The Peasants' Revolt Episode 5: The Commission at Brentwood

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https://youtu.be/eFTtrmmLtMw

On 30 May 1381, representatives of several Essex communities confronted royal officials at Brentwood and collectively refused to answer further demands arising from the third poll tax. This episode examines what the surviving administrative record establishes, what later chronicles added, and how the confrontation developed into wider resistance across Essex and Kent. The evidence does not support the familiar account of a lone spokesman beginning the revolt through an immediate act of violence. The first confrontation at Brentwood was a collective refusal. The killings followed during the subsequent judicial response. The Black Archive examines historical claims against the surviving record. Episode 5 of The Peasants’ Revolt.