...HIST 304 | The Peasant’s Revolt and The Decline of Serfdom | Why did the Peasants’ Revolt Occur? Did the insurgents hope to abolish serfdom? How and why did serfdom decline and eventually disappear in England, notwithstanding the failure of the 1381 uprising and other influences of lower class protest against social inequality and injustice? | Naomi Woods Student 297278812/22/2011 | The Peasants Revolt is one of the most well known revolts of Medieval England, the revolt began as a local revolt in Essex in May of 1381, but it soon spread throughout the South East of England affecting many smaller towns along the way and having the biggest impact on London when the people turned their grievances towards the young King Richard II. This revolt was not a planned revolt but rather a spontaneous revolt fuelled by numerous grievances and sparked by the poll tax Parliament had introduced to help pay for the war in France. Incidences in the villages of Fobbing and Brentwood in Essex are said to have triggered the uprising. On 30 May 1381 a tax collector attempted to collect the poll tax from the villagers of Fobbing, the villagers, lead by a local land owner refused to pay and he was forced to leave empty handed, later Robert Belknap (Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas) arrived to investigate and punish the offenders, On June 2 he was attacked in Brentwood. By this time the counties of Essex and Kent were in full revolt the peasants and artisans of Essex demanded...
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...The Peasants’ revolt of 1381 was an attempt to break away from a futile system of government and, a fight to stop the never ending injustice and oppression faced by the lower class on a daily basis. During their age of oppression the peasants faced ridiculous taxes and fees which made living more than unbearable , the lack of reforms promised by the king , and the use of god and religion to justify the choices of the church and government. This display of injustice ignited a flame in the hearts of lower class citizens for centuries to come and it would not go unnoticed as both time and people progressed. During the period of time in which the peasants’ revolt of 1381 occurred the Parliament of England levied high and ridiculous taxes on the middle and lower classes of the social pyramid. On top of that pyramid stood the “warrior” class which included royalty, nobles, and knights. These wealthy nobles were unaffected by the taxes hurting the less fortunate citizens because they were the ones establishing the taxes in the first place. A peasant farmer or “villein” was entirely subject to unfair dues which he had to pay to their lord or noble in exchange for a small piece of land. Most of the peasant’s crops were taken, they made no money, and they lived off of the miniscule amount of food left to them by their lord. Since the water at the time was unfit for drinking because of its unsanitary state, ale was the main drink available to the lower and middle classes. There was a tax...
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...German Peasant Revolt DBQ The German peasants of the 1524-1526 revolts were caused by interpretations of Lutheran ideals, the peasants desires to break free from serfdom, and the general search for equality in the eyes of god. The response to the peasant revolts varied among the social, political, and religious affiliations, ranging from cruel condemnation to fervent support of their cause. The rebels organized swiftly and fought hard, this determination helped achieve social reform, which the most important German reformer, Martin Luther, was completely opposed to. Though the revolts were blamed on Lutheran reforms (Doc 1), Luther himself vehemently refuted the dispute (Doc 7). He refers to the peasants as dogs and is generally cruel towards their cause. Though a religious reformer, his dependence on the German nobility would not allow him to support the peasants; therefore his point of view is one in support of quelling the rebellions. The peasants may not have had the support of their greatest religious inspiration but they still drew on his word in order to justify their fight. The peasants claim that because all men are equal under the eyes of god, they have just as much divine right as the nobles do (Doc 3). These religious drives were set out in the Articles of The Peasants of Memmingen and would be responded to by the nobles, thus connecting Docs 3 and 4. The nobles would retort to the religious grounds of the peasants by ensuring them that their salvation was not...
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...In 1524 the peasants of central Germany rose up against the nobility in the name of Luther. By this time Luther had published his Ninety-Five Theses, breaking away from the Catholic Church and it’s authority. Much like Luther and the Church, the peasants didn’t like the noble authority rose up against the nobles. The nobles fought back with ruthless and crushing armies. There were many causes of the peasants revolt. The ideas of Martin Luther and the hatred toward nobles and serfdom were major parts of cause of the revolt. The removal of serfdom, the punishment of nobles involved, and their portrayal as devils were all responses to the peasants revolt. Martin Luther was one cause of the peasant revolt. Martin Luther himself was more of an...
