The 1300s were rough in England. There's the plague; there's the 100 Years War, and there's serfdom. An interesting thing that happened after the Black Death killed 50% of the population was that workers were worth more - there were 50% fewer serfs, so they started to be asked to be paid more! That obviously wasn't going to fly with the Lords; you see if they paid their serfs more, then THEY would make less money, they the Lords, you see what I mean? They couldn't possibly. This will lead to A LOT of heads on sticks, and a storming of London in 1381! Join us!
The 1300s were rough in England. There's the plague; there's the 100 Years War, and there's serfdom. An interesting thing that happened after the Black Death killed 50% of the population was that workers were worth more - there were 50% fewer serfs, so they started to be asked to be paid more! That obviously wasn't going to fly with the Lords; you see if they paid their serfs more, then THEY would make less money, they the Lords, you see what I mean? They couldn't possibly.
This will lead to A LOT of heads on sticks, and a storming of London in 1381!
Join us!
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Hello. How are you? Who cares what day it is
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA096.
>> Farz: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you do. M. We are recording. Taylor, Happy, happy. Whatever day it is that this is going out. How are you?
>> Taylor: Good. How are you? Who cares what day it is?
>> Farz: Who cares? Days don't matter. It's all the same thing. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I'm a little tired. I was just telling Taylor how I've been running back and forth between Dallas and Austin. it's been eventful. A couple of days. It'll be an eventful February, but, yeah, that's life right now.
>> Taylor: Cool. Sounds good. Same. I'm a little tired, I think. Just. We were at a Super bowl party most of the day yesterday. It was super fun.
>> Farz: well, go ahead and introduce us. We'll talk about the Super Bowl.
>> Taylor: hello. Welcome to Doomed to Fail, where the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters. Epic failures, twice a week. Epic. And I'm Taylor, joined by fars.
>> Farz: Okay, so when I heard that Kendrick Lamar was performing, I was like, man, it's gotta be rough being Drake these days. And then you hear everybody singing the A minor part, like, the entire stadium. You're like, oh, poor guy.
>> Taylor: Everyone that I was with.
>> Farz: Yeah, you're with everybody that was there and then. And I was like, okay, well, you know, it's just. It's a us thing. Who cares? Like, he's a Canadian. Like, it's not that. It can't be that big of a deal for him. And then, like, 10 minutes later, they pan to, like, Germany, Sao Paulo, like, all. Every country out there, and they're all watching the Super Bowl. Like, oh, poor Drake.
>> Taylor: Oh, no, everyone's watching. I, I watched the Super bowl in 2002 when I studied abroad in Italy. We watched it at a bar at, like, 2 in the morning. It was super fun.
>> Farz: That is very fun.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Farz: So. Well, hopefully a good party.
>> Taylor: Yeah, it was fun. We were with people who were, definitely Eagles fans, which was great. And, they invited a ton of people, but not a lot of people came, so there was just, like, so much food, and it was. It was fun. We had a good time.
>> Farz: Very nice. Yeah, Eagles fans. I don't know what it is about them, but, man, they're rough. They like the old Raiders.
>> Taylor: They're from Philadelphia.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, that's.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Ah, yeah, there's something in the water there.
>> Taylor: there Is there is. I wouldn't, like, argue with a Philadelphia sports fan.
>> Farz: No, no. That's a waste of time.
>> Taylor: No. And safety concerns.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. They might. They might take it a little too personal.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: cool.
Introduce us. Wait, we already did. Sorry. All right, I'm ready. Who is going first today
You, so you want. Wait, we already did. Introduce us. Sorry. who is going first today?
>> Taylor: I think I am.
>> Farz: Sweet. Then the, floor is yours.
>> Taylor: All right, I'm ready.
I'm preparing for Women's History Month with some medieval stories
So, yeah, I, am preparing for Women's History Month. And I'm like, have my list. I'm so dumb. And my list. I was like, oh, I have four women that I want to do for Women's History Month in March. And m. I looked at my list and there's four things on it. The first word is just women. Women.
>> Farz: Are you going to cover the species of female?
>> Taylor: No, I'm going to find a fourth one. I'm sure there's plenty. I was just like, what's wrong with me? So for the rest of February. One, two, three. I wanted to do some medieval stories because I have one that I want to end February with. Then I got kind of caught up in some other ones, so I read a book for this episode. I'm going to tell you about it. So I went back to medieval times, and the book I read was called Summer of Blood Revolution. What?
>> Farz: Damn it. Is it. Oh, it's not Bathory.
>> Taylor: What?
