In 1381 a rebellion in response to government efforts to collect a much-disliked *poll tax, set at one shilling per man, confined largely to Kent and Essex, whose inhabitants marched on London, led by Wat Tyler. Jack Straw was named as one of the leaders, but that was most likely a pseudonym of Tyler's. They attacked the *Savoy, John of Gaunt's palace, and decapitated the archbishop of Canterbury. In June they were met by the young King Richard II, at Smithfield, where Tyler was killed. The Peasants' Revolt was part of the general disturbance of the 14c, which had begun with bad harvests, followed by the *Black Death in 1348.
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.