Media and News
Volume Published in Honour of Anne Curry
A volume celebrating the remarkable scholarly achievements of 'People of 1381' team member Professor Anne Curry has been published by Boydell & Brewer. Documenting Warfare: Records of the Hundred Years War is edited by Rémy Ambühl and Andy King. The volume edits and discus
Helen Snelson (1969-2024)
The People of 1381 project team were extremely saddened to learn of the passing of Helen Snelson. Helen was a passionate history teacher who was Curriculum Area Leader for the Secondary History PGCE course in the Department of Education of the University of York. Helen was very active in the Historical Association where she served as Ch
Inauguration of North Walsham Information Board
On Monday 25 March 2024, the Battlefield Trust and its partners, 'The People of 1381' project and the North Walsham Town Council held a short ceremony to mark the installation of the first of a series of information boards at the site of the Battle of North Walsham, one of the most bloody encounters of the great rising of 1381.
Tabula Gratulatoria
Boydell and Brewer are publishing a book in honour of the scholarly achievements of 'People of 1381' team member, Professor Anne Curry. The volume is entitled Documenting Warfare: Records of the Hundred Years War, Edited and Translated in Honour of Anne Curry...Read More
Gone Medieval Podcast
To accompany the History Hit series of episodes on the Peasants' Revolt, a podcast has been released in the 'Gone Medieval' series in which Matt Lewis and Andrew Prescott discuss the legal records documenting the revolt and their use in the People of 1381 database: https://podfollow.com/gone-medieval/episode/725231035913a0677e51838f
Guest Post for Legal History Miscellany
A guest blog by the People of 1381 project for Legal History Miscellany explores the parallels between discussion in 1381 as to what constituted an insurrection and the exploration of similar issues in current court hearings in the United States arising from events in Washington DC on 6 January 2021: https://legalhistorymiscellany.c
People of 1381 and Battlefield Trust Commemorate the Revolt
'People of 1381' in 'History Hit' documentary
The findings of the 'People of 1381' project are featured in a new 'History Hit' documentary on the Peasants Revolt. Team members Adrian Bell and Helen Lacey introduce documents featured in the People of 1381 database. https://access.historyhit.com/peasants-revolt
Radio 3 Programme Challenges Essex Stereotypes
An episode of the BBC Radio 3 series Free Thinking broadcast on 18 May 2023 challenged the modern stereotypes associated with the county of Essex. At 26:30 there is a discussion of the radical traditions associated with the county, including the revolt of 1381, and the work of 'People of 1381' team member Herbert Eiden is highl
New 1381 sources described in Chaucer Review special issue
Among the major new sources for the study of the revolt of 1381 included in the 'People of 1381' database are the various files series maintained by the Court of King's Bench. These little known files series languished in sacks for many years, and their recovery and identification has been a huge achievement by staff of The National Arc
Young Poets Network Launches 1381 Protest Poetry Challenge
The Young Poets Network has launched Our Whole Lives: We Are Protest: A Poetry Challenge Inspired by the People of 1381. Writers up to age 25 based anywhere in the world are invited to submit a protest poem. The deadline is 9 May 2022.
This is the challenge! Write a poem about protest using one of these three prompts:<
Video of visit to Essex Record Office
In July 2021, members of the 'People of 1381' team visited the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. They saw some of the treasures preserved in the Record Office and Herbert Eiden showed some of the manorial records the team is using to research the background of the rebels. The visit was filmed by Enrique Saunders of the University of Re
People of 1381 on Dan Snow's History Hit
The People of 1381 project is featured in a new podcast in Dan Snow's History Hit series. Adrian Bell and Helen Lacey from the project take Dan through the revolt and the demands of the rebels and dexcribe some of the new discoveries made by the project. Links to listen to the podcast are at: https://podfollow.com/dan-
Webinar on YouTube
A recording of our webinar for the Worshipful Company of Fletchers on London and the Peasants' Revolt, delivered online on 15 June 2021 (the 640th anniversary of the killing of Wat Tyler at Smithfield), is now available via the project's YouTube Channel. The channel also includes links to other videos on the 1381 revolt featur
Fletchers' Company Webinar
15 June 2021 marks the 640th anniversary of the meeting of Richard II at Smithfield with Wat Tyler and his fellow rebels - a key event in the Peasants' Revolt. An exciting new research project, ‘The People of 1381’ at the Universities of Reading (Adrian Bell and Herbert Eiden), Oxford (Helen Lacy and Helen Killick), Glasgow (Andrew Pr
People of 1381 featured in BBC History Magazine
Preliminary research findings from The People of 1381 were featured as the cover story of the May 2021 issue of BBC History magazine. The article contains profiles of some of the insurgents whose military connections have been revealed by comparison between records of the rising and the Medieval Soldier database.
