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THE
PEASANTS' REVOLT
During the following week the rebels attacked the symbols of the abbot's
lordship, broke into his prison, woods and warrens, burnt the hated
court rolls and, in a startling piece of theatre, staged a mock mass,
placing torn-up documents instead of bread on the tongues of the (un)faithful.
They also forced the abbot to issue charters for each village: 'The
people of Barnet came with bows and arrows, two-edged axes, small axes,
swords and cudgels and obtained a similar charter of liberties as those
of the people of St Albans, including free hunting rights, fishing rights,
and rights of erecting hand mills' (milling was the lord's monopoly).
After this they demanded' a certain book made from the court rolls' so they could burn it because it contained evidence that' almost all the houses of Barnet were held by the rolls'. The ab bot prevaricated' promising it within three weeks, and thus saved the book for posterity. The revolt was over in London on 20 June, although total suppression took longer.
On 28 June royal commissioners arrived in St Albans, but there was still some resistance: '300 bowmen from the surrounding villages, especially from Barnet and Berkhamsted'. Nevertheless the rebels knew they were beaten. On 15 July Richard II arrived in St Albans and annulled all the abbot's enforced concessions, and on 20 July received oaths of fealty from all the inhabitants of Hertfordshire
LATER RESISTANCE The abbot's tenants had concentrated on specific grievances rather than the more general revolutionary formulations emanating from London, but with none of these addressed, pressure soon began to rebuild. Illegal land transfers continued, and in 1417 there was another violent revolt, with royal justices eventually sent because' the bondmen and tenants in bondage of the abbot of St Albans at Chipping Barnet have leagued together to refuse their due customs and services'. Specifically, on 19 April they had 'bound themselves by oath to support each other, refused to attend the manor court, and resisted with arms against the abbot and his officials'; in May and June the abbot sent his cellarer and bailiff, who found themselves threatened with death and mutilation.
Many of those involved in 1381 were not peasants at all, but men of substantial property. The Barnet rebels in 1417 included twelve freemen, among them a citizen of London. The general solution which gradually emerged during the 15th century was the disappearance of personal unfreedom.and its associated services and indignities - and refusal of such services had long been another constant in the Barnet rolls.
Once personal status was no longer an issue, the actual copyhold tenure, that is land held by copy of court roll, ceased to be resented, and lasted until the 20th century.
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The
Peasants' Revolt of 1381, in which the men of Chipping Barnet
played a leading role, captured for us by the horrified St Albans
chronicler. On entering London on 13 June, the Kent and Essex rebels sent a message to St Albans via men from Barnet, and the next day Barnet men were again prominent in the St Albans contingent which headed to the capital and returned with the message that 'there would no longer be serfs but lords'. |
After this they demanded' a certain book made from the court rolls' so they could burn it because it contained evidence that' almost all the houses of Barnet were held by the rolls'. The ab bot prevaricated' promising it within three weeks, and thus saved the book for posterity. The revolt was over in London on 20 June, although total suppression took longer.
On 28 June royal commissioners arrived in St Albans, but there was still some resistance: '300 bowmen from the surrounding villages, especially from Barnet and Berkhamsted'. Nevertheless the rebels knew they were beaten. On 15 July Richard II arrived in St Albans and annulled all the abbot's enforced concessions, and on 20 July received oaths of fealty from all the inhabitants of Hertfordshire
LATER RESISTANCE The abbot's tenants had concentrated on specific grievances rather than the more general revolutionary formulations emanating from London, but with none of these addressed, pressure soon began to rebuild. Illegal land transfers continued, and in 1417 there was another violent revolt, with royal justices eventually sent because' the bondmen and tenants in bondage of the abbot of St Albans at Chipping Barnet have leagued together to refuse their due customs and services'. Specifically, on 19 April they had 'bound themselves by oath to support each other, refused to attend the manor court, and resisted with arms against the abbot and his officials'; in May and June the abbot sent his cellarer and bailiff, who found themselves threatened with death and mutilation.
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The
sheriff of Hertfordshire also found it difficult to bring the
rebels to trial, and the case was not finally heard until October
1418.The abbot won, of course, but behind the rhetoric and the
fines there was actually some accommodation. He had to face the
impossibility of running the manor without the support of its
leading families. The revolt. involved both 'bondmen and tenants
in bondage', an important distinction since nominally un free
land had in fact became a normal part of the land market, and
men who were personally free were investing in it but irked by
its restrictions. |
Many of those involved in 1381 were not peasants at all, but men of substantial property. The Barnet rebels in 1417 included twelve freemen, among them a citizen of London. The general solution which gradually emerged during the 15th century was the disappearance of personal unfreedom.and its associated services and indignities - and refusal of such services had long been another constant in the Barnet rolls.
Once personal status was no longer an issue, the actual copyhold tenure, that is land held by copy of court roll, ceased to be resented, and lasted until the 20th century.
