Click to image above to enlarge
John Ball, ‘Hedgerow Priest’, 1380
‘Matters cannot go well in England, nor ever shall until all things shall be held in common, when there are no vassals or Lords’. John Ball, 1380 John Ball was a popular roving preacher. He argued for social equality and his radical views brought him into conflict with the Church. He gave open-air sermons on village greens and other public spaces, hence his description as a hedgerow priest. He was imprisoned several times but continued to preach. Ball was a prisoner at Maidstone Prison, Kent, at the start of the Peasants’ Revolt. He was released and gave a rousing open-air sermon to the rebel army that had assembled at Blackheath. Ball went on to support Watt Tyler throughout negotiations and further rebellion in London. He was identified as a ringleader and hung, drawn and quartered. The Peasants Revolt demonstrated that ordinary people could organise and resist the impositions of the Baron class.