>> Farz: Elizabeth Bathory. The woman who, bathed in virgin blood?
>> Taylor: No. I'm like, what word are you yelling at me?
>> Farz: Should have. Because it's because I forgot if it's Elizabeth or something else, but I'm pretty sure it's Elizabeth Bathory.
>> Taylor: It, is. But that's in Hungary.
>> Farz: Okay, I'll stop yelling.
>> Taylor: And it's like 200 years later.
>> Farz: Got it. I stand corrected. I apologize.
>> Taylor: So can I finish tell you the title of this book? Because I think maybe if you. You get it.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Summer of Blood. England's first revolution. England. We're in England. Anyway, this is the peasants revolt of 1391, so. Oh, 1381. 1381. So I still can't spell medieval. I tried the trick. Can't do it. Don't care. but there are some, like. This is still a point, if you want to, like, think about what people looked like during this time is. It's like the images that we have of medieval life are, like very flat, two dimensional images that are like on a tapestry. You know what I mean? Can you picture that? I can picture, like, flat horses, flat people, and like, flags that are like a. A rectangle with a triangle Cut out on, like, a pole. Yeah, like, that's what we're talking about. We're at the very, very end of the medieval times, which is Middle Ages, Dark Ages. We don't say that anymore, but you know what I mean? which was from about 465 to 1400. So we're at the very end, and we're about to flip over into the Renaissance. And of course, you don't know that you are living in the end of an era until much later. You know, they didn't know they were living at the end of the medieval times and about to go into the Renaissance. They were just living. Sometimes I think you can tell if you, like, watch the news, but for the most part, you don't know if you're in the end of an era. so people didn't really expect this, but big things are coming, Big things are changing.
The Black Death kills 50% of the population in England in 1348
So we're in England, and it's the peasants revolt of 1381. So leading up to this revolt is a whole bunch of stuff that is. Makes the life in England very tense. And I know that we talk about it all the time, but, like, it was just really fucking hard to be alive for most of time.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: And the medieval times are no exception. So most people are serfs, where someone else owns the land. They're like a local lord, and you work it. And sometimes you could potentially work. Work your way to owning your own land, but usually no. And part of your responsibility is to farm the land and disperse the food to the Lord and the rich people. And you kind of can never get out of that. That's your job. So most people have that job, which is not great. and then right before this, the plague happens. So the Black Death starts in 1348 and kills 50% of the population in England, which is insane.
>> Farz: So crazy. So, like, people were sicklier there then anyways. So, like.
>> Taylor: But I don't think. I mean, they certainly didn't have any chance of, like, not getting it, you know? Yeah, that's like, you know. So, like, now. So I looked up Covid. Covid killed less than 1% of Americans. And I know people who. I don't know anyone personally who died from COVID but I know people whose, like, parents died, you know? but just imagine half people, you know, are dead.
>> Farz: Yeah. That's crazy.
>> Taylor: Everyone else has, like, probably gotten it. So they're, like, pockmarked from the boils or whatever. And. Yeah. I mean, they didn't even know how it happened. You know what I mean?
>> Farz: Yeah. They didn't know how it transmitted.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So that half the people are dead. So what happens after that is half of the people that aren't dead are like, my labor is now worth more than it was before because there are less of us.
>> Farz: Yep.
>> Taylor: So they would do things like shopping around for jobs, so they can, you know, get a couple more logs and be a little less dirty and things like that. And the, the lords are like, we don't want that. Like, that can't happen. Like, you can't do that. But they were like, but now we see that you need us more than we need you. You know, you need someone to do this. also remember Monty Python when the king is like, I. I'm the one not covered in shit.
>> Farz: Yes. Yes.
>> Taylor: So it's like that. It's terrible for everyone else.
People were confused about priests dying because they're humans and humans die
and another thing that happened, I don't really think. Oh, a kind of. I'm not going to talk about it much after this. But the priests also died because they're humans and humans die. But people were confused about that because they're like, why would the priests die if they ask God not to kill them? You know, so it put a little bit of distrust in the church because they're like, if this thing is even killing the priests, then something is, like, very wrong.
>> Farz: The Pope didn't die, though. The Pope didn't die because he stayed, like, in a sealed room, basically.
>> Taylor: But, like, your local priest probably died. Right. you know, all the guys up in the monastery, they died. So the lords were like, okay, hold on. If I see this. So if I pay you more money, I'm gonna make less money. So, like, you see how I can't do that? You know, that's what they're saying.
>> Farz: Got it.
>> Taylor: And so they passed a law in 1351 called the Statute of Laborers, where they couldn't pay anyone more than they paid them pre plague. Like, you couldn't ask for more, and you couldn't pay anybody more than they were paid pre plague.
