22 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH RURAL HISTORY 



the forehead with the letter " F," in token of their falsity. 

 It was also a crime to receive, employ, harbour, or give 

 alms to such " rebels." 



The Peasants' Revolt. 



For thirty years or more following the Black Death the 

 struggle between employers and employed continued. A 

 spirit of independence had been stirred up in the breasts 

 of the labourers. This \vas fanned by the writings of 

 William Langland and the preaching of Wycliffe and John 

 Ball. In the poem entitled " The Vision of Piers the 

 Plowman," Langland gives an excellent description of the 

 condition of the poor at the time (fourteenth century). 

 Wycliffe, who was himself a scholar and priest, vigorously 

 attacked the extravagance of unworthy priests. His 

 followers, known as Lollards, preached his doctrines far 

 and wide. John Ball, a poor priest of Kent, exhorted the 

 people to rebel against the tyranny of their oppressors. 

 Of the lords he said : " They have leisure and fine houses ; 

 we (the labourers) have pain and labour, and the wind and 

 rain in the fields, and yet it is of us and our toil that these 

 men hold their estate." His aim was to blot out the 

 manorial lords, and the lawyers and other classes who 

 depended upon them. No wonder the aristocracy called 

 him a mad priest. Because of his utterances he was thrice 

 imprisoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 



In the meantime the organizing of the workers had been 

 proceeding. Little is known of their organization ; but 

 contemporary records contain references to a " Great 

 Society." It would not be difficult for the labourers to 

 be brought together for the purposes of defence, since they 

 had co-operated in both work and pleasure from the earliest 

 times. In most villages in the South and East of England 

 there would be found some one possessed of organizing 

 ability a sort of trade union secretary. 



The crisis was brought about in May 1381 by the action 

 of the Government. As a result of the wars in which 

 Edward III had gloried, money was urgently needed. A 

 poll tax of a shilling a head on all persons over fifteen years 

 of age was demanded. In order to avoid payment of this 

 excessive demand, deception was practised. Commissioners 

 were, therefore, sent to count the people and compel pay- 

 ment of the tax. 



Under the leadership of Wat Tyler, the men of Kent 



