JOHN BALL (d. 1381), an English priest who took a prominent part in the
peasant revolt in 1381. Little is known of his early
years, but he lived probably at York and afterwards at Colchester. He
gained considerable fame as a preacher by expounding the doctrines of
John Wycliffe, but
especially by his insistence on the principle of social equality. These
utterances brought him into collision with the archbishop of Canterbury,
and on three occasions he was committed to prison. He appears also to
have been excommunicated, and in 1366 all persons were forbidden to hear
him preach. His opinions, however, were not moderated, nor his
popularity diminished by these measures, and his words had a
considerable effect in stirring up the rising which broke out in June
1381. Ball was then in prison at Maidstone; but he was quickly released
by the Kentish rebels, to whom he preached at Blackheath from the text,
"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman?" He urged his
hearers to kill the principal lords of the kingdom and the lawyers; and
he was afterwards among those who rushed into the Tower of London to
seize Simon of Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury. When the rebels
dispersed Ball fled to the midland counties, but was taken prisoner at
Coventry and executed in the presence of Richard II. on the 15th of July
1381. Ball, who was called by Froissart "the mad priest of Kent," seems
to have possessed the gift of rhyme. He undoubtedly voiced the feelings
of the lower orders of society at that time.
See Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, edited by H. T.
Riley (London, 1863-1864); Henry Knighton, Chronicon, edited
by J. R. Lumby (London, 1889-1895); Jean Froissart, Chroniques,
edited by S. Luce and G. Raynaud (Paris, 1869-1897); C. E.
Maurice, Lives of English Popular Leaders in the Middle Ages
(London, 1875); C. Oman, The Great Revolt of 1381 (Oxford,
1906).
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