“The late André Reville had projected a work on this movement, and had got together a vast collection of records of trials, inquests, petitions, and escheators’ rolls for this purpose. Professor Oman has enjoyed the use of all of these documents, and also includes some new and unpublished material regarding the poll-tax. He thinks he has discovered why that impost met with such universal detestation, how the poorer classes in England conspired to defeat its operation, and how the counterstroke made by this government provoked the rebellion.” (Nation.)
“Mr. Oman has written his account without prejudice, and its value, we imagine, lies less in any thesis it may be thought to establish, than in the picture it gives of England in 1831.”
| + + | Acad. 71: 57. Jl. 21, ’06. 1460w. |
“It is because Prof. Oman’s book, as we have said, supplies a want for teachers and students, that we have drawn attention to certain points which will require revision if he should undertake a fresh edition.”
| + + − | Ath. 1906, 2: 124. Ag. 4. 1810w. |
“We have dwelt at what may appear disproportionate length upon his treatment of the poll tax returns because it is here that he specially lays claim to originality. What is valuable in his suggestions is not materially affected by the inaccuracies pointed out above, but we rise from the examination with a somewhat shaken confidence in the scientific exactitude of his methods of research. The narrative of the rebellion itself can be more unreservedly commended. It is full, well digested, and spirited. But even here we must not look for pedantic accuracy in details.” James Tait.
| + − | Eng. Hist. R. 22: 161. Ja. ’07. 2300w. |
“Alike from its summing up of recent results, and from the new material it contains and the freshness and suggestiveness of its style, this book will be indispensable to the student of the fourteenth century. It will also find readers beyond the ranks of professional historians, for it narrates a dramatic story, and Professor Oman has told it well.”
| + + | Lond. Times. 5: 277. Ag. 10, ’06. 930w. |