The Peasants’ Revolt was a turning point in the relationship between the people and their elected representatives.
In 1381, a tax collector came to Wat Tyler’s home in Kent and demanded his daughter pay the new poll tax — a desperate attempt to raise money for war in France from a workforce depleted by the Black Death. The taxman indecently assaulted her, and Tyler killed him. This was the spark that lit the Peasants’ Revolt, which GK Chesterton saw as a turning-point in the history of Parliament.