[53] J. R. Green, “The Ban of Kenilworth,” Historical Studies.
[54] “The triumph over Earl Simon had been a triumph over the religious sentiment of the time, and religion avenged itself in its own way. Everywhere the earl’s death was viewed as a martyrdom, and monk and friar, however they might quarrel on other points, united in praying for the souls of the dead as for ‘soldiers of Christ.’”—J. R. Green, “The Ban of Kenilworth,” Historical Studies.
[55] Chronicles of Melrose.
[56] Ibid.
[57] Wright, Political Songs.
[58] See J. R. Green, “Annals of Osney and Wykes,” Historical Studies.
[59] “The project was clearly to set up a new order of things founded on social equality—a theory which in the whole history of the Middle Ages appears for the first time in connection with this movement.”—Gairdner.
[60] It may be said that to-day the idea of political and social equality is generally accepted and that of brotherhood denied. In the fourteenth century brotherhood was esteemed, but equality was a strange, intruding notion.
[61] “The bias of Wyclif in theory and practice is secular, and aristocratic, and royalist: it is not really socialistic or politically revolutionary,”—Figgis, Studies of Political Thought. Nevertheless, many writers have tried to discredit Lollardy by associating it with social revolt, just as others have tried to discredit John Ball by making him out a “heretic,” and a follower of Wycliff.
[62] Froissart seems to be mainly responsible for the belief that this John Tyler became the great leader of the movement, confusing him with Wat Tyler, of Maidstone, the real leader. Several writers allege the indecency of the tax-collectors.