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...material (goods) should be cheaper. The system of exploiting their labour also is an extra burden for the farmers.2 The process of proletarianisation of agricultural labourers has increased during the last few decades and they are more dependent on wage labour while losing the extraeconomic relations with their employers which govern the conditions of their work and life. Barrington Moore Jr. in his celebrated work Social Origins Dictatorship and Democracy; Lord and peasant in the making of the modern world questions the revolutionary potential of the Indian peasantry. He observes that the landed upper classes and the peasants played an important role in the bourgeois revolutions leading to capitalist societies in England and France, the abortive bourgeois revolutions leading to fascism in the Germany and Italy and the peasant revolutions, leading to communism in Russia and China. But peasant rebellions in pre-modern India were relatively rare and completely ineffective and where modernisation impoverished the peasants at least as Ghanshyam Shah. “Social Movements in India-A Review of Literature”, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, p.32. 2 Siva Venkata...
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...What were the most important causes and most important consequences of the emancipation of the Serfs? Serfdom, a system of virtual slavery tying the Russian peasants to their landlords, was abolished in 1861 under the imperial demand of Tsar Nicholas II. This change was put in place for many reasons, including military defeat in Crimea, the economy and political system, which all contributed to the backwardness of Russia as a nation, as they prohibited the introduction of other major reforms. In my view, the most important cause of emancipation was the state of the economy, because the nature of serfdom prevented the country from catching up with the west, and the most important consequence was that the military was able to dramatically improve. One major reason that serfdom was abolished was because of the poor economic situation and general backwardness of the nation. Due to the nature of serfdom the economy was prevented from evolving; the serfs weren’t paid, so there could be no market, there could be no interest, and enterprise was prevented. This left Russia far behind the west, and with a struggling and starving workforce; they starved since the increasing famines and noble taxations left them with no food reserves. To combat this, they wanted to modernise agriculture, industry and railways to increase Russia’s economic strength. However, with serfdom in place, this was impossible to implement because serfs didn’t have money to invest in increasing agricultural efficiency...
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...The Age of Revolution i789-1848 E R I C HOBSBAWM FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, AUGUST 1996 Copyright © 1962 by E. J. Hobsbawm All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain in hardcover by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, in 1962. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hobsbawm, E.J. (EricJ.), 1917The Age of Revolution, 1789-1898 / Eric Hobsbawm.—1st Vintage Books ed. p. cm. Originally published: London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-679-77253-7 1. Europe—History—1789-1900. 2. Industrial revolution. I. Title. D299.H6 1996 940.2'7—dc20 96-7765 CIP VINTAGE BOOKS A Division of Random House, Inc. New York Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 CHAPTER MAPS 1 T H E W O R L D IN T H E 1780s Le dix-huittime stick doit lire mis au Panlhion.—Saint-Just1 i Europe in 1789 page 309 2 Europe in 1810 310 3 Europe in 1840 311 4 World Population in Large Cities: 1800-1850 31a 5 Western Culture 1815-1848: Opera 314 6 The States of Europe in 1836 316 7 Workshop of the World 317 8 Industrialization of Europe: 1850 318 9 Spread of French Law 320 I T H E first thing to observe about the world...
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...Having the Faith to Survive The life of an English peasant around the year 1,000 proved to be quite laborious. Thanks to Sir Robert Cotton, authors Danziger and Lacey were able to tell us how the drawings of the Julius Work Calendar portrayed these individuals. The world was a quaint and quiet place in that time, with a total population of only one million people. “The year 1,000 was an empty world, with much more room to stretch out and breath.” There were three groups of citizens that were spread over the country side. These included workers, fighters and those that prayed for everyone. It seemed somewhat harmonious. The peasants worked for their Lords who took care of them. It was a mundane, but give and take society. “Life was short”. The expected life span was no more than fifty years. A boy of twelve was old enough to give allegiance to the King and a girl often married in her early teenage years. Through excavation, they have found their bones and surprisingly they did not differ much from us. They were the same height and their brains were the same size as ours. It seems to me that they were probably much stronger and smarter because everything had to be learned and preservation of sanity and health had to come from themselves. The Julius Work Calendar shows us that they were very much like us in that they lived by a schedule and got caught up in juggling time. It was a bit more structured for them though. They did not...
