alternatehistory.com

A/N: Hello all! I'm back with another Chapter. The Peasant Revolt has begun, but how will things turn out for those revolting against the nobility. How will things turn out this time? We're about to find out...

New Beginnings

The people had been pushed too hard by the nobility, and they refused to sit by quietly and let it happen. They began to rampage through the country as several towns broke into revolt one after the other. It wasn't long before the small riots turned into the full scale revolt that would come to be known as the Peasant Revolt.

In the midst of this three men would be elected to serve as leaders of the rebelling peasants. The first was Wat Tyler, who served as the overall leader of the revolt, working on the political aspects of the revolt. The next was John Ball, a preacher who had been excommunicated and imprisioned by the start of the Peasant Revolt. He served as the religious mouthpiece for the revolt. The final of the three major leaders was Roger Moors, the former soldier sent back home from the hundred years war. He controlled the military matters of the revolt.

With leadership established, on the 13th June, the rebelling peasantry under Wat Tyler entered London, intent on getting the reforms they came for. They slaughtered Flemish merchants, before razing the palace of the unpopular John of Gaunt, King Richard II's uncle and the Duke of Lancaster.

The nobility of London were taken completely by surprise at this, as they had not thought that things would go so back so quickly. The day after the peasants stormed London, Richard II had to meet the rebels at Mile End, just outside of London. There, he would promise to meet the demands set by the peasants and the leaders; cheap land, abolition of serfdom and forced labour, increased minimum wage and free trade.

Most of the rebels seemed to believe in what Richard was saying, however there were those who had their suspicions, Roger Moors being one of them. Roger Moors knew that this was likely a ruse, one to buy time to gather up troops in order to suppress the revolt. He began to make plans to up the training of the "soldiers" in the rebellion from basic training to more in-depth training, knowing it would be needed for in case the king did gather up his forces.

The next day, the 15th June, Wat Tyler and Roger Moors along with a group of the peasantry to serve as back up, as a precaution inside the building as well as the thousands that would be outside. Wat Tyler was very joking, being overly familiar with Richard by refering to his as "brother" and promising friendship. Roger, on the other hand, was deathly serious. He simply stood there, glaring daggers at the king's men.

It didn't take long before tensions started to mount between the two sides. William Walworth, the Mayor of London moved forward to arrest him as the two sides were ready to break out into fighting. Wat Tyler and William Walworth bickered, before Walworth moved to attack Wat Tyler. But before he could even remove his dagger from its sheath, he found Roger Moors' blade pressed against his neck. Whilst not as light on his feet as he used to be, his arms and hands had only gotten quicker with age and experience.

William Walworth demanded an explanation, asking Moors if his life meant that value to him. To which Moors simply responded:

"Why would I value my life if I don't fear my death?"

As a soldier he was always ready to lay down his life for the cause. Now was no different.

There was a moment of pause, before Walworth moved to attack Moors, sparking a full on brawl, many form both sides rushed to join in on the fighting. During this chaos, Walworth attempted to attack Wat Tyler again, but found his attack literally cut off by Moors who had severed his hand clean off, forcing Walworth to retreat. Richard II was able to eventually calm proceedings down, appealing to them as their sovereign. The king then tried to persuade them to follow him to Clerkenwell Fields, but Moors countered this, stating that, while the offer was "kind", they would be heading elsewhere.

The peasants set up at Dorchester, near to London, so that they could keep and eye on proceedings where ever nessesary. Here, Moors would begin the training of the peasantrys army, dubbed The Liberty Army by the peasants. This would set up the rest of 1381 and the start of 1382, as the rebels looked to stabilise themselves against the nobility. Thing were heating up over supremacy of England's future, one that would be controlled either by the peasantry or the nobility.

A/N: And that is all for now, I hope you all enjoyed. This has been really fun to do so far, I've enjoyed diverging from Rome, and I hope you have all enjoyed reading this story alongside me writing it. Thank you all for reading this TL, the feedback is much appreciated. See you next Chapter!