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Dissertation Information for David Henry Paradis

NAME:
- David Henry Paradis

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1998)

ADVISORS:
- Stephen D. White

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- William H Beik
- Sharon T. Strocchia

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The political dimensions of the English Rising of 1381

Abstract: Previous monographs have relied on a class-war paradigm to render intelligible the violence and destruction associated with the English Rising of 1381. Class antagonisms were present during the uprising, but they fail to explain the selectivity of insurgent violence and the ambiguous response of contemporary chroniclers. Addressing insurgent concerns with sin, treason, and injustice, this study offers a new explanation for the outbreak of unrest in 1381.

Fourteenth-century sources frequently refer to the uprising as "the time of the rumor," and the first chapter examines the political usage of rumors in the half decade preceding 1381. It argues that the rivals of the Duke of Lancaster used rumors to allege the duke's infidelity to his wife, God, and king in order to sew fears of a treasonous conspiracy. Emphasizing Lancaster's treachery, similar rumors surfaced during the uprising, thereby instilling its violence with a factional bias.

Partisan sympathies clearly influenced contemporary accounts of the rising, some of which blamed sin for inciting God's wrath. Although class antagonisms were ingrained in fourteenth-century society, discourse about sin created the primary opposition between insurgent and victim in 1381. Allegedly disloyal and unjust, "false folk" were both the object of insurgent violence and the scapegoats for the unrest.

By characterizing Lancaster and his alleged followers as grasping and concupiscent usurpers, the duke's rivals imbued popular notions of treason, previously described by John Bellamy and Stephen Justice, with a factional bias. Reflecting insurgent concerns with traitors, executions during the uprising were often performed with tokens of royal approval. Royal charters and banners convinced even knights guarding the Tower of London that the king sanctioned this violence. Afterwards Richard II loudly condemned the so-called "rebels," but he granted pardons to hundreds of them.

The insurgents also punished notoriously corrupt lawyers and judges. Furthermore, acts of destruction and incidents of dispute settlement suggest that the uprising constituted a war against injustice. The instigators claimed their purpose was to increase peace within the realm, and this rhetoric, often associated with the just war, attracted popular participation in an event that contained factional violence.

MPACT Scores for David Henry Paradis

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TA = 0
calculated 2008-03-24 09:51:33

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Students under David Henry Paradis

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None