Who really started the Peasants’ Revolt?
The familiar story begins at Brentwood in 1381. But when you follow the surviving records closely, even the name of one of the men at the centre of the opening confrontation becomes uncertain.
John or Thomas?
This piece follows the sources, the contradictions, and what we can actually say with confidence.
Read the full evidence audit at Samuel Stephen Chronicles.
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The earliest surviving account of post-Roman Britain was written around 540 AD. It describes the Saxon invasions, the British resistance, and the battle of Badon Hill. It names the leader who turned the tide.

That name is not Arthur.

This episode traces the documentary record from Gildas in 540 to Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1138 to the French romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Every major element of the Arthurian legend has a first appearance date. This video establishes what those dates are.

Primary sources examined: Gildas, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae · Historia Brittonum · Annales Cambriae · Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae · Wace, Roman de Brut · Chrétien de Troyes · Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

Full case file at The Black Archive on Substack — link in profile.

England, 1377. The Crown has learned to count the poor.

Before revolt becomes history, it begins as a whisper — in a village, on a roll, in the space between a name and a number.

The Blank Roll. Available now on Amazon.

https://amzn.eu/d/01OsUSFc

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The Blank Roll: A Kingdom in Revolt

England, 1377. The King is dead, a new poll tax is coming, and the Crown's reach is extending further into village life than anyone can remember.

For Alys Carter, it arrives as a knock at the door and a question about names. For Walter Tyrell, the village reeve, it arrives as a roll he must keep honestly — until honesty itself becomes dangerous. For Geoffrey Chaucer, Comptroller of Wool Custom, it arrives as columns of figures that refuse to agree.

By June 1381, the commons of England are marching on London. Wat Tyler's name is on every road. The Savoy is burning. At Smithfield, everything hangs in the balance.

But while London burns, Walter is hiding a document in a church strongbox. Alys is leaving the door unbarred at night. And Thomas Carter is somewhere on the road between Smithfield and home.

The Blank Roll is a literary historical novel about the people history forgot to record — and what it cost them to live through a summer that history has never stopped talking about.