William Walworth
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Sir William Walworth was an English nobleman and politician who was twice Lord Mayor of London. He is best known for killing Wat Tyler during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
The death of Wat Tyler, by Jean Froissart
Left to right: Sir William Walworth (wielding sword), Wat Tyler, Richard II, and Sir John Cavendish (bearing decorated sword)
Imaginative posthumous portrait of Walworth, 1784
Peasants' Revolt
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The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death in the 1340s, the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years' War, and instability within the local leadership of London.
The boy-king Richard II meets the rebels on 14 June 1381, in a miniature from a 1470s copy of Jean Froissart's Chronicles.
English soldiers landing in Normandy, c. 1380–1400, during the Hundred Years' War
Peasant longbowmen at practice, from the Luttrell Psalter, c. 1320–1340
15th-century representation of the cleric John Ball encouraging the rebels; Wat Tyler is shown in red, front left