On 2 June 1381, rioting against the recently imposed poll tax broke out in north Kent. Over the following days the unrest spread rapidly: on 4 June the rebels advanced on Dartford, and by 7 June they had organised themselves sufficiently to elect Wat Tyler as their leader.

The rebels declared their opposition to serfdom and the manorial system, articulating demands that challenged the legal and social foundations of late medieval English society.