No man may come truth to,
But he sing, si dedero:
Speake, spend and speed, quoth John of Bathon, and therefore,
Sinne fareth as wilde flood,
True love is away that is so good,
And clarkes for wealth wirketh them wo—
God doe boote for now is time, Amen.”
“My good friends”—these were the words of John Ball of Canterbury, as reported by Froissart—and there were others who preached the same doctrine—“things cannot go on well in England, nor ever will, until everything shall be in common; when there shall neither be vassal nor lord and all distinctions levelled; when the lords shall be no more masters than ourselves. Are we not all descended from the same parents, Adam and Eve?” He then goes on to contrast the lot of the lords with that of the people. “We are called slaves, and if we do not perform our services we are beaten, and we have not any sovereign to whom we can complain, or who wishes to hear us and to do us justice.”
As regards the ideas of the people on Government, we must remember that in London the old Saxon freedom was never lost. Londoners chose their Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, and appointed their own Judges. Every freeman of the City of London, therefore, felt that he had part in the government of the City. As we have seen in the history of the City, there were dissensions and factions from time to time, but the one great principle that London was free to elect its own magistrates and to preserve its own form of government was never departed from.
It was, therefore, not an imposed government, but a popular government of their own. There was never any question about obeying the government of London, there was never any popular rising against the government of London. It was natural and it was proper that the Aldermen should be the rulers, and if any one had the temerity to strike an Alderman or refuse to obey his ruling, it was just and proper to the people themselves for that man to have his hand struck off; and in the same way it was understood by everybody that in defence of the King, their “Overlord,” it might be necessary to go forth and fight. Therefore it was incumbent for every one to learn the use of arms and to be possessed of certain weapons. In the inventories which we find of house furniture of the fourteenth century, there are always armour and arms. The craftsman, therefore, was a soldier, a freeman, and an elector. Further, for the advantage of his own trade, he understood that it was important for him to combine and associate himself into a guild or company. He understood that he must be loyal to this company, that he must obey its officers, and that he must put in good work.