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Summer of Blood
by Dan Jones
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Summer of Blood reconstructs the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, when resistance to taxation and labour controls spread from villages in Essex and Kent into a mass march on London. Dan Jones places the uprising in a society transformed by the Black Death, war with France and attempts by landowners and government to restrict the bargaining power of workers after severe population loss.
The narrative follows Wat Tyler, John Ball and their supporters as they attacked symbols of lordship, law and royal administration, while the young Richard II tried to contain the crisis. Violence in London, the killing of senior officials and Tyler’s death at Smithfield were followed by repression and the withdrawal of royal promises. The book presents the revolt as an organised political challenge as well as an explosive response to inequality, taxation and coercive government.
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