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...f study Methodology Location of study area Presentation and analysis of data Conclusion Bibliography AIM OF STUDY The aim of this study is to discover and describe problems faced by peasant farmers in the geographical area of Ewarton; St. Catherine. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION On Tuesday, December 3, 2013, a field study was implemented in Ewarton in the parish of St.Catherine, Jamaica. The locations of study were scheduled to be Worthy Park Estate in Liuidas Vale and Farmer Roy’s Farm in Ewarton, St.Catherine. The weather was hot and very sunny thus there was no disturbance in this field study .The materials used to carry out the observation were: notebook, pen, pencils, camera, recording devices on phones and textbooks. A few of my friends also students participating in the field study formed a small group to gather primary information using questionnaires and interviews accordingly by conducting informal interviews and written questionnaires . Data was also collected through textbooks and the internet. Our first location was Worthy Park Estate .Worthy Park Estate is a sugar factory and distillery. It is surrounded by Cockpit Mountains and is 1200 ft. above sea level. It is a suitable place for study because it is cooler than most places although quite sunny during the daytime .The climate provides the best growing conditions for the growth of sugarcane it is also considered a commercial farm. Our second location was a subsistent farm owned by the...
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...CXC GEOGRAPHY SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT YEAR 2013-2014 NAME OF CANDIDATE: JUSTINE BROWN SCHOOL: HOLYCHILDHOOD HIGHSCHOOL TERRITORY: JAMAICA CENTER #: 100049 CANDIDATE #: TEACHER: MRS.DUN-GREENE TITLE: WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS FACED BY PEASANT FARMERS IN THE AREA EWARTON; ST.CATHERINE TABLE OF CONTENTS Aim of study Methodology Location of study area Presentation and analysis of data Conclusion Bibliography AIM OF STUDY The aim of this study is to discover and describe problems faced by peasant farmers in the geographical area of Ewarton; St. Catherine. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION On Tuesday, December 3, 2013, a field study was implemented in Ewarton in the parish of St.Catherine, Jamaica. The locations of study were scheduled to be Worthy Park Estate in Liuidas Vale and Farmer Roy’s Farm in Ewarton, St.Catherine. The weather was hot and very sunny thus there was no disturbance in this field study .The materials used to carry out the observation were: notebook, pen, pencils, camera, recording devices on phones and textbooks. A few of my friends also students participating in the field study formed a small group to gather primary information using questionnaires and interviews accordingly by conducting informal interviews and written questionnaires . Data was also collected through textbooks and the internet. Our first location was Worthy Park Estate .Worthy Park Estate is a sugar factory and distillery. It is surrounded by Cockpit Mountains...
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...Arguably peasants working conditions did change however to a limited extent from 1855 to 1964. This was due to government reforms during tsarist Russia that had significant effects on peasants such as Stolypin and Alexander’s reforms as this was first steps taken to improve peasantry. However their freedom, transportation and the right to own land was very limited, redemption payments were almost impossible and they were still bound to the Mir. Similar to the communist era under Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev from 1917 peasant working conditions did change as Lenin introduced the new economic policy that improved peasant working conditions financially, but war communism did not benefit the peasants at all, agriculture was very low and caused a huge feminine what effected work life. When Stalin came to power 1924 there was huge transformation in peasant working conditions due to the industrialisation of Russia where machinery and agriculture increased however peasants were practically treated as slave labour during the five-year plans. Khrushchev also changed peasant-working lives as peasants became freer after Stalin’s death, for example they were paid more for grain and the removal of the MTS in 1958 allowed farmers to buy their own machinery. Overall change was very limited in peasant working conditions until 1950’s as the majority of the population were no longer peasants, machinery and new methods of faming became advanced and those who were peasants, they started to get paid...
