Henry of Skalitz - Just the Blacksmith

I am currently reading this book to coincide with the release of the film The Uprising, and it is just incredibly complex, chaotic and violent. Following three rounds of tax collection, the last of which proved insufficient in England, commissions were dispatched; the revolt began in May 1381 at Brentwood, Essex, and spread rapidly over the course of a single summer, involving tens of thousands of armed villagers. The book focuses heavily, even intensely, on action rather than theory, depicting widespread mayhem and violence across England. At John of Gaunt’s Savoy Palace, a thief was thrown alive into the fire; three barrels of gunpowder caused the palace to explode, while thirty men were walled up in the cellar, unheard by anyone; and, to top it off, Lancaster’s doublet was riddled with arrows. In the streets of London, Flemings were dragged from churches and hacked to pieces on the cobblestones. And when the repression came, the Flemish widows themselves killed their husbands' murderers with axes. The recurring phrase associated with these summary executions was: "Gibbets arose where none had been before."