When did Europe have the majority of its "peasant's revolts"?? .....and what replaced it really?

Question

why and how so?

Thanks for your answers!

Answer 1

The High to Late middle ages saw quite a few. They were caused by peasants, who, in the social ladder, were just above slaves. The only difference between a peasant and a slave is that peasants cannot be bought or sold. If an invading army couldn't kill a lord, they'd destroy his property, which included his peasants as well as other farm implements.These decided that they wanted more freedom, a better share of the crops they produced, or just wanted to pillage richer towns. They weren't very sophisticated.

Revolts were somewhat quelled when the Black Plague ran through. Suddenly labor was quite a bit more valuable. Suddenly there weren't as many peasants left to revolt. As any economist knows, a decrease in labor supply leads to an increase in labor prices, leading to better worker's conditions, and, eventually, promotion from peasant to tenant. Yaaay!!.

As stated before, peasants weren't very well educated, so it is unlikely that rebellions were related. I believe that France had one that ended when the King called a meeting with the leader of the rebellion, then chopped off his head. Half a century later, rebels in England fell for the EXACT SAME TRICK. There obviously wasn't communication between the survivors of one rebellion and the leaders of the next.

No, I don't recall any rebellion, other than the Swiss against the Hapsburg Empire, suceeding. The full story of William Tell is actually the story of Wilhelm, who, according to legend, started this rebellion by refusing to bow to a hapsburg hat in the town square. He was forced to shoot an apple off of his son's head for his crimes, and the rest is history.

Answer 2

Peasant revolts vary from country to country and from century to century.  All peasant revolts were driven by horrible social and personal lives of the oppressed, but certain elements did differ from each of them.  Medieval era was driven by inability of Church to stop famine and plague, and Church lost prestige because of this.  Some revolts like Hussite was against church and was quit successful to change to social fabric of Kingdom of Bohemia.  Later medieval time the revolts did not intend to change to political structure of the monarchy like earlier ones, but to redistribute wealth from wealthy landowner toward peasants.

Large scale peasant revolts occurred in Central Europe after the 30Year war, since nobility was demanding more forced labor on peasants than ever before.  The largest uprising in Kingdom of Bohemia (that time part of Austrian Empire) occurred in 1770-1775 and affected 50% of the country.  Some peasants even attempted to besiege Prague and series of military defeats eventually quelled this rebellion.  This revolt was pointed toward nobility not againts monarchy.  Peasants believed that the Empress granted more freedom to them, but this evil nobility was witholding the wishes of the monarch.  Large scale peasant uprising were in Poland, Ukraine, and the Balkans as well at this time and well into 19th century.,