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The Lower Class in the Urban Revolts in the Late Middle Ages Yong-Jin Park The revolts in the late medieval period start as a violent expression of the complaints base on the fear and the social unrest. On the first stage, the upper and mid-bourgeoisie led it. As the geographical and social range expands, the violence increases and the lower class, or ‘menu people’, largely participates in the revolt. The term “lower class” was no social meaning, but usually used to depict the people who act violently and make the community unstable. It is paradoxical that people rise up to escape from the fear and the social unrest, but their uprising causes the violence and the instability in turn. The fear and the social unrest shared among the people cannot be resolved by the revolts and the violence. It is the sacred obligation of the king to keep the society in peace. The king represents the peace, the order, the mercy, the tolerance, and so on. The king is the only one who can solve the problem of the social unrest. So the revolts always conclude in the reinforcement of the royal authority. In a word, the revolts which start with the memory of the fear and the social unrest, eventually end up sharing the memory of the peace and the order. (Seoul National University / parktoan@snu.ac.kr)