When Adam Delved Trivia Quiz

Answer: To till the soil

The delving in this question refers to digging and therefore farming. It is also referring to the biblical beginnings when everyone supposedly was equal and social strata had not developed. Class systems appear to have existed from the beginning of time whether based on wealth or birth or who you know. Even Castro's Cuba has the upper echelon of the Cuban Communist Party and then the rest of the citizens.

Answer: To produce yarn

"Span" is the past tense of spin. Apart from the coat of many colours one can only wonder about the first clothes after leaving the Garden of Eden. The suggestion in this saying is that all women were equal and they did not have servants to do the chores. Slaves and servants came later.

Answer: The Peasants' Revolt

In 1381 discontent was brewing over taxation and other injustices put upon the English peasants by the king and the nobility. The revolts began in Kent and Essex and the peasants moved on to London for much bigger prizes.

Answer: John Ball

John Ball, a priest in Kent, sympathized with the peasants' plight of having to work on Church land usually two days a week for no pay. The peasants saw the Church becoming rich from the free labour of the peasants and John Ball made a speech employing the phrase which became the rallying cry. Thus, this speech thrust him into a leadership role.

Answer: Wat Tyler

Little is known of Jack Straw. However, we know more about Wat Tyler. The English Peasants' Revolt is sometimes referred to as the Wat Tyler Rebellion or even the Great Rising. Little is known about his early life but he did hold egalitarian beliefs which made him a good leadership candidate for this revolt.

Answer: Richard II

Richard II had become king at the tender age of 10 in 1377 and was only 14 at the time of the revolt. Though a Council was assisting him which was led by his uncle, John of Gaunt, it was Gaunt who was most influential. However, when dealing with the first challenge in his reign, the Peasants' Revolt, the young king handled himself with aplomb and daring. Richard's father was Edward of Woodstock better known as the Black Prince and his wife was Joan 'The Fair Maid of Kent'. Don't you just love these appellations. What could one use for the present members of the British royalty? Now that would be one creative quiz!

Answer: Poll Tax

The Poll Tax was actually the third one to be levied since 1377 and it was to assist in the funding of the Hundred Years' War. Even today governments must fund the wars and it comes from the pockets of the little people, so many think.

Answer: Tower of London

A group of rebels stormed the Tower of London and immediately killed those hiding there. There included the Lord Chancellor (Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was particularly associated with the poll tax), and the Lord Treasurer (Robert de Hales, the Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitaller of England).

The Savoy Palace of the king's uncle, John of Gaunt, was one of the London buildings destroyed by the rioters.

Answer: On London Bridge

For all practical purposes The English Peasants' Revolt was over. Wat Tyler's head was cut from his corpse and displayed on London Bridge. One source claims that it was the Lord Mayor who killed Wat Tyler. We are not certain what occurred at this meeting because at this time the only people who could write about it were on the side of the king and their evidence may not be accurate - a good example of the victors writing history.

The death of Tyler and another promise by Richard to give the peasants what they asked for were enough to disperse the peasants.

Interestingly enough, according to one source, John Ball was hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II and his quarters were displayed in four other towns as a warning to other rebels and Jack Straw was executed and his head displayed on London Bridge with Tyler's.

But again the accuracy of this is debateable.

Answer: A call for the abolition of serfdom

London had been made safe from 16 June, 1381 and gradually, the authorities regained control of all areas in which the insurrection had occurred. King Richard issued a proclamation denying that he had approved of what the rebels had done and revoked the pardons he had granted them. Though the leaders were executed and the rebels dealt with severely, there were no large scale reprisals.

However, it must be noted that no late medieval parliament tried to resurrect the infamous poll tax. Serfdom, which tied serfs to the soil, continued but declined: the ravages of the Black Death meant that in many cases the wrong people were in - or rather, tied to the wrong places.

This problem could only be overcome by paying labourers.