Richard Lyons (Warden of the Mint) Richard Lyons (Warden of the Mint) Sir Richard Lyons (1310 - 1381) was a prosperous City of London merchant, financier, and property developer, who held a monopoly on the sale of sweet wine in London, during the 14th century. He was a Privy Counsellor, an Alderman of the City, a member of the Worshipful Company of Vintners and served as both as Sheriff of London and MP for Essex. Lyons was a lifelong friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Lyons was killed by Wat Tyler during the Peasants' Revolt. Sir Richard was the most famous member of the Lyons family
Economics of English agriculture in the Middle Ages Black Death combined with the costs of the Hundred Years War to produce the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Although the revolt was suppressed it undermined many of the vestiges of the feudal economic order and the countryside became dominated by estates organised as farms, frequently owned or rented by the new economic class of the gentry. The English agricultural economy remained depressed throughout the 15th century, with growth coming from the greatly increased English cloth trade and manufacturing. The economic consequences of this varied considerably from region to region, but generally London, the South and the West prospered at the