>> Farz: That's a good way to do it. Make it, legislate it.
>> Taylor: So they were like, I can't pay more than it before. Like, you know, you get it. Like, I.
>> Farz: It's a crime if I pay you more.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Like, I have to pay you this much money. This is the way it's always been. but some people were like, no, I don't like that. So they just left. Like, they would leave. They would go get jobs in cities similarly. Not like, they weren't working from home. But they were like, you know, in cities making more money. their buying power of the average surf went up 40%, so they started making a lot more money. and then they were like, hey, I have another idea. Now that I have more money, why don't I buy nicer things? Instead of wearing this sack, I'm gonna buy a dress. I'm gonna buy a hat. And that really pissed people off. They were like, how will we know you used to be poor if you dressed nice?
>> Farz: That's actually a valid criticism.
>> Taylor: But I mean, like, they. They're like, we need. We need to know that you used to be poor. Like, we can't have. We can't be mistaking you for one of us, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So they made laws in 16, in 1363 to stop them from buying nice things. So you really couldn't get ahead.
>> Farz: Yeah. They couldn't wear fabrics that, were, like, a certain color or. Yeah, it's nonsense.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So all this is happening in the background. And then also, we are in the middle of the. Of the Hundred Years War that was actually 116 years long, with which we know is again, France and England. Just like, those two need to calm down because they're all fighting each other.
>> Farz: Actually, I kind of take back what I just said about it being stupid, not letting people wear expensive clothes, because now we have Klarna, and we have people who make, like, $15,000 a year buying Louis Vuitton stuff.
>> Taylor: And it's like, are they still doing that? I feel like that's not in fashion.
>> Farz: I. I haven't seen a Louis Vuitton.
>> Taylor: Purse, Louis Vuitton anything in, like, 20 years.
>> Farz: Well, so you live in Joshua Tree, so I don't think you're gonna see a lot of that there.
>> Taylor: But I said 20 years. I lived in LA and New York City. Since then, I haven't seen hardly any.
>> Farz: No. I think fashion comes around every now and then. But I do think that you can buy stuff on, like, credit. Like the weekly credit.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah.
>> Farz: So beyond me at this point. But, yeah, don't do that.
>> Taylor: But you can still have nice things. You know what I mean? Like, just because, like, sometimes if you see a person who you think shouldn't be able to afford an iPhone and they have an iPhone, like, maybe they signed up for it. Maybe someone bought it for them. Maybe it was like they're, you know, something important that they got from someone else. You know, it's not.
>> Farz: I think a firm's market cap is like 20 billion apiece.
>> Taylor: You can still have nice things. Like, you don't have to, like, be dirt poor. You can save up and have one nice thing, you know, but. Yes, but they're saying you can't have any nice things. Like, absolutely not. No nice things.
France and England are fighting again after 100 years of peace
and then it's a hundred years war and France and England are fighting again. William the Conqueror was, like, just there taking over. Now they're, like, back and forth. and I wrote, if we go to 23 and meet M, all these people are just the same, you know? but the last one of the last times that Britain attacked France was in 1940, during World War II, when they. Yeah, they were like, bombing some of their boats. And France was pissed, but they were like, well, how can we trust you when the Nazis have taken over France? You know, so they haven't even had peace for 100 years, those two. Hopefully they can figure it out. But, like, enough. You're listening. England and France. No, stop it. It better be over. in war, as we know, is expensive in men and in money. And England is running out of money. So they have a poll tax, and it starts out as 4 pence per person over 14, which is a lot of money. And it's also a dis. Get a discount if you have a married couple. But, like, single women were like, I don't want to pay just because I didn't get married. You know, and some people are like, just. People obviously don't want to do it. they don't make that much money. The government doesn't raise that much money. They try to do it again on, like, a sliding scale to say, like, you know, you know, based on how much money you. You earn. But, still doesn't raise enough money to fund the war. And people are mad about it. so all that's happening. It's the plague just ended. People want to be paid more. It's 100 years war. there's a lot of, like, class things happening. And Our king is 10 years old. His name is Richard II.
