean.
423
00:25:08,787 --> 00:25:14,123
But it could be that they contained detailed
coded instructions for the revolt.
424
00:25:14,159 --> 00:25:16,559
This is the one in
Thomas Walsingham's chronicle.
425
00:25:16,595 --> 00:25:18,028
And you can see here it says,
426
00:25:18,063 --> 00:25:22,193
''John Sheep greeteth well John Nameless
and John the Miller
427
00:25:22,234 --> 00:25:26,034
''and biddeth them
chastise well Hobbe the Robber
428
00:25:26,071 --> 00:25:29,507
''and look shape you
to one head and no more.
429
00:25:29,541 --> 00:25:34,035
''Knoweth your friend from your foe.
Have enough and say Whoa.''
430
00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:36,070
Now it may be that when it says,
431
00:25:36,114 --> 00:25:37,843
''chastise well Hobbe the Robber,''
432
00:25:37,883 --> 00:25:41,341
those were instructions
to the peasants not to do any looting
433
00:25:41,386 --> 00:25:44,082
and only to destroy
documents and records.
434
00:25:44,122 --> 00:25:46,852
And then it says, ''Look shape you
to one head and no more.''
435
00:25:46,892 --> 00:25:51,090
Well, it could be just the instructions saying,
just only have one leader
436
00:25:51,129 --> 00:25:55,361
but on the other hand, it may be instructions
to go on pilgrimage to Canterbury
437
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,732
where the peasants assembled first
438
00:25:57,769 --> 00:26:02,001
and the focal point
was the head of Thomas Becket.
439
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:03,166
And finally it says,
440
00:26:03,208 --> 00:26:06,905
''Knoweth your friend from your foe
and say Whoa.''
441
00:26:06,945 --> 00:26:09,311
These could be absolute rigid instructions
442
00:26:09,348 --> 00:26:13,512
to distinguish your friends from
your enemy by the battle cry.
443
00:26:13,552 --> 00:26:15,281
(Whoops )
444
00:26:17,723 --> 00:26:19,816
The climax of the peasants' revolt
445
00:26:19,858 --> 00:26:23,055
must rank as the one of the most
extraordinary scenes in history.
446
00:26:23,095 --> 00:26:25,859
Tens of thousands of rebelling peasants
447
00:26:25,898 --> 00:26:30,358
confronted the country's aristocracy,
led by a king, a 14-year-old boy.
448
00:26:30,702 --> 00:26:33,933
The peasants' leader Watt Tyler
rode towards the boy king
449
00:26:33,972 --> 00:26:36,770
to make his demands
and then he took a swig from a jug of ale,
450
00:26:36,808 --> 00:26:40,005
where upon the mayor of London
charged and cut him down.
451
00:26:40,045 --> 00:26:44,414
It looked as if the huge throng
were about to attack the aristocracy,
452
00:26:44,449 --> 00:26:49,045
but the king suddenly rode forward
and shouted, ''I'll be your leader, follow me. ''
453
00:26:49,721 --> 00:26:54,181
The king granted the peasants pardons
and promised to abolish serfdom.
454
00:26:54,226 --> 00:26:56,888
But once the rebels had dispersed,
455
00:26:56,929 --> 00:26:59,830
the barons quickly set about
slaughtering the ringleaders.
456
00:26:59,865 --> 00:27:02,390
Thousands of peasants died.
457
00:27:05,671 --> 00:27:07,901
The peasants' revolt failed.
458
00:27:07,940 --> 00:27:09,771
However, the ideal of freedom
459
00:27:09,808 --> 00:27:12,208
and of owing deference to no one
460
00:27:12,244 --> 00:27:15,270
was a lasting legacy for the medieval peasant.
461
00:27:15,914 --> 00:27:18,610
But there's a sting in the tail
of the peasants' story.
462
00:27:18,650 --> 00:27:24,589
The lords realized that if the peasants were now
free from any labour obligation to them,
463
00:27:24,623 --> 00:27:29,026
they were likewise free from any obligation
to care for their peasants.
464
00:27:29,061 --> 00:27:33,191
The social consensus of the feudal system
had broken down.
465
00:27:35,233 --> 00:27:37,827
And there was worse to come.
466
00:27:37,869 --> 00:27:41,100
Peasants were about to come face to face
with their real enemy,
467
00:27:41,139 --> 00:27:42,629
sheep!
468
00:27:42,674 --> 00:27:45,302
You see, your average lord
could make more money out of sheep
469
00:27:45,344 --> 00:27:47,039
than he could out of peasants.
470
00:27:47,079 --> 00:27:50,515
For a start there's a lot more wool on a sheep
and you can eat them.
471
00:27:50,549 --> 00:27:53,074
Which is possible with peasants
but socially tricky.
472
00:27:53,118 --> 00:27:59,546
So the lords started to throw the troublesome
and uneatable peasants off the land,
473
00:27:59,591 --> 00:28:01,786
and replace them with these chaps.
474
00:28:03,295 --> 00:28:06,628
The social landscape of Britain changed forever.
475
00:28:08,233 --> 00:28:11,293
There is nothing intrinsically terrible
about the peasants' life.
476
00:28:11,336 --> 00:28:14,999
In fact there were times in
the 14th century when it was pretty fine.
477
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,874
It deteriorated when the lords
fenced in the land
478
00:28:18,910 --> 00:28:21,674
and it got even worse in
the industrial revolution.
479
00:28:21,713 --> 00:28:25,046
And small farmers are still up against it.
480
00:28:25,083 --> 00:28:28,211
The life of the peasant
depends on the society,
481
00:28:28,253 --> 00:28:30,744
bit it's sobering to think that,
482
00:28:30,789 --> 00:28:33,519
compared to a lot of people's lives today,
483
00:28:33,558 --> 00:28:37,289
some medieval peasants had it pretty good.
484
00:28:38,090 --> 00:28:40,090
Subtitles corrected by SirGawen.
41033
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