If we wait on him in a body, all those who come under the name of serf, or are held in bondage, will follow us in the hope of being free.

When the King shall see us we shall obtain a favourable answer, or we must then ourselves seek to amend our condition." In another letter John Ball greets John Nameless, John the Miller, and John Carter, and bids them stand together in God's name, and beware of guile: he bids Piers Plowman "go to his work and chastise well Hob the Robber (Sir Robert Hales, the King's Treasurer); and take with you John Trueman and all his fellows, and look that you choose one head and no more." These letters and the preaching were accepted by willing minds.

John Ball was in prison--in the jail of Archbishop Sudbury at Maidstone--in the spring of 1381, but the peasants were organised and ready to revolt.

If Wat Tyler is the recognised leader of the rebel forces--"the one head"-- John Ball's was the work of preparing the uprising.

The vagrant priest had rung his bell to some purpose.