The Tiffany Effect is essentially that you assume the name Tiffany is modern
and I want to pause to talk about a thing that I learned on Instagram called the Tiffany Effect. Have you heard of this?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: And I feel like we've mentioned this before. So the one that I. So the Tiffany Effect is essentially that you assume the name Tiffany is modern, but it isn't. It's from, like, the medieval period, at least. And you. But you couldn't put the word, the name Tiffany into a movie about the Middle Ages. You'd be like, that's super weird, you know, True. So I'm the same as with the name Jessica. So, those. Those are like, names that are, like, hundreds of years old, but they feel newer. so I just, like. Like, Richard. Somebody could be named Richard today. And I don't think that's weird. That. That. That is a name from. But also in the past. But, like, Tiffany is a name that you can't do that with. And it also reminded me. Remember when we talked about Cyrus the Great and. And Darius.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: And I was like, that name just seems so normal. And then there's a guy in the Eagles named Darius Slay. And I'm like, that name feels so normal, but it's like, it feels so modern. But it is an ancient name.
>> Farz: I think it's Dariush. It's a Persian.
>> Taylor: Literally told me it was Darius when I was calling it something else during our Cyrus the Green episode.
>> Farz: Yeah, well, I changed my mind.
>> Taylor: but another thing that is fun, for the Tiffany effect is, the word goth is obviously from the Gothic architectural style, but it was kind of a derogatory term during the Renaissance to describe medieval architecture because they didn't like it, which I think is funny. also in the story, I felt like this is, like, I just wanted to talk about these names. There's a lot of towns that are like Brentwood and Scarborough and Rochester, which is fun because they're just words that you hear all over the world. Not just.
>> Farz: I think we named most of our towns after England.
>> Taylor: We did. And, like, I get it when I hear, like, New York, but when I hear, like, Rochester. That's always funny to me. Will always be funny.
>> Farz: Or Paris, Texas.
>> Taylor: Like, the ancient city of Syracuse. Like, that always makes you laugh.
The Renaissance started in, um, 14. I actually don't know when the renaissance is
so anyway, that's our King Richard. he is 10. His grandfather was Edward III. He, was the one who started the Hundred Years War. He was like, you know what? I want France. And he passed away. And also Richard's dad was named Edward the Black Prince. I don't really know what he did, but that's also kind of a cool name. they both died. And so Richard is the king. He's 10 years old, so obviously he has people who are telling him what to do. One of them is his uncle, John of Gaunt. So John is his uncle, one of his many regents. There's people telling him what to do, so there's tension. And as you expect, when you get to a Renaissance, which obviously they don't know they're doing, but things are happening. Like people when people have more money, they have more time to do things like educate themselves. So people are learning to read and wanting to govern themselves, and they want to do things like create their own communities rather than have a community that's, like, just a bunch of poor people around a lord. They were like, we could do this better if we worked together. And lords are, like, not excited about that. they actually go back and they read the Doomsday book, which I talked about in the Battle of Hastings episode. Because in 1066, after William the Conqueror came to England. England, he essentially did a census of all of England to say, to figure out how many taxes he was going to get from people. And he has this book that was written in 1086 that, lists all the people. So here we are 200 years later and. Or 300 years later, and people are like, well, wait a minute. Like, my great, great, great grandfather owned a lot of land. What happened? You know, like, that should be mine. Like, the lords were, like, taking over all the little pieces of land or whatever, and they were, like, trying to use that to be like, we should have our land back. And obviously that didn't work in court. But people were, like, thinking, like, I deserve better than this, you know?
>> Farz: Hey, so is it fair to say the Renaissance could only happen because of what you said? People having time so they could actually, like, paint or read or learn how to do things?
>> Taylor: I think. I think a lot of it is that, like, the. That, like, rich people probably were always, like, doing art. But there's a space for every. Everyone to have that opportunity or more people to have that opportunity. I also feel like there's something else that I don't have any sources for, but there's something to me about. In the Renaissance, they started to invent eyeglasses, and I feel like that would change the world.
>> Farz: You know, I just learned about that. So, it was. It's called a reading stone or something. So. So I don't think it was invented during the Renaissance. I think it was a little bit after. It was, like, the 1600s, I think. I. I actually don't know when the renaissance is. The 1600s?
>> Taylor: no, the Renaissance started in, 14. Around 1400. But glasses were invented between 1268 and 1300.
>> Farz: The ones that actually sit on your face. The ones that you have to, like, press against the ones. Oh, wow, okay. All right. I think.
>> Taylor: But. But yeah, can you imagine? Most of humanity, you didn't have that. So if your eyes were bad, like, I don't know My husband's worn glasses for his whole entire life. He would be fucked. What do you do? You know? So, I don't know. Pretty. Pretty incredible, I think. But I think that's a part of it, too, is like, you can read now because you can see the words in a lot of cases.
