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 over the richest lands of England. It was headed by one Wat Tyler; London was occupied by the rebels, and king and courtiers had to fly to the Tower. Again the ship of state seemed in danger of foundering. But the peasants lacked real leadership, young King Richard II (he was then fourteen) showed the greatest pluck; Tyler was killed, and the revolt was put down, not without a good deal of hanging. When that was over men’s eyes began to open to the fact that new conditions of life had begun. ‘Villeinage’ was dead; the only labourers left were free labourers, who naturally would bargain for the highest wages they could get. Also, much land had ceased to be ploughed and had gone back into pasture for sheep. For wool increased in value every year, and sheep need few hands to guard them.

But for the rest of his reign the King was either chafing against his uncles and their friends, or else planning schemes of vengeance against them. In 1397, after long waiting, he struck swiftly at the leaders of the barons, killing his uncle Thomas and banishing his cousin Henry of Lancaster (son of John of Gaunt, Edward Ill’s third son). Then he got Parliament to pass certain Acts which gave him almost absolute power, and all sober men, who reverenced both the Crown and the ‘Constitution ’ (which, roughly speaking, means government through Parliament), stood aghast at this.

In 1399 Henry of Lancaster returned, accused Richard of misgovernment, deposed him and perhaps had him murdered. He then took the crown, and for fourteen years tried to rule England as King Henry IV, but without much success. The very barons who had aided