Research Paper for London

Wat Tyler
 
 
 

Wat Tyler is a strange man of many talents with a weird past. He is sometimes called Water Tiler, and also occasionally uses the name Jack Straw. His surname suggests that he might be a Tiler by trade, but if so, then he has a long left that trade behind him. Currently Tyler serves as a soldier within the Duke of Lancaster's retinue. Lancaster uses Tyler whenever he needs a trustworthy man with considerable military skills. As a man Tyler is outspoken, impulsive, a heavy drinker on occasion, and, like all soldiers, says a lot of curses. He makes the best of friends and the very worst of enemies

In days gone by Tyler taught Lancaster's son, Hal Bolingbroke, many of his military skills. Tyler has many sympathies with the heretic John Wycliffe, believing with Wycliffe that the Church has too much power, and also has sympathies with Etienne Marcel's beliefs - freedom for the working man - although no-one is sure whether or not Tyler and Marcel have met.

Tyler comes from the South-east of England, possibly Kent or Essex, and, as far as anyone knows, has no wife or children. His parentage is not known. All in all, Tyler is a very strange man. The Court of Common Pleas decided early in the 14th century that it "didn't have time for the affairs of peasants." The peasants immediately recognized that they had no rights enforceable at law.

By 1340 the judges in England created so many fights. The English Parliament enacted a law that year which allowed the Commissioners to move the judges aside and adjudicate their own cases.

In 1348 the Black Death reached England. As many as half of the people in England died. The feudal lords, short of tenants, tried to make those remaining work even harder. Most of the people in England were treated like animals.

The common people had another barrier in their quest for rights. All English court documents from 1066 to 1500 A. D. were written in what is today called "law French." Most of the men who could teach the language were dead from the Plague.

In 1381 the effort to strictly enforce the collection of taxes created discontent throughout England. Wat Tyler's rebellion was ignited when a tax collector tried to make a determination that Wat Tyler's daughter was of taxable age (15) by stripping her naked and assaulting her. Tyler, who was working close by, heard the screams of his wife and daughter, came running and smashed in the tax collector's skull with a hammer. He was cheered by his neighbors and the commoners of the western division of Kent were brought together by his courage. Wat Tyler was elected their leader.

Wat Tyler's group joined another group led by two itinerant priests named John Ball and Jack Straw, and rose 100,000 strong to invade London. The enraged mob broke open every prison and beheaded every judge and lawyer they could capture. They were not allowed to enrich themselves in their rioting. Valuables found in their midst were destroyed. One man who hid a silver cup on his person was thrown into the river as punishment for his misdeed and as an example to others to not do such behavior. Tyler and another group of rebels captured the Tower of London and killed the archbishop of Canterbury and several other officials. They surrounded Richard II, who asked them what they wanted. Their answer was, "We will be free forever, our heirs and our lands." Richard II agreed.

In a face-to-face meeting with Wat Tyler a short time later, Richard II ordered the Lord Mayor of London to "set hands on him." Tyler was stabbed through the throat with a short sword and, as he lay dying in agony on the ground after falling off his horse, stabbed through the belly. Tyler was mortally wounded and died soon afterward. The king, though a boy of 14, cowed the mob and held them at bay until the mayor brought up arms support. Watching from a distance the peasants instantly arranged themselves in order of battle with their longbows. Richard II rode up to them and said, "Wat Tyler was a traitor. I'll be your leader." Confused, the peasants followed the king until his soldiers met him and dispersed the crowd.

Minus their leader, the peasants went home. Richard reneged on his promises and hanged 1500 of the rebels after "jury trials." Those trials were presided over by Judge John Tresilian, who told the jurors in each case that he would hang them if they didn't convict.

Tresilian was hanged himself seven years later. Richard II was forced to abdicate in 1399. Little is known of Wat Tyler with the exception of his fame as the leader of the English Peasant's Revolt of 1381. In chapter nine, London Bridge, of the novel London, by Edward Rutherfurd, the character of Wat Tyler comes into the story line. He is elected as the leader (general) of the peasants and he takes on John Ball as the prophet of the group. Rutherfurd writes about Wat Tyler and his attack on the king. They called him the boy king in the book since he was only fourteen years of age. He tells how people followed him and defended him and how he was killed. What little was known about Wat Tyler's life was written about in Rutherfurd's novel. This could be why there is such a short section of the chapter dedicated to him.