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...Structural Adjustment and SocialDisequilibrium in Ghana: AnAssessment ofPAMSCAD Programme as a PolicyResponse Tool Show full item record Title: Structural Adjustmentand Social Disequilibrium inGhana: An Assessment of PAMSCAD Programme as a Policy ResponseTool Author: Agyekum, Kwame Pius Abstract: Mostgovernments in Africa embarked upon structural adjustment programmes (SAP) in the mid 1980’s with the aim of stabilizingand improving their economies. Ghana’s adjustment started in 1983 with the view to halt and reverse the almost twodecades of stagnation and decay of the economy. SAPin Ghana made significant gainsat the macro economic levelinthe areasof: • export volumes (increased more than 10% from 1983); • inflation(dropped from 123% in1983 to 10.4% in 1983); • real per capita income (increased by 6.8% in1984); and • investment (increased more than two-and-half times). Despite the impressive macro-economic gainsat the national level,most vulnerablegroups were languishing inpoverty onthe ground. On realizing the socialdisequilibriumcreated by SAP and the predicament of the vulnerablegroups, the government instituted a Programme of Actionsof Mitigate the SocialCostsof Adjustment. (PAMSCAD) asa policy responsetoolto providequick reliefto the poor throughout the country PAMSCAD projects have been implemented in the country wellover eight years and the Secretariat which monitoredand coordinated activitiesfolded up inJune 1996. This research therefore was undertaken to assessthe...
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...ministers and other evidence is arguable, for example the increase in population, this could be indicating a prosperous time in Russia and an increase in stability, or it could mean there was a lack of activities to be done, and the increased population meant there were more mouths to feed. There are many factors that contribute to how stable Russia was at this time. Economically, Russia seemed more unstable: eighty percent of the population were peasant farmers and the gap between the rich and poor was only increasing, making Russia even more unstable than it already was. Autocracy continued to repress the poor and the rich continued to hold most of the country’s finances. The poor struggled to become economically active, the rich fought to keep things the way they were during this time period. Stolypin tried to help the peasants by introducing land reforms – these meant that peasant’s owned the land and had more of an incentive to maintain and produce from it. However Stolypin was not supported in this and a lot of the peasants believed in the commune, they didn’t want privatisation for social and economic reasons. There was a massive pressure on the land and due to the fact that there was no unrest at this time indicates that the stability had increased, nonetheless there was huge land hunger due to the increased population – it had increased by twenty one percent between 1900 and 1910, adding approximately thirty million people to the population, this created a surplus of...
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...Stalin, he did not let his people take part in voting. Snowball, whose historical figure is Trotsky, gets banished for his ideas just like Trotsky did. Napoleon got rid of Snowball after an argument on whether a windmill should be built or not. When George Orwell linked Napoleon to Stalin’s violence through training puppies to be his soldiers, this further increases the impact it has on the victim than if Napoleon had chosen any other animal. Napoleon also blamed Snowball when there was no food, saying that he stole it all. Napoleon was using every chance he could to persuade the people to follow him and he was always making himself look good and hiding away the truth just like Stalin used to do. The Hens ---> Peasants The Hens in Animal Farm were like the peasants in Russia. They were very poor and were a burden on their leaders. They had no say in any rule making and were forced to do stuff. Like in Animal Farm, Napoleon told the Hens they must give up their precious...
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...glory. Even so, the various classes perceived this momentous change for the peasants differently. The peasants thought the recent changes were not enough, and wanted more, while the upper class believed that the reforms were doing more damage than assistance, and each side proposed solutions that tried to compromise each opinion. 1st Paragraph: The peasants believed that the recent reforms in their favor were not enough, and wanted more. * Document 1 * Data shows how activities in Russia affected rebellions * During and after 1861 (when Alex II freed the serfs), the rebellions decrease * From 1891 (start of famines) to 1907 (which contained Russo-Japanese war and Bloody Sunday), rebellion drastically increases * Although serfs were emancipated and human bondage was abolished, the peasants wanted more and weren’t afraid to take action during hard times for Russia * Document 2 * Peasants communicating to Tsar Alex II * Blaming land owners for giving peasants the worst land, and standing by as the peasants starve * Beg the upper class to help, and they are fully capable to help (but are reluctant) * Desired change, stated what they needed (land from aristocracy, to help peasants from starvation) * Document 6 * Educated Socialist woman, Breshkovskaia, observes what peasants really want * Upper classes assumed that peasants would be content with land, food, and jobs but...
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