Читать книгу Martyrs and Mystics - Ed Glinert - Страница 9

During the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 John Ball preached a sermon here on the main route from Kent into London in which he thundered:

What right do they have to rule over us? Why do they deserve to be in authority? If we all came from Adam and Eve what proof do they have that they are better than we? Therefore why should we labour for them while they live in luxury?

From his preaching came the rhyme that was soon upon the lips of many: ‘When Adam delved and Eve span, who was the gentle man?’ However, in the rampage which followed, the mob dragged Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, from the Tower of London and killed him.