Rebroadcast: Peasants' Rebellions and Resistance

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The medieval world relied on peasants. They grew the food, maintained the buildings, produced the craft goods, and made up the vast bulk of the population. But they were never particularly happy with their place in society, and rebellions, revolts, and quieter forms of resistance were ubiquitous.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Tides of History early and ad-free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:08.1	Hi, everybody. Patrick here.
0:09.9	Since many social, economic, and political movements today echo themes of rebellion and resistance,
0:14.8	from labor strikes to protests against inequality, I wanted to revisit this older episode
0:19.5	on peasants' rebellions and resistance in the
0:21.9	Middle Ages and put it back out there for you to listen to. If you want to check out even more of
0:26.5	our back catalog, you can join Wondery Plus, where you can also listen to Tides of History
0:30.6	one week early and ad-free in the Wondery app. Thanks for joining me today and enjoy the show. It began with a buzzing hum.
0:48.3	A hundred voices speaking at once hung in the summer air, melding a touch of menace with the oppressive humidity.
0:57.6	One of those voices resolved into something clearer.
1:00.7	We're not paying any more taxes.
1:04.4	Dozens of peasants crowded around a table where a single man was seated.
1:09.0	The peasants all looked at him with anticipation after this.
1:12.4	An account book sat in front of the man.
1:15.0	The pen he held in his hand quivered just the tiniest bit.
1:19.3	No one noticed a single drop of ink falling onto the crisp parchment page.
1:24.2	The man wore a scarlet velvet jerkin, an expensive piece of fancy clothing.
1:29.2	It contrasted with the plain woolens, stained with sweat and dirt that the peasants wore.
1:35.5	The richly dressed man looked up from the account book, now soiled with that single blot of ink.
1:40.9	Stay back, the man said, or I'll have you all arrested.
1:44.9	That buzz began again, more intensely than before.
	...

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