The Revolts

The Uprisings

• Unfavorably located settlements were abandoned, while more viable ones grew stronger.
• Paupers flooded into cities in search of work.
• Urban guilds could not meet the demand for textiles, so merchants bypassed the cities and sent cloth out to the countryside for processing; this led to the emergence of the putting-out system.
• It provided modest livelihoods for large numbers of outworkers.
• These outworkers revolted repeatedly throughout the 14th century: the Flemish weavers in 1328, and the Florentine ciompi in 1378–82.
• Other social groups joined them; those working for export were the most rebellious.
• They were in conflict with local artisans and urban guilds (which had rural looms destroyed by military force).
• Peasant uprisings: Île-de-France in 1357, the Jacquerie in 1358, and Wat Tyler's revolt in 1381.