pb 70 vThey have their ease in fine manor houses, while we have toil and labour, and the rain and wind in the fields, and from our exertions comes the means for them to maintain their estates. We are called serfs and beaten if we are not at their beck and call, yet we have no figurehead to whom we may complain, nor who might be inclined to listen to us or administer justice. Let us petition the
king for he is young, and we will make him aware of our servitude and tell him that we would wish things to be otherwise or else we will find our own remedy. If we go to him directly and as a group, all manner of people who are called serfs and are kept in bondage will follow us in order to be liberated. When the
king sees or hears us, he will provide a solution, peaceful or otherwise."
Thus spoke
John Ball, and other such words, as he was accustomed to doing in the villages every Sunday after mass, which meant that many common people heard him. Some of them who had nothing but evil intentions said, "He speaks the truth!" and, murmuring and conferring among themselves as they walked in the fields or on the roads together from one village to another, or in their homes, they said, "
John Ball speaks of such things and what he says is true."
The
archbishop of Canterbury, who was informed of this, had
John Ball arrested and put in prison for two or three months as punishment. It would have been better if he had been sentenced to life imprisonment or put to death the first time, rather than what he did with him, for it was his wish to release him, as he could not find it in his conscience to have him executed. When
John was out of the
archbishop's prison he continued in his folly just as before.
Many of the common people in the city of
London, who were envious of the wealthy and noblemen, were informed of his words and deeds, and they began to say among themselves that the kingdom of
England was very poorly governed and being stripped of its gold and silver by those who called themselves nobles. And so these wretched people in
London began to commit evil and to rebel. They sent word for those of the aforementioned counties to come boldly to
London and gather their people there; they would find
London open to them and the common people there of the same conviction, and they would petition the
king so strongly that there would no longer be a single serf in
England.
SHF 2-213 syncThese assurances stirred up the people of the counties of
Kent,
Essex,
Sussex,
Bedfordshire and the surrounding lands, and they set out for
London. They were a good sixty thousand in number and they had an overall leader and spokesman called
Wat Tyler, accompanied by
Jack Straw and
John Ball. These three were the commanders, but
Wat Tyler was the commander-in-chief. This
Wat was a tiler of houses; an iniquitous and devilish individual.
When these wicked men began to rise up, the
Londoners, except for their allies, were terrified, and the
mayor of London and wealthy townspeople, when they heard that they were being advanced upon from every side, resolved that they would close the gates and not let anyone enter the town, which they did.
pb 71 r