When we think about an uprising of the common people against ruthless overseers, we think of the French Revolution or maybe the Haitian Revolution, but one story from medieval Spain illustrates the concept well, whether it's true or not. And it all started over a single fish.
In 1158, in the town of Zamora on the border between the kingdoms of León and al-Andalus, a marketplace dispute began. A shoemaker bought the last trout of a fishmonger, when a servant of the local ruling knight Gómez Álvarez showed up and demanded the fish for his lord. A dispute ensued, and other townspeople joined in both sides. The servant left without the fish, and Álvarez was angry that the peasants didn't know their place. He gathered other knights together with the idea that such resistance cannot stand because it would undermine their authority. Meanwhile, the townspeople who supported the shoemaker gathered to burn down the church where the knights were meeting. The battle eventually escalated to the King of León. Some doubt the details, or if it ever even happened, but it's a great story you can read at Amusing Planet.
(Image credit: New York (State) Forest, Fish and Game Commission)
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