Project featured on Radio Berkshire
People of 1381 Principal Investigator Professor Adrian Bell was interviewed by Bill Buckley on BBC Radio Berkshire on 24 May 2021. The interview can be heard at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09gycyv, beginning at 2:09:00.
People of 1381 team to live tweet revolt
From 22 May 2021 for six months, The People of 1381 project will mark the 640th anniversary of the Peasants' Revolt by sending out tweets describing the development of the revolt in real time, emulating how a 14th century twitter might have covered the rising. The tweets can be followed using the hashtag #reliving1381. Enormous
BBC History Extra Podcast on The People of 1381
A BBC History Extra podcast in April 2021 featured Professor Adrian Bell and Dr Helen Lacey from 'The People of 1381' discussing the revolt with David Musgrove. You can hear the podcast here:
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/peasants-revolt-who-rebels-podcast-adrian-bell-helen-lacey/
Estuary Festival 1381 activities featured in The Guardian
On 14 April 2021, The Guardian included the Estuary Festival, to which the People of 1381 is contributing, among the top ten British arts festivals for 2021. The Guardian listing noted how a number of the activities in The Estuary Festival will be channelling the spirit of 1381 revolt: https://www.theguardian.com/trave
Seminar for English Language & Linguistics University of Glasgow 21 January 2021
Helen Lacey and Andrew Prescott gave a seminar for English Language & Linguistics at the University of Glasgow on 21 January 2021, Representing the Voices of the People of 1381 . The seminar not only introduced the project but discussed how far it is possible to capture
Trump's Pardon and Medieval Grants of Mercy
In the last days of his presidency, Donald Trump made promiscuous use of his power to grant presidential pardons. The roots of Trump's power to grant pardons can be traced back to medieval grants of mercy and there are parallels with the amnesty after the Peasants' Revolt, as this contribution by Adfrian Bell, Helen Lacey and Andrew Prescott to
New Publication: How Medieval Revolts Help Us Understand Modern Mass Protest
The last article to be published by History and Policy in 2020 was by 'People of 1381' team members Andrew Prescott, Adrian Bell, Helen Lacey and Anne Curry, and discussed how medieval revolts can help us understand modern mass protest. The article considers how the methodology used by the 'People of 1381' project offers insights into t
People of 1381 at the Estuary Festival
'The People of 1381' project is proud to be involved with The Estuary Festival, a major arts festival based in South Essex and North Kent which is a cultural celebration of the north and south shorelines of the Thames Estuary as well as the river itself and takes place from 22 May to 13 June 2021. The areas bordering the Thames Estuary
Adrian Bell at Historical Association Virtual Conference 2020
On 12 November 2020, the Principal Investigator of 'The People of 1381', Professor Adrian Bell, gave an extended introduction to the project which described the database we are developing and showed how comparisons with the Medieval Soldier database are already enabling the project to identify rebels with a military background. Adri
'People of 1381' Team Members Feature in New Publication
'People of 1381' team members Dr Helen Lacey and Dr Helen Killick are among the contributors to Monarchy, State and Political Culture in Late Medieval England, a collection of essays in honour of the late Professor Mark Ormrod, edited by Gwilym Dodd and Craig Taylor, which was published just before Professor Ormrod's much lamen
A New World Post COVID-19: Lessons for Business, the Finance Industry and Policy Makers
Adrian Bell, Helen Lacey and Andrew Prescott from the People of 1381 research team have contributed a chapter to a new open access publication edited by Monica Billio of the Università Ca’ Foscari Ve
Project featured on 'Middle Ages for Educators'
'People of 1381' CI Helen Lacey has contributed a video talk introducing the project to the Middle Ages for Educators website: http://middleagesforeducators.com/videos/the-people-of-1381-by-helen-lacey/
Helen's video gives an overview of the rising, explains some of the sources used by the project and tells the story of Margery
Helen Lacey on Radio 4's 'The Long View'
People of 1381 CI Dr Helen Lacey of Mansfield College, University of Oxford, appeared on a special edition of BBC Radio Four's The Long View on 22 June 2020 to discuss with Jonathan Freedland the unexpected impact of the Black Death. Helen's interview kicked off a series of Long View programmes forming part of the Radi
New podcast on Europe's Recovery from Black Death
'People of 1381' Principal Investigator Professor Adrian Bell of the Henley Business School at the University of Reading features in a new podcast discussing how Europe recovered in the years after the Black Death. The podcast launches Recovery, a new series from The Conversation and Anthill Podcast, exploring key moments i