>> Farz: Always helpful.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
People in Essex are resisting paying taxes, so they start moving towards London
so it's the summer of 1381, and we are in Essex, which is a town in England, and a man named John Bampton comes into town to collect taxes. And they're like, nope, we already paid them. And he's like, no, you didn't. They're like, yes, we did. I don't think they did. They were like, we don't want to do this. And he. John Bampton runs away, but the people that were with him get killed. So, the news is spreading that people are resisting paying these taxes and they want to talk to the King, so they start moving towards London. So a lot of people start going towards London just to have, like, to revolt and riot and be like, we don't want to live like this anymore. I also saw a tweet from. From yesterday that was someone who was reading the police scanners in Philly and they were like, so funny. They were like, things are on fire. There are fireworks in the street. One of them was like, there's 5,000 people coming your way. Don't know what you should do.
>> Farz: What have happened if they lost too, by the way?
>> Taylor: Oh, absolutely. No, no, no. No matter what, that was all going to happen. But I love that it's so funny I was able to come your way. Good luck. That. That's kind of what was happening right now. So some people are. There are some leaders. So some of the names of the leaders of the. Of the revolt are. There's Watt, Tyler, W A Tyler, Jack Straw, Thomas Baker, John, Ray. W R A W E Ray. I'm gonna say Ray John Ball, William Grindacom. And then there's a woman named Joanna Farley Furor. Furrier, which F E R R O U R. Which is someone who makes horseshoes. So Jack Straw might not be real. He might be like a pseudonym, M, but there's a couple that we know a little bit about. So John Ball is a priest and he has been in jail a lot. So because he is speaking out on behalf of the people and he was kind of like a lyrical speaker. People really like hearing him. And one thing he said, kind of on the subject of freedom, is he said, would say, quote, when Adam delved Eve and Eve span. Who Was then the gentleman from the beginning. All men by nature were created alike. And our bondage or servitude came in by unjust oppression of naughty men. Which I think is fun.
>> Farz: I like that.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So he's like, we should, you know, recover liberty, cast off the yoke of bondage, all that kind of stuff.
>> Farz: Which is why radical. Which is probably radical for them.
>> Taylor: Yeah. That's why he was in jail so much.
>> Farz: Oh, got it.
>> Taylor: Because people didn't like it. Yeah, I mean, people liked it, but the people in charge didn't like it.
>> Farz: Right.
>> Taylor: So he ends up getting freed by the rebels as they march through town. And he kind of goes with them towards London. there's Joanna, who was a lady, which is exciting. She led groups to store some buildings in London, and we'll get to those. There's, also Wat Tyler. He was the. The leader and he had, like, know, strong leadership, good strategy, and he led them as they walk towards London. and as they get there, they are, you know, attacking on the way, picking up more people, like, moving towards London, being like, we're. We're riding against these taxes, essentially. on the way there, they see the king's mom trying to leave London and they just kind of like, let her go. But they kind of laugh at her and let her go. But by June 10, they in London, they know that this group of people is coming. Like, they know that there's people marching toward the city. So the king moves into the Tower of London for safety. He's 14 right now. Yeah. So he's 14 years old in the Tower of London, surrounded by all these, like, old men trying to tell him what to do. You know, I didn't even want this.
>> Farz: I didn't even ask for this.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah. so the king agrees to beat them on the river. And also remember, most of your generals and, like, strong military leadership, they're in France, they're fighting a war. Like, they're not even there to help you. And the rebels are like, hey, you know what? We like the King. We just don't like all these tax collectors. Like, we think we could talk to the King about it. So they're coming to have that conversation. And so they say, we're going to meet you on the Thames, meet you on the river, and we'll have this Talk.
Richard gets on a boat to the Tower of London on June 13
So on June 13, Richard gets on a boat to the Tower of London and sails up the Thames to meet the group. And the group is on the side that's like, not London, the other side of the River. Because London, remember, has a wall around it.
>> Farz: Yep.
>> Taylor: Like a literal wall. And they are, excited. So they're like, oh, the king is here. And they're yelling. So imagine you are 14 years old, you are on a boat with people telling you that every one of these, these peasants wants to kill you. It wants to, like, get out of their social contract being peasants. And you see a group of, like, thousands of men who are dirty, screaming with like, I don't know, pitchforks, you know. But they're excited. But he gets scared, which I think is fair.
>> Farz: Yeah, I would get scared too.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And goes back to the Tower of London without talking to them. So it's impossible because it was impossible for them to communicate. They're pissed. They're like, the king was here and then he just left. So they start. Start going into London. They walk over the London Bridge and bridges at this time. Like the, I learned this also when I lived in. In Italy, like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It has stores in it now. But all this time, all the bridges would have, like, stores on the sides of it. You know, like, there would be like. Like that's be where you would buy jewelry or you'd buy meat or like, whatever. So, like, the bridge is crowded. It's not just like.
