The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ly burst, owing toa new and oppressivetax. An invasion ofFrance was plannediiL1380, and to meet the heavy cost a sj)ecial poll-t_ax waslevied. Each township was to pay a shilling^ for everyThe immediate P^^son within it more than fifteen years ofcause of tlic agc, and in present-day values this meant a°* tax of fully twelve shillings per head. The first results from the tax were disappointing, and early in3381 collectors went about exact-ing it more rigorously. Therewere angry disputes as to theages of children said to be lial)kto the tax, whic
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . ly burst, owing toa new and oppressivetax. An invasion ofFrance was plannediiL1380, and to meet the heavy cost a sj)ecial poll-t_ax waslevied. Each township was to pay a shilling^ for everyThe immediate P^^son within it more than fifteen years ofcause of tlic agc, and in present-day values this meant a°* tax of fully twelve shillings per head. The first results from the tax were disappointing, and early in3381 collectors went about exact-ing it more rigorously. Therewere angry disputes as to theages of children said to be lial)kto the tax, which, to the peasantwho might have to pay for him-self, his wife, and several otiiersin his family, was a burden al-most intolerable. Some of the in-habitants of towns and villages,to avoid payment, abandonedtheir homes for a roving life inforests and waste places, andeven more resoluteaction soon came. First in Kssex, on May 30, 1381, then inKent, then in the far north and in the south-west vio-lent outbreaks occurred. They spread so rapidly that. The armed rising. 1kasant Women, abit 1340. EXGLAND IX THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 191 the uprising must have been skilfully pLinned. Insome places members of well-known county familieswere the leaders, in others priests like John Ball andhe who called himself Jack Straw declaimed liberty,equality, and social revolution to ignorant and enragedcrowds. There were horrid scenes of violence, thosein and near London being the most dreadful. JohnBall preached to a vast multitude at Black Heath onthe lines, When Adam delved and Eve span,Who was then the gentleman? and his address was little but an incitement to destroy theruling classes. Whenever they could the peasants burnedtitle-deeds andcourt rolls, whichwere the chief evi-dences of villein-age, and judges,lawyers,and jurors,those who, in short,had been instru-mental against thepoor in interpret-ing the law, wereusually beheadedwhenseized. The
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