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I can describe the government's response to peasant demands for higher wages.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2023), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Key learning points

The Black Death killed around half of the English population.
The Black Death caused labour shortages.
Labourers began to demand better pay for their work.
The Statute of Labourers ordered labourers to stop asking for more money.
Historians disagree about the aims of the Statute of Labourers.

Common misconception

That the Statute of Labourers immediately forced all peasants to return to their home manors and to cease negotiating higher wages.

Through the interpretations section of the lesson, draw out the point that the Statute of Labourers was unenforceable in many cases.

Keywords

Peasant - a person in the medieval period who worked the land and had few legal protections
Negotiate - to obtain something by discussion
Statute - a written law
Labourer - a person doing unskilled work for wages
Ordinance - an order given by a ruler, often a king

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Hello, and thanks for joining me for this Oak Academy history lesson.

My name is Mrs. Knox, and today I'll be taking you through the resources and the materials needed to be successful with this lesson.

So let's get started now.

Our lesson today is part of a unit of work on the Peasants' Revolt.

In our lesson today, we'll be covering the Statute of Labourers and the response to the Black death, and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to describe the government's response to peasant demands for higher wages.

Now in our lesson today, we'll come across some keywords, so let's spend a moment just to have a look at those before we get started.

The first word that we'll use in the lesson today is the word peasant, which is a person in the mediaeval period who worked the land and had few legal protections.

We'll also use the word negotiate, which means to obtain something by discussion.

We'll also use the word Statute, which is a written law.

We'll also use the word labourer, which is a person doing unskilled work for wages.

And finally, we'll use the word ordinance, which is an order given by a ruler, often a king.

Now our lesson today will be in two sections, so we'll begin now with section one, which will cover the Statute of Labourers.

Following the arrival of the Black Death on English shores in 1348, the lords had a problem.

Within three years, half of their peasants had died as a result of the disease, which meant that there were not enough people to bring in the harvest.

Some lords began to panic, wondering how they would maintain their economic positions in a rapidly changing world.

The peasants knew that the lords had this problem, and many of them were intelligent and ambitious enough to exploit it.

Labourers who worked on the land planting and harvesting the crops realised that the shortage of workers could play to their advantage.

If the lords were desperate, then they might be willing to pay more money for the work to be done.

Almost as soon as the Black Death struck, many labourers began to negotiate higher wages, telling lords that they would only work on their land if they received better pay.

If the lords refused, then the labourers knew that they would easily be able to find work elsewhere.

King Edward III's council made up of the most important lords in the Kingdom, meant to find a solution to this problem.

In 1349, the King issued the Ordinance of Labourers.

This was a royal command which ordered the labourers to stop asking for more money and to carry out their usual duties without complaint.

It was also decreed that lords must stop offering higher wages to attract more workers.

Labourers were ordered to work for the same wage, which they had been paid before 1348.

In 1351, parliament met and passed a stronger version of this command into law.

This law became known as the Statute of Labourers.

It represented an attempt by the government to control how much people were paid and to conserve a social structure which had been challenged by the Black Death.

Okay, it's time to have a check now of your understanding.

I'd like you to answer this question.

Which of the following best describes Edward III's response to the peasant request for more money? A, the king ordered the peasants to stop asking for more money.

B, the king decided to wait for parliament to make a decision about what to do next, or C, the king did not wish to take action as he believed the lords could deal with the challenge.

Press pause now and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said that the correct answer is A.

The king ordered the peasants to stop asking for more money.

Here's another question now.

True or false, the Statute of Labourers represented the government's attempt to control the peasants demand for higher wages.

Press pause now to consider your answer and then press play when you're ready.

You should have said that the correct answer was true.

I'd like you to pause the video again now and write an explanation about why the answer is true.

In your explanation you could have said that the Statute ordered all peasants to stop asking for more money and to carry out their usual duties.

Finally, in this section, it's time to put everything you've learned here into practise.

You need to place the following events into the correct chronological order using the numbers one to five.

The first one has been done for you.

Press pause to complete the task, and then press play to see the correct order.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

You should have said that the first event was that the Black Death killed around one half of the population.

Then, there were not enough labourers to bring in the harvest.

Then, peasants asked the lords for more money to carry out their work.

Then Edward III issued the Ordinance of Labourers, and finally, parliament issued the Statute of Labourers.

Well done if you've got everything correct there.