'People of 1381' featured in Essex Journal
'The People of 1381' project is freatured in the current (Spring 2020) issue of the Essex Journal, a magazine of local history and archaeology for Essex. Published since 1966, Essex Journal is one of the most successful and exciting local history journals in the UK and the bodies represented on its editorial board incl
Medieval Responses to 'Contagion'
People of 1381 CI Dr Helen Lacey discusses medieval responses to 'contagion' for the Mansfield College Oxford website: 'Some measures sound alien to us: flagellation to atone for God’s punishment or vomiting daily from an empty stomach, but others sound strikingly familiar…':
https://www.m
How Humans Have Reacted to Pandemics through History: a Visual Guide
Professor Adrian Bell featured in a visual guide to how humans have reacted to pandemics throughout history in The Guardian on 29 April 2020. He comments that after the Black Death 'There were riots against the Flemish as people tried to deal with the unexplainable. This also happened later during upheaval around the peasan
Coronavirus and Black Death on BBC Spanish news pages
Our article from 'The Conversation' on comparisons between the economic impact of Coronavirus and the Black Death was translated into Spanish for the BBC Latin America pages:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-51750414
Wat Tyler's Desert Island Discs
Ever wondered what Wat Tyler's Desert Island Discs might look like? People of 1381 PI Professor Adrian Bell imagined his selection for the History blog at the University of Reading: https://unireadinghistory.com/2020/04/07/watt-tyler-aka-professor-adrian-r-bell-historialdesertislanddiscs/
Essex Record Office blog: Working from Home
As the restrictions to combat the Covid-19 virus are introduced, the Essex Record Office blog is starting a series of stories on its blog profiling how its researchers are working from home. The first to be featured in the series was 'People of 1381' team member Dr Herbert Eiden, who describes how he is continuing to research the revolt
Metro
What the Black Death tells us about the global economic consequences of a pandemic
Republished in Metro online 6/3/2020
The Conversation
What can the Black Death tell us about the global economic consequences of a pandemic?
Original article published in the Conversation on 3/3/2020
Project website shares stories of People of 1381
Henley Business School Press Release, 29 November 2019
An eye-witness is one of the first individuals whose story is shared on a website launched to host The People of 1381 research project on the Peasants’ Revolt – one of the largest popular uprisings in medieval Europe.
Margery Tawney became caught up in t
New Publications by Members of 'People of 1381' Team
Two important new publications by members of the ‘People of 1381’ team explore the wider historical contexts of the revolt. Project Co-Investigator Anne Curry is the editor of The Hundre
People of 1381 project set to explore lives of peasant ancestors
Original Article from Family Tree Magazine
The new People of 1381 digital project is exploring the lives of peasant ancestors normally hidden from view after receiving almost £1 million in funding...
A new research project is set to produce the most comprehensive interpretation of the Peasants’ Revolt to date after being awar
Funding of nearly £1 million awarded for innovative Peasants' Revolt research
An innovative new research project set to produce the most comprehensive interpretation of the Peasants’ Revolt to date has been awarded almost £1 million in funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The revolt was the most widespread popular rebellion in English history and rocked the country in the summer of 1381. Led by Pro
Dr Helen Lacey's research receives £1 million
Mansfield’s Supernumerary Fellow in Late Medieval History, Dr Helen Lacey, is part of an multi-institution research project which has been awarded almost £1 million in funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The innovative new research is set to produce the most comprehensive interpretation of the Peasants’ Revolt to date.
T
Dr Helen Lacey's Peasants’ Revolt research received £1 million from AHRC
Dr Helen Lacey, Lecturer in Medieval History at Mansfield College is part of a multi-institution research project which has been awarded almost £1 million in funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The innovative new research project set to produce the most comprehensive interpretation of the Peasants’ Revolt to date has be
BBC Radio Berkshire: The Peasants' Revolt
BBC Radio Berkshire: The Peasants' Revolt
The events of 1381 are most commonly known as the Peasants' Revolt. But who did revolt and why? Professor Adrian Bell discussed the poll tax and his new research project which investigates different social groups in the uprising.
Listen to the full interview on the BBC Sounds website