CHAPTER XI 

 PEASANT REVOLTS 



Any review of the English land system would be in- 

 complete, and could not indeed be properly understood, 

 without some reference to the peasant revolts which 

 occurred during its development. These uprisings are 

 usually called "rebellions," but the most striking cir- 

 cumstance connected with them was the great per- 

 sonal loyalty of the insurgents to the reigning monarch. 

 They believed that if they could lay their case before 

 him, their wrongs would be righted. Their anger and 

 ofrudo^e were ao^ainst the minions that surrounded him 

 and against their tools. 



The second circumstance in order was the demand 

 of the "rebels" that the rapacious territorial magnates, 

 who were confiscating their rights, should be made to 

 obey the laws affecting the land. The struggles of the 

 English peasantry and yeomanry, continued through- 

 out the centuries against force, fraud, and oppression, 

 form an interesting and an important part of the story 

 of our nation.^ 



In all these struggles the spirit which animated the 

 contending parties was the same, from the days of 

 Wat Tyler to those of Joseph Arch. 



In every age the rural population have had their 



^ The peasantry and yeomanry were so much allied, the principles of 

 their land tenure were so much alike, they were so united in interests 

 and in action that, for historical purposes, they must be looked upon as 

 parts of the same body. The insurrections were composed of husband- 

 men of all classes 



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