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Thursday, January 11, 2018

The Peasants Revolt

I watched this last night and I was very impressed.  I learned a lot that was new to me.


Tony Robinson was the host for Worst Jobs in History, sort of Dirty Jobs through history.  I use a segment for my Western Civ class to remind students that as bad as asking, "Would you like fries with that, sir?" may seem, it isn't being a tanner, or executioner, or Anglo-Saxon peasant.

In case it isn't obvious, the English nobility regarded the peasants the way our elites look at us: barely human creatures that exist to supply taxes, repair their Ferraris, and produce food and manufactured goods to meet their material needs, while they enjoy the life that they are entitled to.  The description of the event that finally drove them into revolt, how the tax collectors determined whether girls were married women (and thus subject to the poll tax) was to run their hands under their skirts to do a virginity test reminds me of Weinstein and friends.  The peasants had the advantage of being armed enough to confiscate government arms to augment their own weapons.

Why am I tempted to write a novel about The Deplorables Revolt?


3 comments:

  1. Minister: Sire, the peasants are revolting.

    King: Yes they are. Aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  2. He also was the host of Time Team which I liked quite a bit.

    ReplyDelete