This week in Christian history: Church of England allows female bishops; John Ball executed

John Ball executed – July 15, 1381

This week marks the anniversary of when John Ball, a former English Catholic priest and radical social reformer, was executed for his involvement in England’s Peasants’ Revolt.

Ball had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1366 for giving sermons advocating for a classless society, and continued to preach at various outdoor venues thereafter.

In 1381, due to years of social unrest and a recently implemented poll tax, an uprising known as the Peasants’ Revolt took place in England, with Ball inciting one of the protests in London.

“An account in the Anonimalle Chronicle by a witness of the London events states that he urged the killing of lords and prelates,” noted Britannica.

“After the rebellion collapsed, Ball was tried and hanged at St. Albans. Knowledge of his career comes almost entirely from prejudiced chroniclers. Jean Froissart calls him the mad priest of Kent. Ball is the subject of William Morris’s romance A Dream of John Ball.”