Everything Everywhere Daily · Tuesday, August 4, 2026
The Peasants' Revolt erupted in late May 1381 when a royal commissioner, Thomas Bampton, arrived in Fobbing, Essex, to investigate incomplete poll tax returns. The local villagers resisted payment, driving away Bampton's clerks, and this defiance quickly spread to neighboring villages, igniting open revolt in the county.
“The revolt began, by most accounts, in the village of Fobbing in Essex, where in late May of 1381, a royal commissioner named Thomas Bampton arrived to investigate why the local poll tax returns seemed incomplete.”
“The villagers refused to pay the additional sums and demanded and drove Bampton's clerks away.”
“And the resistance spread quickly to neighboring villages in Essex.”