`An excellent selection of sources for the rebellion.' Bibliographies Handbook One of the most famous and dramatic episodes in English history, the great revolt of 1381 is still a largely unsolved mystery. The new edition of this lengthy and detailed collection of original documents provides a basic handbook to the story, significance and problems of the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

A stunningly good book on a revolt which came within a few minutes of changing our history utterly --totally absorbing.

This account of the "peasant revolt" of 1381 demonstrates that the rebellion was not an uncontrolled, inarticulate explosion of peasant resentment, but an informed and tactical claim to literacy and rule. It focuses on six brief texts by the rebels themselves.

When Adam Delved and Eve Span is an introductory history of the inspirational English peasant rising of 1381. The book recounts, against the backdrop of 14th century England - including the daily struggle of peasants for food and justice and the devastation wrought by the Black Death - the events of the Peasants' Revolt, both in London and in the regions, conveying their breathtaking speed and bringing rebel leaders, such as Wat Tyler and John Ball, to life.

For centuries, the priest John Ball was one of the most infamous or famous figures in the history of English rebels, best known for his saying 'When Adam delved and Eve Span, Who was then the gentleman'. But over the past hundred years his memory has faded dramatically. Along with Wat Tyler, Ball was one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, a historically remarkable event in that leading figures of the realm were beheaded by the rebels. For a few days in June 1381, the rebels dominated London but soon met their demise, with Ball executed. Ball provided the theological justification for the uprising which he saw in apocalyptic terms. After the revolt, he was soon vilified and received an overwhelmingly hostile press for 400 years as an archetypal enemy of the state and a religious zealot. His reputation was rescued from the end of the eighteenth century onward and for over one hundred years he rivalled Robin Hood and Wat Tyler as a great English folk (and even abolitionist) hero. But his 640-year reception involves much more, of course, and is tied up with the story of what England is or could be.Overall, the book explains how we get from an apocalyptic priest who promoted a theocracy favouring the lower orders and the decapitation of the leading church and secular authorities to someone who promoted democracy and vague notions about love and tolerance. The book also explains why he has gone out of fashion and whether he can make another comeback.