The Everyday Folk

Most peasants were cleaned fully when they were born and again when they died. Hands were washed before every meal but the water used usually came from the local river, where bodily waste was thrown away, so it was not very clean. Water was too dangerous to drink because of the threat of disease so peasants drank beer instead!

Education in the Middle Ages was the preserve of the wealthy. A child born to peasant parents could expect to start work aged three or four and could only look forward to a short life of hard labour for scant reward

In many years the peasants' crops failed due to frosts, droughts or floods. These caused famines and quite often people died from starvation. Greedy lords, disease and raiding armies were indeed a threat to the peasants' income, but the biggest threat of all was the weather

A tithe was a tax on the yearly produce of a farm. Peasants had to give one tenth of what they had earned which may not sound much but, with all the other financial burdens on a serf, it mounted up. The peasants struggled to get by, whilst the churches grew wealthy from their work

Work was not allowed on Sundays or religious holidays, so peasants got quite a few days off, however, they received no pay for them. By comparison, modern workers get two days off per week and five weeks paid holiday a year. That's a total of around 129 days off per year - 24 more than a medieval peasant

The nobility feared any possible future uprisings and also labour was still in short supply. The wages paid to serfs continued to rise and over time the majority were able to pay for their freedom. Other lords began to rent their land to the peasants rather than to hold them in serfdom. By the end of the 15th century people were free to work for whoever they wished

Crude mattresses, stuffed with straw were the most common type of bed. These lay directly on the floor and were home to fleas, lice and other kinds of creepy-crawlies. It would have been cold and uncomfortable but most peasants knew no different

Wattle was made from thin branches, threaded between wooden frames to fill in the panels. This was then covered in daub, a mixture of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and daub houses were popular because they were cheap and easy to repair. They had been in use since 4,000 BC and are coming back into fashion today, due to their environmental sustainability

Ironically it was the plague that improved the lot of peasants. Up to a third of the English population was killed in the epidemic and this left a shortage of labour. Crops stood unharvested in fields and livestock was left untended. This led to higher wages being offered by different lords to attract workers to their lands. Movement of labourers was still illegal but the practice went on nonetheless

The Revolt culminated in a meeting between Tyler and the king, Richard II. Richard promised that if the protesters went home peacefully they would be pardoned. What happened next is unsure but we do know that Tyler was stabbed by one of the king's retinue. He tried to get away but was caught and decapitated. His head was mounted on a pole and displayed on London Bridge. Richard II revoked all his promises to Tyler and the Revolt was brought to an end