June 14, 1381- The "Peasant's" Revolt

Portrait of Richard II of England. Circa 1390s. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Westminster_Portrait_of_Richard_II_of_England_(1390s).jpg

In the wake of the Black Death, England suffered catastrophic population loss. As a result, demand for peasant labor increased dramatically and landlords were forced to pay them much higher wages to ensure they had enough workers. In response to this and to fund a war with France, the parliament passed a law limiting wage increases and began several rounds of poll taxes. These were taxes paid by every adult of the kingdom. They were widely resented because the poor paid as much as the rich, though it impacted them far more severely. When commoners did not have the money to pay, they were forced to pay in seeds or other precious commodities. After the 3rd poll tax in 4 years, resistance began to escalate from avoidance to outright violence against the tax collectors. Some historians argue that the English elite named this movement the Peasants’ Revolt to disparage what was actually a popular rebellion among the common people, including many tradesmen, clergy, and small merchants.

These events occurred spontaneously in several locales and snowballed into an army that marched into London intent on removing Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster and the king’s uncle, by force. It was widely believed by the commoners that these powerful advisors to the teenage king were corrupt and responsible for the policies they found so onerous. 

It is estimated that approximately 60,000 people took part in this uprising. On their march towards London, they destroyed buildings that housed government records and attacked numerous tax agents, fatally in some cases. In London, the rebels stormed and vandalized the Duke of Lancaster’s palace. Most of their aggression was aimed at wealthy priests and lawyers, but there was also indiscriminate looting in other parts of the city.

The 16 year old King and his council met with the rebellion’s leader, Wat Taylor at Mile End on June 14, 1381. Richard acceded to all the rebel’s demands; it would later become clear he had no intention of fulfilling his word. However, while this meeting was taking place, another division of the rebels stormed the Tower of London and murdered Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, England’s highest clerical post. They also killed Lord High Treasurer Robert Hales, the highest tax official in the land. They were both beheaded.

A subsequent meeting outside the city at Smithfield ended with Tyler being stabbed in the neck by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Walworth. He was taken to a hospital where he either died of his injury, or some say was fatally attacked a second time. The King made another false agreement with the rebels. Not long after they left London, many were hunted down and executed until the status quo was restored. 

While the insurrection was put down, the poll tax was not reinstated, and many peasants and tradesmen continued to drive hard bargains with the employing classes for their labor.

Sources:

What’s in a Name? The Peasant's’ Revolt- History Hub

30th May 1831- History Pod

Wat Tyler and the Peasants' Revolt- Historic UK

About the Peasants Revolt- People of 1381

Matoaka's Story/Part 6 A Powhatan Lady in London

Inner Court of the Bell Savage Inn. 1889. Public Domain.

The Virginia Company hoped that keeping Matoaka among them would secure some form of peace with the Powhatan until they could increase their numbers in Virginia. However they also had concerns back in England. The company was involved in several lawsuits against past investors over various sums of money. With Rolfe’s latest tobacco crop being favorably compared to the Spanish product, the company was ready to aggressively pursue new investors. To this end, as well as putting a sunny face on Anglo-Indian relations, they planned to send Matoaka and Rolfe to England along with Thomas Dale and other company officials. Approximately 10 other Powhatan people accompanied Matoaka, including her sister Mattachanna and her husband, Uttamatomakkin, a high-ranking quiakro. Company officials were notoriously stingy when it came to expenses, so it seems likely that the additional Powhatans were insisted on by Matoaka, possibly acting on her father’s wishes. Uttamatomakkin was quoted by several sources as declaring he was instructed by Wahunseneca to count the Englishmen he found across the sea and provide information about their country.

The Virginia Company worked to make Matoaka a celebrity in London- a model of the “civilized Indian” they planned to reproduce throughout Virginia. In England, she was paraded before crowds, introduced at numerous homes, and invited to an audience with the King and Queen. She and Rolfe attended a Masque called “The Vision of Delight” where they were “well placed,” meaning their seats were near the King’s, ensuring a superior view of the performance. The Rolfe’s stayed at The Bell Savage Inn in the heart of London, a crossroads of high and low society, where players and performers often gathered and caroused. Uttamatomakkin was also a highly-sought dinner guest among Englishmen interested in the customs of Virginia’s Native cultures. He was described as happy to answer questions and demonstrate some of his protocols, warning his hosts that he was too old to convert, and that their efforts would be better spent on Powhatan children. Captain John Smith wrote about an exchange with him wherein he expressed disbelief that the man he had met was King James, as the sovereign had offered him no gift. Powhatan elites, like many other Native American societies, used the custom of gift-exchange to demonstrate prestige and cement peaceful relations between groups and individuals.

The Virginia Company commissioned an engraved portrait of Matoaka that they mass produced and circulated as widely as possible. This portrait remains the most credible likeness of the adult (19-21) Matoaka, as most other depictions of her were crudely Europeanized. The artist, Simon Van de Passe drew her with high cheekbones, dark hair and dark eyes. She wore a felt hat, long-sleeved gown, and lace collar, epitomizing the Puritan English middle-class wife. Most English Lady’s portraits depicted them looking to the side or down. In Van de Passe’s portrait, Matoaka stares boldly out of the frame to meet the viewer’s gaze. In a ribbon surrounding the portrait, the engraved words translate to:

“Matoaka als [alias] Rebecca, daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan, Emperour of Attanoughskomouck als [alias] Virginia, converted and baptized in the Christian faith and wife to the worthy Mr. John Rolfe” (Attanoughskomouck was likely a mispronunciation of Tsenacomoco).

Engraved portrait of Matoaka. Simon Van de Passe. 1616. Public Domain.

After spending several months in crowded London where the air did not agree with Matoaka, the Virginia Company relocated her lodgings to a country setting in nearby Brentford. It is here that Captain John Smith called on her. In response to his greeting, Matoaka “turned about, obscured her face, as not seeming well contented.”* Smith, Rolfe, and a few unnamed others excused themselves for 2-3 hours, after which Matoaka rejoined the party and addressed Smith directly:

“You did promise Powhatan what was yours should bee his, and he the like to you, you called him father being in his land a stranger, and by the same reason so must I doe you.”*

Smith interrupted to say he could not allow her to address him as such, being that she was the daughter of a “King,” referencing the strict class culture of Europe. Matoaka scoffed in reply:

“With a well set countenance she said, Were you not afraid to come into my fathers countrie, and cause feare in him and all his people (but mee) and feare you here I should call you father, I tell you then I will, and you shall call me childe, and so I will bee for ever and ever your Countrieman.”*

Smith did not comment on this exchange with Matoaka in his publication; he briskly moved on to describe his conversation with Uttamatomakkin. Though it supported some of the claims made in his Virginia stories, it did not cast him in the favorable light of most of his writings. And yet it was long held up as evidence of Matoaka’s romantic infatuation with him. Modern readers, less likely to buy into the colonial mythology, tend to see it as a clear rebuke of a man she believed had broken an oath to her father. Her parting words suggest her time in London may have left her less than enthused about English intentions towards her homeland.

“They did tell us alwaies you were dead, and I knew no other till I came to Plimoth, yet Powhatan did command Uttamatomakkin to seeke you, and know the truth, because your Countriemen will lie much.”*

Sources:

Images of a Legend- PBS

The Virginia Company of London- Encyclopedia Virginia

*Circular of “A Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles…”- John Smith, HathiTrust