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The Peasants' Revolt

Blackheath, London

'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?'

In 1381 a hated poll tax sparked a great rising. Thousands of rebels from Kent and Essex gathered on Blackheath, where the preacher John Ball asked: 'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?'

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When
June 1381
Where
51.4700, 0.0050
Group
Plots

Visiting

Blackheath is open common land with views over London.

Cover of Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful? by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful?

This book asks one question and keeps asking it: was Guy Fawkes faithful, or a traitor? Most people think they already know. The answer has been handed down for four hundred years, with a bonfire and a rhyme, and it is rarely examined. From the boy from Stonegate in York to the cellar, the Tower and Westminster Hall, every chapter ends with a ledger of what it adds in his favour and what it adds against him. By the last page you may find that the answer you arrived with is not the one you leave with.

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