 At Blackheath , John Ball gave a famous sermon to the assembled Kentishmen . Ball was a well @-@ known priest and radical preacher from Kent , who was by now closely associated with Tyler . Chroniclers ' accounts vary as to how he came to be involved in the revolt ; he may have been released from Maidstone gaol by the crowds , or might have been already at liberty when the revolt broke out . Ball rhetorically asked the crowds " When Adam delved and Eve span , who was then a gentleman ? " and promoted the rebel slogan " With King Richard and the true commons of England " . The phrases emphasised the rebel opposition to the continuation of serfdom and to the hierarchies of the Church and State that separated the subject from the King , while stressing that they were loyal to the monarchy and , unlike the King 's advisers , were " true " to Richard . The rebels rejected proposals from the Bishop of Rochester that they should return home , and instead prepared to march on . 
