Hello, and thank you for joining me for this Oak Academy history lesson.

My name is Mrs. Knox, and today I'll be helping to take you through the resources you need to be successful with this lesson.

So let's get started now.

The lesson today is part of a unit of work on the Peasant Revolt.

We were asking why do historians disagree about what caused it? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how the Black Death impacted life in England.

Now, in our lesson today, we'll use a number of key words.

So let's take a look at those now.

The first word we'll come across in our lesson today is the word peasant, which is a person in the mediaeval period who worked on the land and had very few legal protections.

We'll also come across the word rebellion, which is an act of direct resistance against a leader or government.

We'll also use the term feudal system.

The feudal system was the social system of mediaeval England with peasants, lords, and a king in a strict hierarchy.

And finally, we'll use the word bubo.

A bubo was a swelling of the lymph nodes and a symptom of the plague.

Now our lesson today will be in two sections, so we'll get started now on section one, which we'll look at peasant anger.

In June, 1381, an angry mob stormed London.

The members of this large and violent crowd had already brutally murdered several of the king's tax collectors in the nearby counties of Essex and Kent.

As the rebels marched, they ransacked property, and set fire to government buildings.

The sumptuous Savoy Palace, which commanded an imposing position along a stretch of the Northbank of the Thames was a particular target.

The rebels broke in and destroyed anything which they could seize.

Doors were pooled off their hinges, windows were smashed, and larger objects were thrown into the Thames, and when the rebels were finished, they burned the remaining shell to the ground.

Further east, two of the King's closest advisors were dragged from the Tower of London and beheaded.

Before their heads were placed upon poles and paraded through the streets.

The violence of that June was dramatic and widespread, but it did not come from nowhere.

There may have been some people in the mob who simply enjoyed being carried along by a wave of violent destruction.

However, many of the rebels had very clear political aims and longstanding grievances.

They were angry with the king, the government, and the Lords for many things, including the role which feudalism continued to play in their lives, the lack of freedom which restricted the lives of many peasants, and the high tax burden which the king was using to fund a war in France.

Historians continue to debate which of these grievances was the main cause of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt as the rebellion became known.

Was it a rejection of the feudal system by peasants who had had enough of being exploited by the Lords, or was it a rejection of the king's right to overtax his people? Perhaps most interestingly, what role did the devastating plague known as the Black Death play in the uprising? In order to understand the violence of 1381 then, we have to go back to the 1340s.

We have to understand the impact of the Black Death, which some historians argue, lay at the heart of the uprising of 1381.

All right, let's have a check of your understanding so far.

I'd like you to answer this question.

"Which of the following best describes the targets of the violence of June, 1381? A, peasant groups who remain loyal to the king and did not wish to join the rebellion? B, farmers who wanted to improve their lives by gaining more land, or C advisors to the king and wealthy residents of London?" Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer when you're ready.

Well done if you said the correct answer was, C, the targets of the violence were advisors to the king and wealthy residents of London.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

"True or false? The violence of 1381 had one clear cause." Press pause now and then press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

You should have said that the correct answer is false.

I'd like you to press pause once again now and write an explanation about why the answer is false.

In your response, you could have said, "That there were many causes of the violence of 1381, and historians cannot agree which was the main cause." Next, I'd like you to put some of what you've learned so far into practise by attempting this task.

You need to decide if the statements are true or false.

So press pause now to complete your answers and then press play to see the correct ones.

Welcome back.

Let's have a run through of the correct answers.

For statement A, there was a violent rebellion in June 1381.

You should have said that statement is true.

For B, the rebels committed mindless violence for the sake of it.

You should have said that is false.

For C, the residents of the Savoy Palace were executed.

You should have said that was false.

For D, historians agree that there was one cause of the violence in 1381.

You should have said that is false.

And finally, for E, historians debate the extent to which different causes led to the violence of 1381.

You should have said that is true.

Well done if you got all of them correct.

Finally, in this section, I'd like you to answer this question.

You need to explain which person is giving the more convincing account of the causes of the Peasant' Revolt.

Aisha says, "The rebellion of 1381 was caused by a group of violent and angry peasants who simply enjoyed destroying things." And Izzy says, "There were many political and economic causes of the events of 1381, including anger about taxation and the feudal system." Press pause now and then press play to see the correct answer.

Welcome back.

You should have said that "Izzy gives the most convincing account of the causes of the Peasants' Revolt because she recognises that there were many of them.

She makes her answer specific by mentioning two of the political and economic causes of the violence of 1381, taxation and the feudal system." We're now ready to move on to the second section of our lesson today.

This section, we'll look at a mysterious new illness.

In June 1348, some inhabitants of Melcombe in Dorset contracted a mysterious new illness.

Although chroniclers at the time described the symptoms, their accounts are often so different that it has been hard to establish the precise nature of the disease.

It is generally agreed that those who fell ill first developed swellings of the lymph glands known as buboes in the neck, armpits, and groins.

These buboes were said to grow to the size of an apple.

Within the next two days, the infected person began to feel feverish, a stage which was usually followed by the vomiting of blood.

If the buboes burst, and discharged their foul smelling liquid, the infected person was likely to survive.

If not, then death was inevitable.

This form of the illness is now known as the bubonic plague, but some people at the time refer to it as the Black Death.

Those first few English victims of the plague in Melcombe can scarcely have realised what radical consequences the Black Death would go on to half throughout the kingdom.

The disease soon spread to Bristol and Gloucester reaching London in November, and by the beginning of 1349, hardly a corner of England was untouched by the disease.

Throughout the realm, millions fell ill and died.

It is difficult to establish exactly how many people died.

While some writers like Ranulf Higden and Chester suggested that 90% of the population was wiped out.

This is regarded by most historians as an exaggeration.

It seems most likely that somewhere between a third and a half of English people lost their lives to the Black Death between 1348 and 1349.

At the time, the church thought that this plague had been sent as a punishment from God for the sins of humanity.

Whatever people at the time believed about the reasons for the arrival of the disease, it was clear that its impact was immediate and devastating.

Its effects would last for generations.

It's time to check your understanding once more.

I'd like you to answer this question.

"Most historians believe that the suggestion that 90% of the people died is A, accurate, B, an exaggeration, or C, an underestimate." Press pause now and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer is B.

90% of the population is probably an exaggeration.

Here's another question now.

"Which two of the following were symptoms of the Black Death? A, swellings of the lymph glands? B, a persistent cough? C, vomiting blood, or D, a headache?" Press pause now and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said the two correct answers were A, swellings of the lymph glands and C, vomiting blood.

Finally, in our lesson today, I'd like you to complete this task.

Answer the following questions in full sentences.

A, in which year did the Black Death first arrived in England? B, describe the symptoms of the Black Death, and C, how much of the English population have been killed by the disease by 1349? Press pause now and then press play to hear the correct answers.

Let's see what you should have written.

For question A, you should have said that "The Black Death arrived in England in 1348." For question B, you should have said, "The symptoms of the Black Death included buboes, which were swellings of the lymph glands and fever." For C, you should have said, "That historians estimate that somewhere between a third and a half of English people lost their lives to the Black Death between 1348 and 1349." We've reached the end of today's lesson, so it's time for a summary now of everything you should have learned today.

In 1381, a violent rebellion took place in England and on the streets of London.

Historians have debated the causes of this rebellion and it is clear that it was driven by more than one factor.

One factor was the impact of the Black Death.

The Black Death arrived in England in 1348 and killed around half of the population.

Thank you for all of your hard work in our lesson today.

I hope that you feel that you've met your learning objective and I look forward to you joining me in a future Oak Academy history lesson.