Thomas Walsingham Chronicon Angliæ 1381. Jun 1381. On this day furthermore, John Ball, a priest, having been captured by the men of Coventry, and the day before brought to Saint Albans and into the presence of the King, was found guilty of having grievously offended His Majesty, heard and confessed the most shameful crimes, and was condemned by the same Robert to dragging, hanging, beheading, disemboweling, and quartering; his death was postponed until Monday, through the intervention of Lord William (age 39), the Bishop of London, who, concerned about the salvation of his soul, obtained for him this time for repentance. Here, for twenty years and more, always preaching in various places what he knew to be pleasing to the common people, he detracted both ecclesiastical persons and secular lords, seeking the goodwill of the common people more than merit with God. Indeed, he taught that tithes should not be given to the curate unless the giver was wealthier than the vicar or rector who would receive them. He also taught that tithes and offerings should be withheld from curates if it was evident that the parishioner or subject was of a better life than their curate. He also taught that no one was fit for the kingdom of God who was not born in wedlock. He taught also the perverse doctrines of the perfidious John Wycliffe, and the opinions he held, and false insanities, and many things that would be too long to recount; because of which, forbidden by the Bishops in whose parishes he presumed to preach, from henceforth he was not allowed to preach in churches, and took to the streets and alleys, or to the fields, to preach. Nor was he lacking listeners from among the common people, whom he always tried to attract to his sermons through slanders of the prelates and pleasing words. Finally excommunicated, when he did not desist, he was imprisoned, where he predicted that he would be freed by twenty thousand friends. This later happened during the aforementioned turmoil of the kingdom, when the commons broke all prisons and compelled the imprisoned to leave. And having been freed in this manner, he followed them, inciting them to commit many evils, and preaching that it must indeed be done. And that his doctrine might infect more people, at Blackheath [Map], where two hundred thousand common people were gathered together, he began a sermon like this:—

"Whan Adam dalf, and Eve span,

"Wo was thanne a gentilman?"

Hoc die præterea, Johannem Balle, presbyterum, captum a viris Coventrensibus, et pridie ductum ad Sanctum Albanum et Regis præsentiam, cujus majestatem convictus est læsisse enormiter, auditum et confessum turpissima scelera, tractioni, suspendio, decollationi, exentrationi, et quarterizationi, ut usu vulgari loguar, idem Robertus adjudicavit; cujus mors dilationem accepit usque in diem Lunæ, interventu Domini Willelmi, Londoniensis Episcopi, qui, circa salutem sollicitus suæ animæ, illud ei spatium pœnitentise impetravit. Hic per viginti annos, et amplius, semper prædicans in diversis locis en quæ scivit vulgo placentia, detrahens tam personis ecclesiasticis quam dominis ssecularibus, benevolentiam magis communis populi quam meritum penes Deum captabat. Docuit nempe plebem decimas non esse dandag curato, nisi is qui daturus esset foret ditior quam vicarius qui acciperet, sive rector. Docuit etiam decimas et oblationes subtrahendas curatis, si constaret subjectum aut parochianum melioris vite fore quam curatum suum. Docuit etiam neminem aptum regno Dei, qui hon in matrimonio natus fuisset. Docuit et perversa dogmata perfidi Johannis Wiclyf, et opiniones quas tenuit, et insanias falsas, et plura que longum foret recitare: propter quæ, prohibitus ab Episcopis in, quorum parochiis hæc præsumpsit, ne in ecclesiis de cætero prædicaret, concessit in plateas et vicos, vel in campos, ad prædicandum. Nec defuerunt ei de communibus auditores, quos semper studuit per detractiones prælatorum, et placentia verba, allicere ad sermonem. Postremo excommunicatus, cum nec desisteret, carceri mancipatur, ubi prædixit se deliberandum per viginti millis amicorum. Quod postea evenit in turbatione regni præfata, cum communes omnes carceres confregerunt, et incarceratos abire compulerunt. Cumque taliter deliberatus fuisset, eos secutus est, instigans ad plura mala perpetranda, et prædicans ita omnino fore faciendum. Et ut sua doctrina plures inficeret, ad le Blakheth, ubi ducenta millia hominum communium fuere simul congregata, hujuscemodi sermonem est exorsus:—

"Whan Adam dalf, and Eve span,

"Wo was thanne a gentilman?"

Thomas Walsingham Chronicon Angliæ 1381. Jun 1381. And continuing the sermon he had begun, he strove, through the words of the proverb he had taken as his theme, to introduce and prove that from the beginning all were created equal by nature, and that servitude was introduced by the unjust oppression of wicked men, against the will of God; for, if it had pleased God to create servants, surely at the beginning of the world He would have determined who should be a servant and who a lord. Therefore, they should consider now the time given to them by God, in which, having cast off the yoke of long servitude, they could, if they wished, enjoy the long-coveted freedom. Whereupon he advised that they be wise men, and like a good head of a household who cultivates his field and removes and cuts back the harmful weeds that usually suppress the crops, they too should make haste to act in the present—first, by killing the greater lords of the kingdom; then, by destroying the lawyers, justices, and jurors of the country; finally, by removing any they knew to be harmful to the community in the future from their land; thus, they would finally secure peace and safety for themselves in the future, if, with the nobles removed, there would be among them equal freedom, the same nobility, equal dignity, and similar power.

Continuansque sermonem inceptum, nitebatur, per verba proverbii quod pro themate sumpserat, introducere et probare, ab initio omnes pares creatos a natura, servitutem per injustam oppressionem nequam hominum introductam, contra Dei voluntatem; quia, si Deo placnisset servos creasse, utique in principio, mundi constituisset quis servus, quisve dominus, futurus fuisset. Considerarent igitur jam tempus a Deo datum eis, in quo, deposito servitutis jugo diutinæ, possent, si vellent, libertate diu concupita gaudere. Quapropter monuit ut essent viri cordati, et amore boni patrisfamilias excolentis agrum suum, et extirpantis ac resecantis noxia gramina que fruges solent opprimere, et ipsi in presenti facere festinarent.—Primo, majores regni dominos occidendo; deinde, juridicos, justiciarios, et juratores patriæ, perimendo; postremo, quoscunque scirent in posterum communitati nocivos, tollerent de terra sua; sic demum et pacem sibimet parerent et securitatem in futurum, si, sublatis majoribus, essct inter eos squa libertas, eadem nobilitas, par dignitas, similisque potestas.