Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/359

 the revolt against serfdom for some time past, that he had determined to take advantage of the exasperation produced by the poll-tax, that he had been arrested and condemned in the midst of his preparations, and that he believed the strike would be begun by his friends in Essex at the time agreed upon, notwithstanding his incarceration. This would account for the course of events during the earlier days of the rising, and for the special prominence of Ball at Blackheath, whither he had marched with the men of Kent, instead of trying to cross the Thames in order to be with his more intimate associates—who would probably have started for London before he arrived at Rochester.

The English History of Walsingham fully vouches for the fact that the first massing, and the signal to move upon London, were due to personal initiation within the county of Essex. The chronicler says that "the authors and prime movers of this calamity" were Essex men; and they may doubtless be identified with John Ball and his friends. It is recorded that they sent round to every little homestead, and commanded all the men, veterans and raw lads included, to leave their occupations and their women-folk, to arm themselves in any way they could, and to assemble without fail at the appointed places, on pain of death. Accordingly some five thousand were gathered together, about the time of the spring ploughing and sowing, "of the lowest common people and the rustics," armed with sticks, rusty swords, and scythes; a few of them (probably old soldiers who had fought in France) carrying