John Fresshe of King Richard II's ill-fated poll tax within the city from December 1380. It was this tax which was to provoke the outbreak of the Peasants' Revolt in June the next year. Fresshe was one of three such men—along with fellow mercers, John Horn and Adam Karlille—to be sent by the then-mayor, William Walworth, to meet with the army assembled by rebel leader Wat Tyler at Blackheath in June 1381. Juliet Barker suggests that this was a pivotal meeting in the history of the revolt. The Mayor instructed Fresshe and his colleagues to negotiate with the rebels, and, if possible,
Peasants' Revolt up its royal privileges. Revolt then spread north from Cambridge toward Ely, where the gaol was opened and the local Justice of the Peace executed. In Norfolk, the revolt was led by Geoffrey Litster, a weaver, and Sir Roger Bacon, a local lord with ties to the Suffolk rebels. Litster began sending out messengers across the county in a call to arms on 14 June, and isolated outbreaks of violence occurred. The rebels assembled on 17 June outside Norwich and killed Sir Robert Salle, who was in charge of the city defences and had attempted to negotiate a settlement. The