Wat Tyler

Also known as: Iacke Straw / Wat Tiler / their grand capteine and chéefe ringleader Wat Tiler · Family: Commons · Role: rebel captain · First appears: Richard II 13

Around 1381, Wat Tyler was a rebel captain among the commons when the Essex and Kent commons united at Blackheath under Jack Straw, William Wraw, Jack Shepherd, Tom Milner and Hob Carter. He stood against Richard II, who sent John Newton to discuss the charter articles with him. At Smithfield, Tyler drew his dagger on John Newton and called him a traitor, after which Richard II ordered William Walworth to arrest him. Tyler’s stated wish for peace was subject to conditions shaped to his purpose, while the account says he intended “to haue spoiled the citie, and to set fire in foure corners of it”.

William Walworth struck and arrested Tyler, and John Standish with other royal servants stabbed him until he fell from his horse and died. Another account names John Walworth and Ralph Standish as the men who fatally attacked him. After Tyler’s death, William Wraw, whom Tyler had sent to Suffolk, stirred the commons there to similar action; the account later refers to Wat Tyler as their “grand capteine and chéefe ringleader”.