Ball John

Ball, John, an itinerant preacher, who was excommunicated for denouncing the abuses of the Church, and in 1381 joined Wat Tyler's rebellion. The often-quoted lines,

"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?"

formed the text on which he harangued the insurgents at Blackheath. He was captured and executed with Jack Straw and many others at Coventry.