I know Occupy and Socialists want to claim linkage to the ‘Peasants Revolt,’ but it’s more like ‘Uber workers’; the laborers want to compete for a fair wage but the ruling elites had the King pass a law so they could set their own wages.
The ruling elites setting the wages had historical precedent from Roman times. One of the emperors, perhaps Diocletian (someone here probably knows) decided that the classes should be made rigid, like the Indian chaste system. It destroyed the economy as people with any ambition were totally shut down and impoverished.