C. W. Oman (1860–1946)

Author Charles Oman takes a look at the peasant uprising of 1381 which came to become known as Tyler's Rebellion. Wat Tyler, a key figure in the revolt, led a group from Canterbury to the seat of government to protest an unpopular poll tax. The revolutionaries demanded economic and social reforms in the dwindling days of feudalism in England. The author shows what took place in various parts of England. While the government took care of Tyler quickly and the changes did not come rapidly, feudalism continued to decline. Perhaps the author's own words sum up it up best: "In short, the great rebellion which we have been investigating does not mark the end any more than it marks the beginning of the struggle between the landholder and the peasant." The Kindle version I downloaded lacked footnotes; however, other reviews of the work describe poor formatting of footnotes in other Kindle versions. I want to know the sources consulted so I'd prefer a version with footnotes, but I'd prefer for the publishers to get the footnotes properly formatted so they don't become a deterrent to reading. In the end I learned a little about a period in which my ancestors lived, and since the man employing at least one family was mentioned, I feel I got a sense for what they likely experienced during this time.… (more)