We're ready now to move on to the second section in our lesson today.

This section will cover interpreting the Statute.

How this Statute should be interpreted has been debated by historians.

Some historians believe that human history can be explained as a struggle between different classes of people.

For these historians, the Statute of Labourers represents an attempt by the ruling class, the lords, to continue controlling and exploiting the peasants.

For example, the historian Rodney Hilton has argued that the Statute was intended to restore the social structure which had existed before 1348 with the lords at the top and the peasants at the bottom.

More recently, however, other historians have argued that the Statute of Labourers is not about this at all.

For example, Mark Bailey has pointed out that the Statute does not order peasants to go back to their old lords or to the places where they've lived before the Black Death.

It does not even tell them not to negotiate new jobs or not to gain more land.

It simply tells them that if they are going to negotiate a new job, there are certain rules about their payment which they have to follow.

For historians, like Bailey, the Statute represents parliament's attempt to manage new relationships between lords and peasants, but not necessarily to turn back the clock and restore the old relationships.

In this view, the Statute of Labourers, marked the start of a new beginning.

Here's another question now for you.

Some historians believe that history is best explained as a, A, series of conflicts between people within the same class, B, a series of conflicts between people of different classes, or C, a series of conflicts between people of different nationalities.

Press pause now and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said that the answer is B.

Some historians believe that history is best explained as a series of conflicts between people of different classes.

Here's another question now.

Which two of the following accurately describe Rodney Hilton's position? A, the Statute of Labourers represent the ruling class trying to control the peasant class.

B, the Statute of Labourers aim to restore the old social structure.

C, the Statute of Labourers represented a new phase in mediaeval history, or D, the Statute of Labourers was ineffective.

Press pause now and then press play for the correct answers.

You should have said that the correct two answers were A and B.

Rodney Hilton believes that the Statute of Labourers represents the ruling class trying to control the peasant class.

He also thinks that the Statute of Labourers aimed to restore the old social structure.

Here's another question now.

Which two of the following accurately describe Mark Bailey's position? A, the Statute of Labourers did not represent an attempt to restore the old social structure.

B, the Statute of Labourers told peasants to return to their homes and not to take on more work.

C, the Statute of Labourers tried to regulate how peasants took on more work, or D, the Statute of Labourers was not important.

Press pause now and then press play for the answers.

You should have said that the two correct answers were A and C.

Mark Bailey believes the Statute of Labourers did not represent an attempt to restore the old social structure.

However, he does believe that the Statute of Labourers tried to regulate how peasants took on more work.

Next, I'd like you to complete this task.

You need to read through the statements and decide which of the historians is most likely to have made them.

Press pause now to read through the statements and complete the task and then press play when you're ready for the answers.

You should have said that Rodney Hilton is most likely to have said that the Statute of Labourers was an attempt by the lords to force the peasants back into the old way of doing things.

He also would've probably said that the Statute of Labourers shows that history is driven by class conflict.

And finally, he is most likely to have said the Statute of Labourers is about keeping the peasants in their place.

On the other hand, Mark Bailey is most likely to have said the Statute of Labourers was an attempt to regulate new deals between lords and peasants.

Finally, today, I'd like you to complete this question.

You need to explain why Rodney Hilton argues that the Statute of Labourers is about class conflict.

When writing your answer, try to include the following words, peasant, labourer, negotiate and statute.

Press pause now and then press play to see what you could have written.

Let's see how you got on.

Your paragraph might have included some of the following: Hilton argues that the Statute of Labourers is about class conflict because it represents the ruling class's attempt to stop labourers negotiating higher wages and to force them back into the old way of doing this.

This Statute was passed by Parliament, which shows that it was the lords who were acting against the interests of the peasants.

We've now reached the end of our lesson today, so let's have a summary of the things that you should take away.

Following the Black Death, England's population fell by half, and so there were not enough labourers to bring in harvest.

Peasants began to negotiate higher wages from the lords.

King Edward III tried to stop peasants asking for more money by passing the Ordinance of Labourers.

This was later passed by Parliament as this Statute of Labourers.

Some historians believe the Statute of Labourers is evidence that human history is driven by conflict between different classes and other historians believe the Statute of Labourers was attempting to regulate new and changing relationships between lords and peasants.

Well done on all of your hard work in our lesson together today.

I hope that you feel happy that you've met your learning objective, and I look forward to you joining me for a future Oak Academy history lesson.

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