PLATE XXXVI.
JOHN BALL PREACHING.
John Ball, a priest, was one of the chief instigators of the rebellion of 1381. He harangued the people of his village every Sunday after mass; and as he preached equality of rank and property, he was soon popular among the lower orders; and when the men of Kent, Essex, &c., &c., marched to London, he, with Jack Straw, and Wat Tyler, became one of their leaders. After the fall of Wat Tyler, and the dispersion of the rebels in Smithfield, John Ball and Jack Straw concealed themselves in a ruin, but were betrayed by their own men, and beheaded. In this Illumination the names of John Ball and Waultre le Tieullier are written in white on the respective dresses, which would seem to render it probable that they are actual portraits.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This and the following Illuminations are from the famous Gruthyse MS. in the Paris Library.
[2] See Smith’s Edition of Froissart, vol. i., page 13.
[3] For a most interesting account of his meeting with the Spanish fleet off Rochelle, his defeat, captivity, and death, see Smith’s edition of Froissart, Vol. I. pp. 470, 471, 475, and 501.
[4] See Smith’s edition of Froissart, vol. i. page 724.
[5] See Smith’s edition of Froissart, vol. i. p. 746.