Editing Peasants' Revolt (section)

====Entry to the city====
[[File:Map of London, 1381 labelled.png|thumb|300px|alt=Map of London|Map of London in 1381:
{{image key
|A&nbsp;– Clerkenwell
|B&nbsp;– Priory of St. John
|C&nbsp;– Smithfield
|D&nbsp;– Newgate and Fleet Prisons
|E&nbsp;– The Savoy Palace
|F&nbsp;– The Temple
|G – Black Friars
|H&nbsp;– Aldgate
|I&nbsp;– Mile End
|J&nbsp;– Westminster
|K&nbsp;– Southwark
|L&nbsp;– Marshalsea Prison
|M&nbsp;– London Bridge
|N&nbsp;– Tower of London}}]]
The rebels began to cross from [[Southwark]] onto [[London Bridge]] on the afternoon of 13 June.<ref name="autogenerated79"/> The defences on London Bridge were opened from the inside, either in sympathy for the rebel cause or out of fear, and the rebels advanced into the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=424}}; {{harvnb|Dobson|1983|p=220}}; {{harvnb|Barron|1981|p=3}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|It is uncertain who opened the defences at London Bridge and Aldgate. After the revolt three aldermen, John Horn, Walter Sibil and William Tongue, were put on trial by the authorities, but it is unclear how far these accusations were motivated by the post-conflict London politics. The historian Nigel Saul is doubtful of their guilt in collaborating with the rebels. Rodney Hilton suggests that they may have opened the gates in order to buy time and so prevent the destruction of their city, although he prefers the theory that the London crowds forced the gates to be opened. Jonathan Sumption similarly argues that the aldermen were forced to open the gates in the face of popular pressure.<ref>{{harvnb|Saul|1999|p=424}}; {{harvnb|Hilton|1995|pp=189–190}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=424}}</ref>|group="nb"}} At the same time, the rebel force from Essex made its way towards [[Aldgate]] on the north side of the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=424}}</ref> The rebels swept west through the centre of the city, and Aldgate was opened to let the rest of the rebels in.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=425}}</ref>

The Kentish rebels had assembled a wide-ranging list of people whom they wanted the King to hand over for execution.<ref name=Dunn2002P79/> It included national figures, such as John of Gaunt, Archbishop Sudbury and Hales; other key members of the royal council; officials, such as Belknap and Bampton who had intervened in Kent; and other hated members of the wider royal circle.<ref name=Dunn2002P79/> When they reached the Marshalsea Prison in Southwark, they tore it apart.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=424}}</ref> By now the Kent and Essex rebels had been joined by many rebellious Londoners.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=425}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=81}}</ref> The [[Fleet Prison|Fleet]] and [[Newgate Prison]]s were attacked by the crowds, and the rebels also targeted houses belonging to Flemish immigrants.<ref>{{harvnb|Sumption|2009|p=425}}; {{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=81–82}}</ref>

On the north side of London, the rebels approached [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] and [[Clerkenwell Priory]], the headquarters of the [[Knights Hospitaller]] which was headed by Hales.<ref name=Dunn2002P83>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=83}}</ref> The priory was destroyed, along with the nearby manor.<ref name=Dunn2002P83/> Heading west along [[Fleet Street]], the rebels attacked [[Temple, London|the Temple]], a complex of legal buildings and offices owned by the Hospitallers.<ref name=Dunn2002P84>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=84}}</ref> The contents, books and paperwork were brought out and burned in the street, and the buildings systematically demolished.<ref name=Dunn2002P84/> Meanwhile, [[John Fordham (bishop)|John Fordham]], the [[Lord Privy Seal|Keeper of the Privy Seal]] and one of the men on the rebels' execution list, narrowly escaped when the crowds ransacked his accommodation but failed to notice he was still in the building.<ref name=Dunn2002P84/>

Next to be attacked along Fleet Street was the [[Savoy Palace]], a huge, luxurious building belonging to John of Gaunt.<ref name=Dunn2002PP85>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=85, 87}}</ref> According to the chronicler [[Henry Knighton]] it contained "such quantities of vessels and silver plate, without counting the parcel-gilt and solid gold, that five carts would hardly suffice to carry them"; official estimates placed the value of the contents at around £10,000.<ref name=Dunn2002PP85/> The interior was systematically destroyed by the rebels, who burnt the soft furnishings, smashed the precious metal work, crushed the gems, set fire to the Duke's records and threw the remains into the Thames and the city drains.<ref name=Dunn2002PP85/> Almost nothing was stolen by the rebels, who declared themselves to be "zealots for truth and justice, not thieves and robbers".<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=86}}</ref> The remains of the building were then set alight.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|pp=86–87}}</ref> In the evening, rebel forces gathered outside the Tower of London, from where the King watched the fires burning across the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2002|p=92}}</ref>