Description

This anthology presents over 200 documents, in English translation, which testify to the numerous revolts and popular risings that Europe faced between 1245 and 1423. During these centuries large numbers of brave, and often extremely foolhardy, peasants and workers refused to pay taxes, stormed castles, toppled local despots, rioted, chased nobles out of cities, conspired and ravaged. The sources for this contagion of revolts' are varied, including chronicles, letters, legal texts and pardons, and go some way towards answering Samuel Cohn's question regarding the impact that the Black Death had on the lives of the ordinary men and women of Europe as well as exploring the European context of the English Peasant's Revolt of 1381. The texts are arranged both chronologically and by region with sections also focusing on the French Jacquerie Revolt of 1358 and the revolt of the Ciompi of Florence (1378-82). A general introduction sets the scene while more specific details are discussed in the introductions of each section.