‘The Uprising’ shows how medieval people weren’t so obedient after all

Woody Norman as King Richard II in 'The Uprising,' which tells the story of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, a major uprising across England that was triggered by high taxes and economic exploitation. Betina La Plante/Focus Features

For decades, I’ve been showing my medieval history students the “autonomous collective” scene from the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

The clip is funny because it features two medieval peasants haranguing King Arthur while using the lexicon of a modern political Marxist. When Arthur explains that he was their king because the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur, one of the peasants objects: “Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!”