Is The Uprising a true story? Here’s the real history behind the Peasants' Revolt

England explodes into fury as serfs revolt against the landed lords and gentry, all while a young King Richard II tries to hold on to power that is both slipping away and has already been grabbed by his so-called advisory council. That’s the inciting incident for Paul Greengrass’ new historical action drama The Uprising. James White separates the fact from fiction

Late 15th-century manuscript illustration depicting the killing of Wat Tyler during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, with the young Richard II and armed followers nearby.

Published: September 11, 2026 at 11:54 AM

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Paul Greengrass, no stranger to bringing true-life stories to the screen following the likes of Bloody Sunday, United 93 and Captain Phillips, here focuses on a particularly disruptive – and revolutionary – period in 14th-century England. A country that has seen its population halved by the plague, those who toil on the land are frustrated by extra taxes put in place by the crown and its ministers. King Richard II, at this point in history, just 14 years old, had inherited the throne at the age of 10. A series of ‘continual councils’ had held office between 1377 and 1380 to undertake routine government business, but these had ended in January 1380, before the revolt.

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When a tax collection official named John Bampton arrives in Essex to investigate non-payment of the poll tax in May 1381, the local villagers’ angry and armed response sparked a revolt that would spread across England, and end up with protestors storming London to demand fairer treatment.

Is The Uprising a true story?

The setting and the background story of The Uprising is rooted in historical fact, but much of the film's narrative, and its characters, are firmly fictitious.

While the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 is the basis of this story and is a well-recorded historical event (one that still echo through today’s dissatisfaction with economic inequality) The Uprising blends fictional characters in with real people and events to tell what Greengrass – who wrote the script as well as directed – describes as far from “a reenactment. I wanted to make something you experience rather than watch – immediate, alive, as if it were unfolding in front of you.”

15th-century manuscript illustration depicting the radical priest John Ball on horseback addressing armed followers during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

The radical priest John Ball addresses followers during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, in a later illustration from Froissart’s Chronicles. Ball became one of the revolt’s most influential voices, preaching against social inequality and joining forces with Wat Tyler as the rebels advanced on London. He was captured and executed after the uprising collapsed | Credit: Getty Images

Is Andrew Garfield’s Ploughman based on a real person?

Up to a point.

Speaking on this subject, Greengrass said: “I didn’t want to tell it through the names we remember, like [Wat] Tyler or [John] Ball, but through someone history never named at all: a farmer. The first man to raise his hand in Essex. In Andrew Garfield's Ploughman, I wanted him to stand for all the ordinary people who actually rose up, and paid the price for it.”

There was, in reality, a landowner named Thomas Baker who faced down Bampton and his men and made it clear that his village, Fobbing, had no more money to give, and who ended up sparking the Essex part of the revolt. And also an account of a man named John Tyler, who was angered by tax collectors lifting his daughter’s dress to check if she had reached puberty and was therefore to be taxed. Tyler slew the collector, and that event, albeit changed to our hero protecting a stranger’s daughter, is featured in the film.

In The Uprising, The Ploughman is much more a nameless, humble rustic than a landowner or a radical priest. Still grieving the loss of his family to the plague, he strikes first when he sees the collectors and their soldiers mistreating his fellow villagers.

As well as being the protagonist Ploughman is the audience surrogate, our way into the real-life story and a convenient way to meet the likes of Tyler and Ball. He’s just one of a handful of characters invented by Greengrass as a means of propelling the narrative. That also includes Alyce, played by Thomasin McKenzie, a follower of Ball who is part of the uprising for her own reasons.

According to the actress: “Alyce is representative of the women in the movement. Back in 1381, surprisingly, there were quite a few women who were known to be equally enraged and to be leading groups in this rebellion. She wants to take action and fight for justice. At first glance, you don’t expect that she would hurt a fly. But then we see how much pain she’s carrying and how much she wants to let that pain out and inflict it on those who did her wrong.”

What’s the real history behind The Uprising?

While records from the 14th century are by no means complete or entirely accurate, there is plenty of documentation recounting the revolt, even if modern historians have debated whether it constituted a true revolution. The name most commonly used, the Peasants’ Revolt, isn’t entirely accurate either, since not all those who took part were peasants; many freemen, artisans and town dwellers participated.

What we do know is that it began in the villages of Essex and spread through Kent, Suffolk and Norfolk, where rural and town dwellers alike began to gather whatever weapons they had and march on London.

They were demanding fair rights and freedoms, and to be recognised as equal subjects of the King rather than his craven lordly advisors, using the slogan “With King Richard and the true commons of England”.

Late 15th-century manuscript illustration depicting the young Richard II confronting rebels during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

Richard II meets rebels at Mile End on 14 June 1381, when the 14-year-old king agreed to demands including the abolition of serfdom and issued charters of freedom. The concessions helped disperse some of the rebels, but the revolt continued, leading to Richard’s fateful meeting with Wat Tyler at Smithfield the following day | Credit: Getty Images

Though the King and his government initially fled to the relative safety of the Tower of London, Richard did eventually agree to ‘meet’ the growing group of rebels and hear their demands but only from a boat floating on the Thames while they remained on the shore.

Frustrated, the rebels stormed London, with the city’s gates opened by people within, though historians disagree whether it was out of sympathy for the uprising or fear (Greengrass’ film suggests the former). It was here that major violence broke out, the rebels storming the likes of the Savoy Palace, and, eventually, the tower itself, seeking John of Gaunt and royal officials they considered the ‘traitors’ governing on the King’s behalf.

Once the King appeared to promise the group royal charters announcing the abolition of serfdom, to be disseminated around the country, the rebel groups began to break up. But Tyler and some others, dissatisfied with what had been promised so far, agreed to a meeting with the royal party at Smithfield, which turned out to be something of a trap, with militia forces under the command of the Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, and Sir Robert Knolles lying in wait.

In the end, Richard clung to power, though at the cost of many lives, including some of his own advisers. While some royal charters had gone out, on 2 July 1381 a proclamation formally revoked the charters of manumission and amnesty issued at Mile End.

Are Wat Tyler and John Ball real historical figures?

Yes. Tyler, played in the film by Cosmo Jarvis, may have been a soldier and becomes one of the leaders of the uprising, a powerful voice for the people and one whose fate is tied up with its outcome. Unlike in the film, where he dies at one of the King’s servant’s hands (though he was attacked by them after mocking the sovereign), he was executed by the Lord Mayor of London.

John Ball, brought to life by Jamie Bell, is a rebellious priest who broke away from the teachings of the church, leading to him being excommunicated, and, on more than one occasion, imprisoned. He became a roving preacher, passionately supporting social equality and, when freed from his latest stint in prison by rebels, became a leading voice in the uprising, offering sermons to the assembled crowd.

In The Uprising, Ball is killed during the chaos at Smithfield; in reality he was captured after the rebels had dispersed, taken prisoner, put on trial and then hanged, drawn and quartered in St Albans in the presence of the King. His head was put on a pike on London Bridge and the quarters of his body sent for display at four different towns.

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