e of
the whole group, who eventually became the Minister-General of this
portion of the Order, does not hesitate to affirm the incompatibility of
Christianity and private property. From being a question as to the
teaching of St. Francis, the matter had grown to one as to the teaching
of Christ; and in order to prove satisfactorily that the practice of
poverty as inculcated by St. Francis was absolute and inviolable, it was
found necessary to hold that it was equally the declared doctrine of
Christ.

Even Ockham, a brilliant Oxford Franciscan, who, together with Michael,
defended the Emperor, Louis of Bavaria, in his struggle against Pope
John XXII, let fall in the heat of controversy some sayings which must
have puzzled his august patron; for Louis would have been the very last
person for whom communism had any charms. Closely allied in spirit with
these "Spiritual Franciscans," as they were called, or Fraticelli, were
those curious mediaeval bodies of Beguins and Beghards. Hopelessly
pantheistic in their notion of the Divine Being, and following most
peculiar methods of reaching on earth the Beatific Vision, they took up
with the same doctrine of the religious duty of the communistic life.
They declared the practice of holding private property to be contrary to
the Divine Law.

Another preacher of communism, and one whose name is well known for the
active propaganda of his opinions, and for his share in the English
Peasant Revolt of 1381, was John Ball, known to history as "The Mad
Priest of Kent." There is some difficulty in finding out what his real
theories were, for his chroniclers were his enemies, who took no very
elaborate steps to ascertain the exact truth about him. Of course there
is the famous couplet which is said to have been the text of all his
sermons:

"Whaune Adam dalf and Eve span,
Who was thane a gentilman?"[1]

at least, so it is reported of him in the _Chronicon Angliae_, the work
of an unknown monk of St. Albans (Roll Series, 1874, London, p. 321).
Froissart, that picturesque journalist, who naturally, as a friend of
the Court, detested the levelling doctrines of this political rebel,
gives what he calls one of John Ball's customary sermons. He is
evidently not attempting to report any actual sermon, but rather to give
a general summary of what was supposed to be Ball's opinions. As such,
it is worth quoting in full.

"My good friends, things cannot go on well in England, nor