Give students money as they come in.

1. Give students money as they come in.

2. What can you see? What do you think happened to this man?

3. This is the skull of Simon Sudbury. In the year Sudbury was murdered, peasants from Essex and Kent formed an army and marched to London and attacked lots of buildings and people. They were revolting against the way the country was being run. Simon Sudbury was one of the people they killed. They cut off his head and stuck it on a pole on London Bridge. Why did the peasants revolt in 1381? And, how important was this man, John Ball, in causing the revolt? What is shocking about this is that Sudbury had thought he was safe. He had hidden in the King’s castle, the Tower of London. But the rebels had managed to break in. What is more shocking about this is that Sudbury, like Becket before him, had been the Archbishop of Canterbury! What had gone so wrong that ordinary people wanted to do something as drastic as murder the most important man in the Church?

4. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Our new Enquiry Question Today I will practice: • Explanation skills: Identifying relevant reasons (causes) of an event • And making decisions about which reason (cause) is most important • In this lesson, we will begin a new study of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which took place in the Fourteenth Century – just after the Black Death. • One of the causes (reasons for) the Peasants Revolt was the Black Death! • Yet there were other causes, too, including John Ball – how important was he, compared to the Black Death? What was his role in causing the Peasants Revolt?

5. RECAP: The Feudal System King Archbishops Nobles Bishops Knights Priests Peasants Peasants… • were the lowest members of society • had to work hard on the land with little pay • had to pay taxes and work for the church without pay

6. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt?

7. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? RECAP: The Black Death Peasants who survived the Black Death got richer/poorer because there were more/fewer peasants to do the work. This meant that the peasants could charge more/less money for the work they did. This made the King and the nobles happy/unhappy as they were worried that they were losing/gaining power. In 1351 they introduced the Statute of Labourers. This said that peasants could only be paid the same as they had before/after the Black Death. This made the peasants richer/poorer and therefore happy/angry and this was an important cause of the Peasants’ Revolt.

8. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Cause: The Black Death What happened? I was getting richer because there were fewer people and I could ask for higher wages but now I am getting poorer again because of the Statute (law) which put a cap on my wages.

9. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Cause: The Black Death

11. Cause: The Poll Tax How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? • The poll tax is a tax that Richard II and his uncle John introduced. There had been a long war with France. Wars cost money. • So the King made everyone pay 4p every year. Then he raised the amount in 1379 and raised it again in 1381 to 12 pence. 1377: First Poll Tax introduced (4 pence) 1379: Second Poll Tax (8 pence) 1381: Third Poll Tax (12 pence)

12. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Cause: The Poll Tax

13. Cause: John Ball How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? What is a good question to ask John Ball to find out how important HE was in the event?

14. What is a good question to ask John Ball? That depends on what you want to find out! The enquiry question is: How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? • Try to find out what John Ball did or didn’t do that might help you understand why the peasants revolted. • Try to avoid anachronism (i.e. asking questions about something that didn’t exist then) Choose from the following list of questions or make up your own: • What do you do for a living? • How do you feel about the poll tax? • Can you marry a nun? • Why have you come to talk to us peasants? • What do you think about how peasants are treated by other people? • Can you help me untie my goat? • Do you earn more than a Bishop? • Do you talk to God a lot? Make NOTES about IMPORTANT things John Ball says.

15. Cause: John Ball How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? “When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? “From the beginning all men by nature were created alike.” “Consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may ( if ye will ) cast off your chains, and win back your freedom.”

16. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? • John Ball was a priest who worked at St James' Church in Essex. He believed it was wrong that some people in England were very rich while others were very poor. He made the peasants angry against the Lords who were taking money from them, and he encouraged the peasants to try to improve their lives. Ball's church sermons (lectures) criticising the feudal system upset the bishops. In 1366 he was sacked. • John Ball became a travelling priest and gave sermons in local churches. He was told that he should not be allowed to preach in church. He responded by giving talks on the village green. Eventually he was sent to prison. • On 7th June, 1381, Ball was rescued by rebels led by Wat Tyler. After ransacking the Archbishop of Canterbury's palace, the rebels, led by Tyler and Ball, began their march on London. When the rebels arrived at Blackheath it was estimated that there were about 30,000 people in Wat Tyler's army.

17. How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Cause: John Ball

18. CONCLUSION: How important was John Ball in the peasants’ revolt? Which of these answers do you like the best? Would you like to combine any of these answers? Would you like to come up with your own theory? • John Ball wasn’t important. He was just one man. • John Ball was the most important cause of the peasants’ revolt. He got all the peasants really worked up and angry which made them want to take action. • John Ball was important, but he wasn’t the most important. All the causes were as important as each other. • John Ball helped start the revolt, but he was not as important as the Poll Tax or Black Death. John Ball didn’t do anything to change peasants’ lives, like make them poorer.