Understandings in the Middle Ages

Standing up to oppression takes great individual courage. I believe that this statement is true, because usually when someone stands up against an oppressor, say a dictatorial government they don't come out on top. In the Middle Ages, a great example of someone that was courageous like this was John Ball, an English priest. He believed that the new laws and taxes that the King introduced were unfair to the general public, so he staged a revolt against the new regulations. This was incredibly risky, because if he was caught evading the taxes, or telling others to do likewise, he would be imprisoned or maybe even killed. You see, the King was desperately in need of money to fund the war effort in France, so he had to introduce a tax called the Poll Tax, which every single person in the country was required to pay, and if people didn't pay the tax, the King wouldn't get his money and wouldn't be able to pay for the war, and they'd lose in France. However, this tax wasn't the only thing contributing to the anger of the public; there was also the Statute of Laborers, which made it so serfs and peasants couldn't ask for higher wages and would be bound to the one who hired them. Because of these things, people like John Ball got groups of people to rebel against the taxes, and hide from the tax collectors. As I said before, this was very risky for Ball, because if he was caught, he would most likely be executed. Eventually, after the rebels killed the Archbishop of Canterbury and a few other people who were high up on the totem pole, Ball and a few other leaders of the rebellion were hung and drawn and quartered.