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,
Thomas Baker (Peasants' Revolt leader) and he was forced to leave the village empty handed. Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of Common Pleas, was sent to investigate the incident and to punish the offenders. On 2 June, he was attacked at Brentwood. By this time the violent discontent had spread, and the counties of Essex and Kent were in full revolt. Soon people moved on London in an armed uprising. For his role in the uprising, Thomas Baker was drawn and hanged on 4 July 1381 at Chelmsford. Thomas Baker (Peasants' Revolt leader) Thomas Baker, an English landowner, was one of the leaders who initiated the