Popular revolts in late-medieval Europe

Before the 14th century, popular uprisings (such as uprisings at a manor house against an unpleasant overlord), though not unknown, tended to operate on a local scale. This changed in the 14th and 15th centuries when new downward pressures on the poor resulted in mass movements of popular uprisings across Europe. For example, Germany between 1336 and 1525 witnessed no fewer than sixty instances of militant peasant unrest.[1]

Most of the revolts expressed the desire of those below to share in the wealth, status, and well-being of those more fortunate. In the end, they were almost always defeated by the nobles. A new attitude emerged in Europe, that "peasant" was a pejorative concept, it was something separate, and seen in a negative light, from those who had wealth and status.[2] This was an entirely new social stratification from earlier times when society had been based on the three orders, those who work, those who pray, and those who fight, when being a peasant meant being next to God, just like the other orders.[2]

Michele di Lando, placed in the office of gonfaloniere of Florence by the revolt of the Guild-less Ciompi

The main reasons cited for these mass uprisings are: an increasing gap between the wealthy and poor, declining incomes of the poor, rising inflation and taxation, the external crises of famine, plague and war, and religious backlashes..

The social gap between rich and poor had become more extreme,[2] the origins of this change can be traced to the 12th century and the rise of the concept of nobility. Dress, behaviour, courtesy, speech, diet, education — all became part of the noble class, making them distinct from others. By the 14th century the nobles had indeed become very different in their behaviour, appearance and values from those "beneath".[3]

The nobles however also face a crisis of declining income.[2] By 1285 inflation had become rampant (in part due to population pressures) and some nobles charged rent based on customary fixed rates, based on the feudal system, so as the price of goods and services rose from inflation, the income of those nobles remained stagnant, effectively dropping.[2] To make matters worse, the nobles had become accustomed to a more luxurious lifestyle that required more money.[2] To address this, nobles illegally raised rents, cheated, stole, and sometimes resorted to outright violence to maintain this lifestyle.[2]

Kings who needed money to finance wars resorted to devaluing currency by cutting silver and gold coins with less precious metal, which resulted in increased inflation and, in the end, increased tax rates.[2]

The 14th century crisis of famine, plague, and war put additional pressures on those at the bottom.[2] The plague drastically reduced the numbers of people who were workers and producing the wealth.[2]

Finally, layered on top of this was a popular ideological view of the time that property, wealth and inequality were against the teachings of God, as expressed through the teachings of the Franciscans.[2] The sentiment of the time was probably best expressed by preacher John Ball during the English Peasant Revolt when he said, "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?", criticizing economic inequality as human-made rather than a creation of God.

The rebellion of György Dózsa in 1514 spread like lightning in the Kingdom of Hungary where hundreds of manor-houses and castles were burnt and thousands of the gentry killed by impalement, crucifixion and other methods. Dózsa is here depicted punished with heated iron chair and crown

• The Peasant revolt in Flanders 1323–1328. Beginning as a series of scattered rural riots in late 1323, peasant insurrection escalated into a full-scale rebellion that dominated public affairs in Flanders for nearly five years.
• The St. George's Night Uprising of 1343-1345 in Estonia.
• The Jacquerie was a peasant revolt that took place in northern France in 1356-1358, during the Hundred Years' War.
• The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 or Great Rising of 1381 is a major event in the history of England. It is the best documented and best known of all the revolts of this period.
• The Irmandiño Revolts in Galicia in 1431 and 1467.
• The Engelbrekt rebellion of 1434-1436 in Sweden.
• The Budai Nagy Antal Revolt broke out in Transylvania in 1437. The military tactics of the rebels were inspired by the Hussite Wars (for example, the use of battle wagons).
• The Kent rebellion of 1450 led by Jack Cade.
• The War of the Remences in Old Catalonia in 1462-1486.
• The Peasants' Revolt of György Dózsa broke out in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary in 1514.
• The Arumer Zwarte Hoop revolt of 1515-1523 against Habsburg rule in Friesland.

• The Zealots, Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire, 1342-1350.
• The revolt of Cola di Rienzi in central Italy in 1354.
• The Revolt of the Ciompi in 1378 in Florence.
• The Hammermen's revolt in Rouen and Paris in 1382.

Defeat of the Jacquerie

Different historians will use different terms to describe these events. The word peasant, since the 14th century, has had a pejorative meaning. However, it was not always that way; peasants were once viewed as pious and seen with respect and pride. As nobles increasingly lived better quality lives, there arose a new consciousness of those on top and those below, and the sense that being a peasant was not a position of equality. This new consciousness coincided with the popular uprisings of the 14th century.

Research by Rodney Hilton in the 1970s showed that the English Peasant Revolt of 1381[4] (or Great Rising) was led not by peasants, but by those who would be the most affected by increased taxation: the merchants who were neither wealthy, but not poor either. Indeed, these revolts were often accompanied by landless knights, excommunicated clerics and other members of society who might find gain or have reason to rebel. Although these were popular revolts, they were often organized and led by people who would not have considered themselves peasants.

Peasants is typically a term used for rural agrarian poor while many uprisings occurred within towns and cities by tradesmen, thus the term is not fully encompassing of events as a whole for the period.

For historical writing purposes, many modern historians will use the word peasant with care and respect, choosing other phrases such as "Popular" or "from below" or "grassroots", although in some countries in central and eastern Europe where serfdom continued up to the 19th century in places, the word peasant is still used by some historians as the main description of these events.

• Mollat and Wolff, The Popular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages, 1973 ISBN 0-04-940041-X
• Fourquin, The Anatomy of Popular Rebellion, 1978 ISBN 0-444-85006-6
• Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., ed. and trans., Popular Protest in Late Medieval Europe: Italy, France and Flanders, Selected Sources Translated and Annotated, Manchester University Press, 2004.