>> Farz: It's like an outdoor market, right?
>> Taylor: Yeah. So they walk over the London Bridge. They come in all different gates because remember the wall. But they come in all around London. They come in the gates and they start burning shit down because they're pissed and they're scared and they want, like. Don't know what to do. Joanna leaves a. Leads a group to the Savoy palace, which is the house of John of Gaunt, and they burn it down. They get a. They get £10,000 worth of stuff, like money pounds. And they get, like, gold and all kinds of cool stuff. It says that they, burned all the soft furniture. And I hope at least one person got a nap in before that happened.
>> Farz: I do too.
>> Taylor: Never saw a couch before.
>> Farz: Hopefully the pillows were saved.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I hope, like, someone was like, I'm going to take this. I've never. What is. I don't know the word for pillow? I've never had one, but, like, I would. This seems great to put under my head. at some point, they. In the history books, a man named John Furrier, so Joanna's husband potentially saved the life of a young boy named the Earl of Derby. His name was Henry Bolingbroke. And Henry, boiling broke is the future King of England. So Joanna and John, they, like, played a big part in. In England's history. If that's true, that's like a myth, maybe. So London is now on fire. People are being beheaded and they're carrying heads around on sticks. They're killing a lot of, like, the bishops and the tax collectors and the people that are in the. In the government. On, June 14th, it is early in the day, and the government is all basically hiding in the Tower of London because it makes sense you'd hide and.
>> Farz: No, you solve the problem. And I don't think solving the problem is done by just hiding.
>> Taylor: But at the moment you're hiding like you don't know what to do. You're not gonna hide forever, but, like, you're hiding. So they're hiding and then the rebels agree to meet at Miles End, which is like, a little bit outside the Ald Gate at, like, the top of London. I couldn't tell which direction my map was when I looked at it. But, like, it's on the edge of London. They're going to meet out there. So the King goes out to, to try to talk to the rebels at Mile End, and then a bunch of people stay in the tower, and then 400 rebels rush the Tower and there's tons of looting and killing. one particular person, the Archbishop of Sudbury, he had his head chopped off, but, like, it took like, 25 times. And at one point they accidentally chopped off his hand. And it was awful before.
Do you think people back then valued their own lives the way we value ours
>> Farz: Do you think that people back then valued their own lives the way we value our own lives? Because, it feels like it's so cheap to just, like, die all the time for nothing, no reason at all.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I mean, like, that, obviously. I also feel like you have to be. And I, think I've learned this in a bunch of history reading that, like, the act of being that close to someone and killing them is something that, like, a lot of us couldn't even imagine. You know, like, that brutality.
>> Farz: Often.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but it happened, like, all the time.
>> Farz: Well, that's. So we couldn't imagine it, because it's not. It wasn't a part of our upbringing.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: But these guys could.
>> Taylor: Especially if you've already seen, like, most people, you know, have died of the plague anyway. You know, like, you're not.
>> Farz: I think you don't value life. Like, how can you possibly value your own life if it's just so cheap?
>> Taylor: Yeah, no, totally. I don't know. It's a good question. so they killed that Archbishop. The King's mom is there again. And they. On Wikipedia, when I was like, reading through this, they said that they just make fun of his mom and his sister and let them go. And, like, I don't want that to make you think that they, like, didn't sexually assault people, because they absolutely did. You know, there was obviously. Yeah, there was obviously, like, looting and sexual assault and killing for fun. It was like a purge night, you know, basically.
>> Farz: Which, like, probably was kind of fun for, like, some of them. Yeah, like, imagine like, you're like 40 years old. You've been taxed to death. You had nothing. Your kids have nothing. Yeah, go slaughter some rich people.
