The Peasants' Revolt was an uprising in England in 1381, brought on by
economic and social upheaval that had been growing since the Black Death
thirty years earlier. The rebels, coming from a wide spectrum of rural
society, sought a reduction in the high taxes financing the Hundred
Years' War, an end to the system of unfree labour known as serfdom and
the removal of the King's senior officials and law courts. Inspired by
the radical cleric John Ball and led by Wat Tyler, Kentish rebels
entered London on 13 June. They destroyed the Temple Inns of Court and
set fire to law books. The following day, the fourteen-year-old King
Richard acceded to most of the rebels' demands, including the abolition
of serfdom; meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor and the Lord High Treasurer
were killed in the Tower of London (pictured). On 15 June Richard met
Tyler and the rebels at Smithfield, but violence broke out and Tyler was
killed by the king's party. A London militia then dispersed the rebel
forces and Richard rescinded his previous grants to the rebels. Troubles
extended as far as East Anglia, Yorkshire and Somerset, but most of the
rebel leaders were tracked down and executed, and at least 1,500 rebels
were killed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Spanish navigator, explorer, and conquistador Vicente Yáñez
Pinzón reached the north coast of what today is Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Y%C3%A1%C3%B1ez_Pinz%C3%B3n>
1788:
Captain Arthur Phillip and the British First Fleet landed at
Sydney Cove on the shore of Port Jackson in present-day Sydney,
establishing the first permanent European settlement in Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Fleet>
1907:
The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III, the second oldest
military rifle still in official use, was introduced into British
military service.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Enfield>
1945:
Audie Murphy engaged in action that won him a Medal of Honor
and made him one of the most famous and decorated American combat
soldiers of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy>
2009:
Rioting broke out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a
political crisis that led to deposing of President Marc Ravalomanana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Malagasy_political_crisis>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
monoousian:
(theology) Having one and the same nature or essence, especially with
regard to the persons of the Trinity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monoousian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of
Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother,
through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the
Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the
village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in
many ways the mother of us all.
--Will Durant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Durant>