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Show Notes
This episode details a specific uprising in Cambridge during the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, where local townspeople targeted the university due to its legal privileges and harsh rent collections. Central to this account is Margery Starre, an elderly woman who gained notoriety for leading a mob in the destruction of official documents and university archives. As she cast the ashes of these legal charters into the air, she famously shouted for the end of the clerks' learning, signaling a rejection of the institutional power held by the elite. Historians suggest her actions represented a broader defiance of the establishment and the oppressive bonds of medieval bureaucracy rather than a hatred of literacy itself. The text also explores how this historical figure may have influenced literary characters like Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, who similarly destroyed her husband’s books. Ultimately, the event highlights the significant yet often overlooked role of women as instigators and leaders within medieval social movements.