>> Taylor: Yeah. There are heads on London Bridge. Like, a lot. A lot of heads around. You know, it's. It's wild. So London is a mess right now. There's blood in the streets. It's on fire. And now it's June 15th. The king goes to Westminster Abbey to pray that, he is going to, you know, figure this out. He agrees to meet wat Tyler, who's our leader, on a hill. And something happens that we're not 100% clear on. So at first, Tyler, who is, like, super excited, he's like, hey, brother, let's be friends. Like, I know you don't want your subjects to have a terrible life. I know we can work with you and we can work something out. And the first thing he asks for is like, let's just stop doing the poll tax. That's it. Let's just stop that and then we'll be happy. And, then he goes a step further and says that he wants all of serfdom to be abolished. And then he starts to kind of get, I don't know, excited and asking for more things. And something happens. In the book that I read, they said that he, like, drinks water and spits it out, which is, like, supposed. Which is, like, really disrespectful to the King or something. Something happens where the Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, stabs Tyler in the neck and then stabs him again in the head. And then he runs away. And Tyler turns around, he gets, like. Gets on his horse and turns around and starts to ride back, but he falls off. And everybody's confused because they're like, he was coming back, but then he fell and, like, he's dead. And what happened? And then the King's people take his body. They, you know, they put it on a pole, put the head on the pole. And now things are a mess because the. The rebel leader is dead. And no One knows what to do because they don't have any leadership anymore. Meanwhile, there are other things happening in other places around England. So it's not just London is happening in smaller places as well. But you know that the things start to kind of fall apart for the rebels after. After Tyler dies. And this is when the suppression starts. So the king gets together. He wants every man under 60 in London to get together, which is like, kind of hard because a lot of the men are away at war. But he gets 4,000 men to come and start pushing them out of London. and the leaders of the revolt are starting to get rounded up to get executed. we think that Joanna was okay that she didn't get executed, but the men pretty much all did. Tyler and John raw. Their bodies were hanged, drawn and quartered, and then each quarter of their body was taken to the four corners of the realm, which is what a job.
>> Farz: This is rough.
>> Taylor: Like, hey, Flyers, could you take this guy's top right half, just as far northeast as you can go? That'd be fun.
>> Farz: No, you don't tell him what it is, do you? Yes, I guess.
>> Taylor: I mean, I feel like you'd probably be like, I'm honored, my king.
>> Farz: You know, like, it's a ham sandwich. Just go.
>> Taylor: But then you'd open it and be like, oh, no, it was not a ham sandwich.
>> Farz: Yeah, that's true.
>> Taylor: I didn't buy lunch. I thought I had a ham sandwich. after that, they did not do a poll tax again. they were able. They, you know, they.
Serfdom itself did decline, but it took about 200 years
At the end of 1381, they decided to reduce the military, ah, effort. The war went on, but they didn't. Didn't collect money for it in that way. They also, serfdom itself did decline. but it took about, you know, about 200 years. So in, you know, about 200 years, it'll be totally gone. and it's kind of because the economy and people, you know, wanted to make obviously more money. There was more, like, opportunities for leasing and things like that. Like, it wasn't great, but it was like a little bit better. So it did start to get a little bit better. so surfdom would eventually. Would eventually, you know, not be there anymore. M. Our King Richard would not live very long. he was 14 when this happens, and within a year he's going to get married, to a woman named Anne of Bohemia. And she was called the good Queen Anne. People really, really liked her. She would ask for leniency for some of the people who were on Trial after the revolt. she died of the plague in 1394, so the plague is also still around. And they had no children. He then married Isabella of Valoi, and she was literally a child. She was six when they got married. And she brought dolls. They did not consummate, the marriage. They were just friends. And she would. He would die before her. Before, she turned. I think 12 was their age of consent, which, you know, obviously not great. But he, would die before her. She would end up marrying someone else. She married her cousin and died in childbirth when she was 19. So, poor thing.
>> Farz: What a rough life.
>> Taylor: What a poor thing. Richard ended up kind of in the middle of his marriages. He fought with the Lord's appellate, which is like the men in charge, and he kind of went in and out of power. He did believe, that, like, the King was appointed by God and he would commission a lot of art and architecture while he was king. In, 1399, he banished his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who was the son of John of Gaunt, who, you'll remember, was saved in the Tower of London, probably by John Ferrier, who was the husband of Joanna, who's one of our leaders. And Henry came back to England, banished Richard, whatever, back and forth. And Henry became Henry iv. And his people murdered him. They murdered Richard II when he was, 33. He probably starved to death in jail.
>> Farz: It's such a horrible time. Everything was just so bad.
>> Taylor: Yeah, everything was terrible. so that is the. The story of the Peasants Revolt. And then next week, I'm going to tie this story into fairy tales again, because guess who was there the entire time?
>> Farz: well, it wasn't Brother Scrim.
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: Mary Shelley. No, that's way.
>> Taylor: Who. Chaucer. And it's Canterbury Tales.
>> Farz: Got it, Got it.
>> Taylor: He was in London during the Peasants Revolt. So I'm going to learn about him and talk about him next week.
>> Farz: Very cool.
