Twenty years before, there had been similar outbreaks in Flanders and
in France. This, therefore, was not an isolated instance of
insurrection, but rather part of a general uprising. The rebellion
begun by Tyler and Ball (S250) spread through the southern and eastern
counties of England, taking different forms in different districts.
It was violent in St. Albans, where the peasants, and farm laborers
generally, rose against the exactions of the abbot, but it reached its
greatest height in London.
For three weeks the mob held possession of the capital. They pillaged
and then burned John of Gaunt's palace (SS247, 249). They seized and
beheaded the Lord Chancellor and the chief collector of the odious
poll tax (S250). They destroyed all the law papers they could lay
hands on, and ended by murdering a number of lawyers; for the rioters
believed that the members of that profession spent their time forging
the chains which held the laboring class in subjection.