Middle English Literature

Dirige, the Seven Psalms, and the Litany and, when he was at the words
“Omnes sancti orate pro nobis,”
21
the commons entered and dragged him
out of the chapel of the Tower and struck and hustled him roughly, as they
did to the others who were with him, and conducted them to Tower Hill.
There they cut off the heads of Master Simon of Sudbury, archbishop of
Canterbury; of Sir Robert Hales, High Prior of the Hospital of St. John’s
of Clerkenwell, Treasurer of England; and of Brother William of Appleton,
21
“To all saints, pray for us.”
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a great physician and surgeon, and one who had much influence with the
king and the duke of Lancaster. And some time after they beheaded John
Legge, the king’s sergeant-at-arms, and with him a juror. At the same time
the commons had it proclaimed that whoever could catch any Fleming or
other aliens of any nation should cut off their heads, and so they did after
this. Then they took the heads of the archbishop and of the others, put
them on wooden poles, and carried them before them in procession through
all the city as far as the shrine of Westminster Abbey, to the contempt of
themselves, of God, and of holy church, for which vengeance descended on
them very soon afterwards. Then they returned to London Bridge and set
the head of the archbishop above the gate and eight other heads of those they
had beheaded so that all who passed over the bridge could see them. This
done, they went to the church of St. Martin’s in the Vintry, and found therein
thirty-five Flemings, whom they dragged outside and beheaded in the street.
On that day there were beheaded 140 or 160 persons. Then they took their
way to the places of Lombards and other aliens, broke into their houses,
and robbed them of all their goods that they could find. This went on for
all that day and the night following, with hideous cries and horrible tumult.
At this time, because the Chancellor had been beheaded, the king made the
earl of Arundel Chancellor for the day, and entrusted him with the Great
Seal, and all that day he caused various clerks to write charters, patents,
and letters of protection, granted to the commons and touching the matters
before mentioned without taking any fines for the sealing or writing . . .
Then the king caused a proclamation to be made that all the commons of
the country who were still in the city should come to Smithfield to meet
him there, and so they did. And when the king with his people arrived
there, he turned to the east to in front of St. Bartholomew’s, a house of
canons, and the commons arrayed themselves to the west in a great number
of formations. At this moment the mayor of London, William of Walworth,
came up, and the king ordered that he approach the commons and make
their chieftain come to him. And when he was called by the mayor, Wat
Tyler of Maidstone by name came to the king with great confidence, mounted
on a little horse so that the commons might see him. And he dismounted,
holding a dagger in his hand, which he had taken from another man and,
when he had dismounted, he half bent his knee and took the king by the
hand and shook his arm forcefully and roughly, saying to him, “Brother,
be of good comfort and joyful, for you shall have, in the coming two
weeks, forty thousand more commons than you have at present, and we
shall be good companions.” And the king said to Walter, “Why will you not
go back to your own country?” But the other answered with a great oath