I think we're on the precipice of the next Renaissance with AI
So, several things. One, I was gonna text you earlier because I went down this rabbit hole earlier about, or about Leonardo, Da Vinci. DiCaprio, the other Leonardo. and. Which is, like. Because I know that you've seen all these things, and, like, I was thinking about the Renaissance. It was really weird that you brought this up when you did, because I was literally just dwelling on this stuff, and how it seemed like he was part of, like, the spark of the Renaissance. Like, he's like, a case study of the Renaissance.
>> Taylor: Absolutely. yeah. Anyways, no, he is. Yeah. Leonardo da Vinci is The Renaissance.
>> Farz: I also was thinking that I think we're on the precipice of the next Renaissance with AI.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So I think that's fair.
>> Farz: Like, I was.
>> Taylor: Well, I think we're. I don't. I don't know if it's. I don't know. The Renaissance is, like, exactly right. But I do think we're on the end of something. The beginning of something else.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. Not Renaissance. Yeah, you're right. It's an era. The change of. Because, like, I was listening to this podcast, forgot who it was about how when tech was becoming, like, a big thing, it was all about, like, businesses catering to the employees and, like, mostly engineers, you know, like, food and huge pay and huge equity, whatever and all that.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: and with AI, it's almost like a manifestation of, like, the rage they felt of, like, how much they had to bend over backwards for the. For the employees and that. Yeah. Who knows what that means for everyone? It's probably not going to be good. But also, I mean, we've known a lot of engineers who take a lot of advantage of the fact that they're engineers. And I'm not totally sad about it. I'm kind of happy about it, to be honest.
>> Taylor: no, I know someone. Someone that we worked with one time was like, can't wait till these fucking engineers stop being so, like, in demand.
>> Farz: I know. I mean, there was one that was close in my life. Anyways, I'm not going to go into it.
>> Taylor: yeah, totally. So, yeah. Sweet.
>> Farz: Well, thank you for sharing. and so it sounds like you're going to be weaving these stories together, then.
>> Taylor: Yes. And then I have one more medieval story for the end of February, I think.
>> Farz: Very, very fun.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Cool. thank you for sharing. Anything.
Taylor: We have a bunch of interactions on our TikToks
You want to sign off?
>> Taylor: Yeah, we have a bunch of, interactions on our TikToks, which is super fun. Some people, like, I found you on TikTok, and I've been listening, so thank you for doing that. That is so awesome. and we also had a couple people who, you know how we had talked about with our Dragon Books booth, like, what a good metaphor would be, like, who famous person? And, a good one would be, like, if. If Travis Kelce did it. Like, not that he would, but, like, he's like a famous brother and he's, like, handsome, you know, Which I was like, that's a good one.
>> Farz: Do a lot of people know what he looks like? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Now I just picture him sad, but.
>> Farz: Yeah, he was pretty sad. Yesterday.
>> Taylor: I like his beard. yeah. Anyway, I thought that was fun. And then a lot of people were, commenting on. I, I'm talking about our older episodes as well and the, the Andrea Yates episode. and a lot of people are talking about her husband was told not to keep impregnating her because she was severely depressed and he kept doing it.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, we talked about it.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So they're like a lot of, you know, talking about how he's definitely to blame.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. He left his children alone with her. They knew she was mentally ill. Yeah, yeah. You don't do that.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So. Yeah. But thank you. I love talking to people on TikTok. It's super fun. I feel like. I don't know. It's fun. I like it. I appreciate everybody who's following us.
>> Farz: You are so much hipper than I am. I never got. I'll tell you this much. Every now and then I see. Not every now and then, always I see the clips that you make and I'm always like, how did she do that? Like, how do you make your image appear? And then there's a background, behind you and then there's like music playing, but then you can hear, like, it's so multi layered and like, I think. I, I don't know. Good for you for knowing tech still.
>> Taylor: Thank you. No, I, that is all I know how to do is the one green screen. Like some people, some like history accounts have like hundreds of thousands of followers and they like, they must, I don't know, they must write a script and rehearse and then like do the images when I, I can't do that, but I can do one image and I can talk. So that's what I've been doing.
>> Farz: If you're interested, graphic designer intern, please write to us@gmail.com.
>> Taylor: Tiktok intern. Yeah, but no, but hey, I'm doing, I'm doing it. And in my ripe old age, every time I post, we get more followers. So, you know, we don't have a ton, but we have some. It's cool.
>> Farz: No, it's awesome. Thank you for doing that. Cool. Anything else?
>> Taylor: That is it. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Dubita Fell Pod on all the social medias.
>> Farz: Pod on social. Social media, Gmail dot com. All things. Sweet. We'll go ahead and cut off and rejoin you all later on this week. Thanks, Taylor.