BLOOD-STAINED GLASS This decorative window in Mansion House, London, depicts the stabbing of rebel Wat Tyler
ALAMY X1
On the morning of Friday 14th June 1381, a mob gathered outside the Tower of London. Some were citizens and apprentices from the square mile of the city. Many came from outside of London, in the villages of Essex and Kent that spread out from the estuary of the River ames. They included men and women, old and young, bakers, blacksmiths, farmhands, roofers, brewers and churchmen. All had come to England’s capital to protest against the government that ruled in the name of the fourteen-year-old King Richard II.
Inside the fortress, holed up behind high stone walls and the huge, four-sided White Tower, were the king’s ministers. The noise they heard outside was terrifying. The crowd had been rampaging through London for over 24 hours, waving rusty swords and agricultural tools. They had come for justice and they would not be dispersed until they had it.