Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt
History's Heroes
BBC
4.8 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For six days in thirteen eighty-one, Wat Tyler a mysterious, charismatic figure appears to hold the balance of power in England. Fired by a vision of social equality, he leads a peasants' revolt that threatens to overturn the ruling order.
Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history.
A BBC Studios production.
Producer: Michael LaPointe Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, |
| 0:27.9 | it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and |
| 0:32.6 | podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. King Richard II never thought the rebels would make it to London. |
| 0:40.1 | The boy king and his ministers had been taken completely by surprise, |
| 0:43.8 | by the speed and scale and escalation of this uprising. |
| 0:47.5 | But by the 15th of June, 1381, the rebels were there. |
| 0:53.0 | They'd taken control of the city and held it for two days. |
| 0:57.0 | Now the king had to meet them face to face. |
| 1:00.0 | This would be the high tide of the revolt in London, |
| 1:03.0 | where the rebels are showing just how much power they have. |
| 1:06.0 | The king and his courtiers had fled to the Tower of London, |
| 1:09.0 | but the rebels had stormed it. |
| 1:11.7 | It looks as if the south-east of England has slipped completely from the control of the king, |
| 1:17.2 | the king's ministers, the aristocracy and the church. |
| 1:20.6 | Richard set out to meet a party of rebels at Smithfield. |
| 1:24.4 | With him were 200 of his men heavily armed. |
| 1:28.3 | His ministers were obviously worried about their king, who's only 14 years old at this time. |
| 1:32.3 | He was surrounded by men who were certainly armed and whose priority would have been his personal protection. |
... |
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