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Sir William Walworth (died 1385) was an English nobleman and politician who was twice
Walworth's most famous exploit was his encounter with
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
(1374–75 and 1380–81). He is best known for killing Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...
during the Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...
in 1381.
Political career
His family came fromDurham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
. He was apprenticed to John Lovekyn, who was a member of the Fishmongers Guild, whom he succeeded as Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
of Bridge Ward in 1368. Walworth became Sheriff of London in 1370 and Lord Mayor of London in 1374. He was Member of Parliament for the City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London from ...
in 1371, 1376, 1377, and 1383, as one of the two aldermanic representatives of the city.
He is said to have suppressed usury
Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
in the city during his term of office as Lord Mayor. His name frequently figures as advancing loans to Richard II
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...
. He opposed the king's uncle John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
in the city, where there was a strong opposition to John.
Business interests
William Walworth worked for a time in the Customs House underGeoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
. John Gardner, in ''The Life and Times of Chaucer'', contends that Walworth were one of a number of important merchants, all friends of Alice Perrers
Alice Perrers, also known as Alice de Windsor (circa 1348 –1400) was an English and British royal mistress, English royal mistress, lover of Edward III of England, Edward III, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, King of England. As a result o ...
, who manipulated Edward III. Gardner contends that complaints in the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
demonstrate that this group conspired to keep food prices
Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food.
Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing an ...
up, lent money to the king at inflated interest, and through personal and financial influence persuaded the king to issue edicts profitable to themselves.The Life and Times of Chaucer, Barns & Noble Inc., 1977.
Peasants' Revolt
Walworth's most famous exploit was his encounter with Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...
during the English peasants' revolt of 1381
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...
, in his second term of office as Lord Mayor. In June of that year, when Tyler and his followers entered south London, Walworth defended London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
against them. He was with Richard II when he met the insurgents at Smithfield, and killed the rebel leader with his baselard
The baselard, ''Schwiizerdolch'' in Swiss-German (also ''basilard, baslard'', in Middle French also and variants, Latinized etc., in Middle High German ) is a historical type of dagger or short sword of the Late Middle Ages.
Etymology
In mode ...
.
Walworth raised the city bodyguard in the king's defence, for which service he was rewarded by knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
and a pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
. He subsequently served on two commissions to restore the peace in the county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Death and legacy
He died in 1385, and was buried in the church of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, of which he was a considerable benefactor. Sir William Walworth was the most distinguished member of the Fishmongers Guild, and he invariably figured in the pageants prepared by them when one of their members attained the mayoralty. He became a favorite hero in popular tales, and appeared in Richard Johnson's ''Nine Worthies of London
''Nine Worthies of London'' is a book by Richard Johnson, the English romance writer, written in 1592. Borrowing the theme from the Nine Worthies of Antiquity, the book, subtitled ''Explaining the Honourable Excise of Armes, the Vertues of the ...
'' in 1592.
William Walworth is commemorated with a statue on Holborn Viaduct, near the boundary of the City of London.
His wife, Margaret, survived him; she died before 1413.
See also
* List of Sheriffs of the City of London *List of Lord Mayors of London
List of all Lord Mayor of the City of London, mayors and lord mayors of London (leaders of the City of London Corporation, and Citizen, first citizens of the City of London, Middle Ages, from medieval times). Until 1354, the title held was M ...
* City of London (elections to the Parliament of England)
The City of London was a parliamentary constituency of the Parliament of England until 1707.
Boundaries and history to 1707
This borough constituency consisted of the City of London, which was the historic core of the modern Greater London. ...
References
Attribution: * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walworth, William 1385 deaths Sheriffs of the City of London 14th-century lord mayors of London English MPs 1371 Year of birth unknown Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London Knights Bachelor English MPs 1376 English MPs January 1377 English MPs February 1383