Editing Peasants' Revolt (section)

====March on the capital====
[[File:John Ball encouraging Wat Tyler rebels from ca 1470 MS of Froissart Chronicles in BL.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Medieval painting|15th-century representation of the cleric [[John Ball (priest)|John Ball]] encouraging the rebels; [[Wat Tyler]] is shown in red, front left]]

The Kentish advance on London appears to have been coordinated with the movement of the rebels in Essex, [[Suffolk]] and [[Norfolk]].<ref name=Dunn2002P78/> Their forces were armed with weapons including sticks, battle axes, old swords and bows.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=422}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Military historian Jonathan Sumption considers this description of the rebels' weaponry, drawn from the chronicler [[Thomas Walsingham]], as reliable; literary historian Stephen Justice is less certain, noting the sarcastic manner in which Walsingham mocks the rebels' old and dilapidated arms, including their bows "reddened with age and smoke."<ref>{{harvnb|Justice|1994|p=204}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=422}}</ref>|group="nb"}} Along their way, they encountered [[Joan of Kent|Lady Joan]], the King's mother, who was travelling back to the capital to avoid being caught up in the revolt; she was mocked but otherwise left unharmed.<ref name=Dunn2002P78/> The Kentish rebels reached [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]], just south-east of the capital, on 12 June.<ref name=Dunn2002P78/>{{#tag:ref|Historian Andrew Prescott has critiqued these timings, arguing that it would have been unlikely that so many rebels could have advanced so fast on London, given the condition of the medieval road networks.<ref name="Strohm 2008 203">{{harvnb|Strohm|2008|p=203}}</ref>|group="nb"}}

Word of the revolt reached the King at [[Windsor Castle]] on the night of 10 June.<ref name=Dunn2002P78/> He travelled by boat down the [[River Thames]] to London the next day, taking up residence in the powerful fortress of the [[Tower of London]] for safety, where he was joined by his mother, Archbishop Sudbury, the [[Lord High Treasurer]] Sir [[Robert Hales (knight)|Robert Hales]], the Earls of [[Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel|Arundel]], [[William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury|Salisbury]] and [[Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick|Warwick]] and several other senior nobles.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=78}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=423}}</ref> A delegation, headed by [[Thomas Brinton]], the [[Bishop of Rochester]], was sent out from London to negotiate with the rebels and persuade them to return home.<ref name=Dunn2002P78>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=78}}</ref>

At Blackheath, [[John Ball (priest)|John Ball]] gave a famous sermon to the assembled Kentishmen.<ref name="Sumption 2009 423">{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=423}}</ref> Ball was a well-known priest and radical preacher from Kent, who was by now closely associated with Tyler.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=60}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=422}}</ref> Chroniclers' accounts vary as to how he came to be involved in the revolt; he may have been released from Maidstone prison by the crowds, or might have been already at liberty when the revolt broke out.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=422}}</ref> Ball rhetorically asked the crowds "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?" and promoted the rebel slogan "With King Richard and the true commons of England".<ref name="Sumption 2009 423"/> The phrases emphasised the rebel opposition to the continuation of serfdom and to the hierarchies of the Church and State that separated the subject from the King, while stressing that they were loyal to the monarchy and, unlike the King's advisers, were "true" to Richard.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=58}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010|pp=62, 80}}; {{harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=124}}</ref> The rebels rejected proposals from the Bishop of Rochester that they should return home, and instead prepared to march on.<ref name=Dunn2002P78/>

Discussions took place in the Tower of London about how to deal with the revolt.<ref name=Dunn2002P78/> The King had only a few troops at hand, in the form of the castle's garrison, his immediate bodyguard and, at most, several hundred soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=422}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=135}}; {{harvnb|Tuck|1987|p=199}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Chronicler figures for the King's immediate forces in London vary; Henry Knighton argues that the King had between 150–180 men in the Tower of London, Thomas Walsingham suggests 1,200. These were probably over-estimates, and historian Alastair Dunn assesses that only a skeleton force was present; Jonathan Sumption judges that around 150 men-at-arms were present, and some archers.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=91–92}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=423}}</ref>|group="nb"}} Many of the more experienced military commanders were in France, Ireland and Germany, and the nearest major military force was in the north of England, guarding against a potential Scottish invasion.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=423}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=135}}; {{harvnb|Tuck|1987|p=199}}</ref> Resistance in the provinces was also complicated by English law, which stated that only the King could summon local militias or lawfully execute rebels and criminals, leaving many local lords unwilling to attempt to suppress the uprisings on their own authority.<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|1987|pp=198–200}}</ref>

Since the Blackheath negotiations had failed, the decision was taken that the King himself should meet the rebels, at [[Greenwich]], on the south side of the Thames.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=78–79}}</ref> Guarded by four barges of soldiers, Richard sailed from the Tower on the morning of 13 June, where he was met on the other side by the rebel crowds.<ref name=Dunn2002P79>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=79}}</ref> The negotiations failed, as Richard was unwilling to come ashore and the rebels refused to enter discussions until he did.<ref name=Dunn2002P79/> Richard returned across the river to the Tower.<ref name="autogenerated79">{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=79}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=424}}</ref>