Everyone’s pretty used to the idea that there was an event called the Peasants’ Revolt in the middle ages. Even if you haven’t heard of it, it sounds plausible. ‘I’d revolt if I were a medieval peasant,’ we say to ourselves with the self-confidence of people unafraid to complain about slow service in a Pizza Express. An uprising by the relentlessly shat-on rural poor sounds like the sort of thing that happens.
