 The rural rebels came from a wide range of backgrounds , but typically they were , as the historian Christopher Dyer describes , " people well below the ranks of the gentry , but who mainly held some land and goods " , and not the very poorest in society , who formed a minority of the rebel movement . Many had held positions of authority in local village governance , and these seem to have provided leadership to the revolt . Some were artisans , including , as the historian Rodney Hilton lists , " carpenters , sawyers , masons , cobblers , tailors , weavers , fullers , glovers , hosiers , skinners , bakers , butchers , innkeepers , cooks and a lime @-@ burner " . They were predominantly male , but with some women in their ranks . The rebels were typically illiterate ; only between 5 and 15 per cent of England could read during this period . They also came from a broad range of local communities , including at least 330 south @-@ eastern villages . 
