GCSE History: Power and the People

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, events, and legal documents of the medieval struggles for power in England, including King John, Simon de Montfort, and the Peasants' Revolt.

King John

The monarch who became king in $1199$ after his brother Richard died; his reign was marked by mistakes that led to the signing of the Magna Carta.

Stephen Langton

The Pope's choice for Archbishop of Canterbury whom King John refused to accept, leading to England's excommunication for $4$ years.

Scutage

A tax raised by King John that was paid by barons if they refused to send him soldiers for his wars.

Lackland

A nickname given to King John after he lost lands in France, alongside the nickname 'softsword'.

Magna Carta ($1215$)

An agreement with $63$ articles signed at Runnymede on $15$ June $1215$ that limited the King's power and established that even the monarch is subject to the law.

Council of $25$ barons

A group set up under the Magna Carta to ensure that King John kept to his promises.

Prince Louis

The French prince to whom the barons promised the English throne after King John appealed to the Pope to declare the Magna Carta invalid.

Henry III

King John's son who was crowned in $1216$ and to whom the barons reissued the Magna Carta.

Provisions of Oxford ($1258$)

An agreement where Henry III accepted a council of $15$ barons to be in charge of the Great Council, preventing the King from making decisions alone.

Simon de Montfort

A former advisor to Henry III who led a rebellion, ruled England briefly, and is remembered as the 'Father of Democracy' for inviting commoners to Council meetings.

Battle of Lewes ($1264$)

A battle during the Second Barons' War where Henry III and his son Prince Edward were captured by Simon de Montfort's forces.

Model Parliament in $1295$

A parliamentary meeting established under King Edward that included commoners elected by barons, reflecting De Montfort's influence.

Statute of Labourers ($1351$)

A law that limited peasant wages to pre-Plague levels, serving as a primary cause for the Peasants' Revolt.

Poll Tax

A tax levied on everyone over the age of $15$; three such taxes in $4$ years helped trigger the $1381$ revolt.

John Ball

A radical figure who influenced the Peasants' Revolt with the idea that everyone was equal in the eyes of God.

Thomas Bampton

A tax collector in Essex whose violent methods in May $1381$ led to the initial riots of the Peasants' Revolt.

Wat Tyler

The leader of the peasant army of $60,000$ during the $1381$ revolt who was killed at Smithfield by the Mayor of London.

Smithfield

The location where Richard II met the rebels on $15$ June $1381$ and promised to agree to their demands before later hunting them down.