Late Middle Ages · 1358-1381

When peasants rose: 1358 and 1381

After the Black Death, the survivors want better pay and more freedom, and the lords want the old ways back. Students compare the French Jacquerie of 1358 with the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and ask what the rebels wanted and what they won.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1358 to AD 1348
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

After the Black Death, the survivors want better pay and more freedom, and the lords want the old ways back. Students compare the French Jacquerie of 1358 with the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and ask what the rebels wanted and what they won.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War led to unrest among peasants and workers.
  • Describe the events of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, including the meeting with Richard II.
  • Compare the aims and outcomes of the revolts of 1358 and 1381.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1358

France after defeat

Open the map in 1358 and turn on Historical Events (Battles). Find Poitiers, where the French king was captured in 1356. Then zoom in on the land north of Paris. Why might peasants lose trust in nobles who lost battles?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1381

Marching on London

Set the year to 1381 and zoom in on London, Essex and Kent. Rebels marched on the city from both sides of the Thames. How far did they have to walk?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1348

Fewer hands

Go back to 1348 and turn on Spreads: the Black Death. With so many workers dead, why could the survivors ask for higher pay?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. After the Black Death, English laws tried to keep wages at the old level. Why did workers see this as unfair?
  2. The priest John Ball preached: "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" What did he mean?
  3. Rebels in 1381 burned tax records and manor rolls. Why target documents?
  4. Both revolts ended in executions of rebels. Why did the authorities respond so harshly?
  5. Serfdom in England faded away over the next century anyway. Did the revolt fail, or did it win in the long run?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Sejong the Great, who ruled Korea a generation later and wanted common people to be able to read and write. Afterwards, compare: what can rulers do to keep the trust of ordinary people?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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