And all this mass of discontent was being heightened and organized by agencies with which the Government could not cope.

The poorer villeins and the free labourers had long since banded together in secret conspiracies which the wealthier villeins supported with money.

The return of soldiers from the war threw over the land a host of broken men, skilled in arms, and ready to take part in any rising.

The begging friars, wandering and gossiping from village to village and street to street, shared the passions of the class from which they sprang.

Priests like Ball openly preached the doctrines of communism.