William Fitz Osbert

William Fitz Osbert or William with the long beard (died 1196) was a citizen of London who took up the role of the advocate of the poor in a popular uprising in the spring of 1196. The events are significant in that they illustrate how rare popular revolt by the poor and peasants in England was in the 12th century, and how quickly and easily it was suppressed. The fullest known source comes from the contemporary English historian William of Newburgh in his Historia rerum anglicarum from a chapter entitled "Of a conspiracy made in London by one William, and how he paid the penalty of his audacity".

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