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that neither he nor his companions would leave until they had got their
charter as they wished to have it with certain points written out in this
charter that they wished to demand, threatening that the lords of the realm
would repent bitterly if the commons did not have these points settled as
they wished. Then the king asked him what were the points that he wished
to have, and he should have them freely and without contradiction written
out and sealed. Thereupon the said Wat rehearsed the points which were to
be demanded: he asked that there should be no law except for the law of
Winchester,
22
that from then on there should be no outlawry in any process
of law, and that no lord should have lordship in future, but that it should
be divided among all men, except for the king’s own lordship. He also
asked that the goods of Holy Church should not remain in the hands of
the religious, nor of parsons and vicars and other churchmen but that clergy
already in possession should have a sufficient sustenance, and the rest of
their goods should be divided among parishioners. And he demanded that
there should be only one bishop in England and only one prelate, and all
the lands and tenements of the possessioners should be taken from them
and divided among the commons, only reserving for them a reasonable
sustenance. And he demanded that there should be no more villeins in
England, and no serfdom nor villeinage but that all men should be free and
of one condition. To this the king gave an easy answer and said that Wat
should have all that he could fairly grant, reserving only for himself the
regality of his crown, and he commanded him to go back to his home
without delay. During all the time that the king was speaking, no lord or
counsellor dared or wished to give a response to the commons in any place
except for the king himself.
Presently, Wat Tyler in the presence of the king sent for a tankard of
water to rinse his mouth because of the great heat that he felt and, as soon
as the water was brought, he rudely and coarsely rinsed out his mouth in
front of the king. And then he made them bring him a tankard of ale, and
drank a great draught, and then in the presence of the king climbed on his
horse again. At the same moment a valet from Kent, who was among the
king’s retinue, asked to see the said Wat, chieftain of the commons, and
when he saw him, he said aloud that he was the greatest thief and robber in
all Kent. Wat heard these words, and asked the man to come out to him,
shaking his head at him in a sign of malice, but Wat refused to go over to
him because of his fear of the others there. At last the lords made the valet
22
That local communities should judge laws rather than centralized royal judges who traveled
on circuit.
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go out to Wat to see what the latter would do before the king. And when
Wat saw him, he ordered one of his followers, who was mounted on horse-
back and carrying a banner displayed, to dismount and behead the said
valet. But the valet answered that he had done nothing to deserve death, for
what he had said was true, and he would not deny it but that he could not
lawfully have a debate in the presence of his liege lord, without leave, except
in his own defense, but that he could do without reproof because whoever
struck him he would strike back. And for these words, Wat wanted to strike
him with his dagger and would have slain him in the king’s presence but,
because he tried to do so, the mayor of London, William of Walworth,
reasoned with the said Wat for his violent behaviour and contempt done in
the king’s presence and arrested him. And because he arrested him, the said
Wat in great anger stabbed the mayor with his dagger in the body. But, as
it pleased God, the mayor had armor and received no harm, but like a hardy
and vigorous man drew his baselard and struck back at Wat’s neck, giving
him a deep wound and then a huge cut on the head. And during this
scuffle, a valet of the king’s household drew his sword and ran Wat two or
three times through the body, mortally wounding him. Wat spurred his
horse, crying to the commons to avenge him, and the horse carried him
some four score paces, and then he fell to the ground half dead. And when
the commons saw him fall and did not know for certain how it happened,
they began to bend their bows and to shoot. Therefore, the king himself
spurred his horse and went to them, commanding them that they should all
come to him at the field of St. John of Clerkenwell.
23
Meanwhile, the mayor of London rode as hastily as he could back in to
London and commanded those who were in charge of the twenty-four
wards to have it cried around their wards that everyone should arm himself
as quickly as he could and come to the king in St. John’s Fields where the
commons were, to help the king for he was in great trouble and necessity.
But at this time almost all of the knights and squires of the king’s house-
hold and many others, because of the fear they had of this affray, left their
liege lord and went each his own way.
Afterwards, when the king had reached the open fields, he made the
commons array themselves on the west side. And presently the aldermen
came to him in a body, bringing with them the keepers of the wards arrayed
in a number of bands, a fine company of well-armed men in great strength.
And they enveloped the commons like sheep in a pen. Meanwhile, after the
mayor had sent the keepers of the city on their way to the king, he returned
23
A few hundred yards north of Smithfield.

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with a good company of lances to Smithfield in order to make an end of
the captain of the commons. And when he came to Smithfield, he did not
find the said captain Wat Tyler there, at which he marvelled a lot and
asked what had become of the traitor. And he was told that Wat had been
carried by a some of the commons to the hospital for the poor near
St. Bartholomew’s and put to bed in the chamber of the master of the said
hospital. And the mayor went there and found him, and had him carried
out to the middle of Smithfield in the presence of his companions and had
him beheaded. And so ended his wretched life. But the mayor had his head
set on a pole and carried before him to the king, who had remained in the
field. And when the king saw the head, he had it brought near him in order
to subdue the commons and thanked the mayor greatly for what he had
done. And when the commons saw that their chieftain, Wat Tyler, was dead
in such a manner, they fell to the ground there among the wheat, like
beaten people, imploring the king for mercy for their misdeeds. And the
king benevolently granted them mercy, and most of them took to flight.
But the king appointed two knights to lead the other men from Kent
through London and over London Bridge without doing them harm so
that each of them could go in peace to his own home. Then the king
ordered the mayor, William Walworth, to put a basinet on his head because
of what was to happen, and the mayor asked for what reason he was to do
so, and the king told him that he was much beholden to him and that for
this reason he was to receive the order of knighthood. The mayor answered
that he was not worthy nor able to have or to meet the costs of a knight’s
estate, for he was nothing but a merchant and had to live by commerce, but
finally the king made him put on the basinet and took a sword in both his
hands and firmly dubbed him knight with great good will. The same day he
made three other citizens of London knights for the same reason and in the
same place, and these are their names: John Philipot, Nicholas Brembre,
and [Robert Launde,] and the king gave Sir William Walworth one hundred
pounds in land and each of the others forty pounds in land for them and
their heirs. And after this the king took his way to London to his Wardrobe
to ease him of his great toils.
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