JACQUERIE
. The Jacquerie, named for the peasants who led it (popularly termed Jacques), was the
greatest of latemedieval French rebellions. In a two-week period during late May and
early June 1358, widespread violence broke out in and around the Paris basin, including
the regions of Champagne, Brie, Picardy, Beauvaisis, and part of Normandy. While the
degree to which the Jacquerie was linked to the concurrent revolt of Étienne Marcel in
Paris itself is uncertain, the roots of both movements can be found in the conjuncture of
political destabilization, social and economic tension, and the stresses of war.
The Jacquerie was said to have begun as a bloody quarrel between some stonecutters
and noblemen, but antagonism soon fueled a rising noted for its cruelty and destruction.
Although the Jacques had little in the way of political ideology, their militant rural march,
under Guillaume Cale, was most often directed against the property and families of the
nobility. The rebels received support from some provincial towns and from Paris but
were crushed by a resurgent nobility under Charles of Navarre, who had earlier appeared
to sanction the Jacques. Thousands of people lost their lives in an aftermath of brutal
reprisals by the nobility, known as the Counter-Jacquerie.
The Jacquerie has traditionally been labeled a “class war” or “social rebellion”
because of the basic nature of the conflict—nonnobles vs. nobles. Though most of the
rebels were from the lower to middle social ranks, brief alliances that transcended any
class distinctions emerged to cover particular political needs; communities that were
followers of the malcontent Charles of Navarre, such as Paris, thus tended to support or at
least tolerate the rebels as a means of protest against earlier actions of the crown.
Similarly, Étienne Marcel temporarily aided the Jacques. The tenuous nature of these
connections is evident in their short duration and reinforces the degree to which their
political programs were not those of the Jacques.
Robert A.Bennett
[See also: CHARLES II THE BAD; CHARLES V THE WISE; MARCEL,
ÉTIENNE; MILLENIALISM]
Bessen, David M. “The Jacquerie: Class War or Co-opted Rebellion?” Joumal of Medieval History
11(1985):43–59.
Cazelles, Raymond. “La Jacquerie: fut-elle un mouvement paysan?” Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres, comptes rendus (1979):654–66.
Flammermont, J. “La Jacquerie en Beauvaisis.” Revue historique 9(1879):123–43.
Luce, Siméon. Histoire de la Jacquerie. 2nd ed. Paris: Hachette, 1894.
Medeiros, Marie-Thérèse de. Jacques et chroniqueurs: une étude comparée de récits
contemporains relatant la Jacquerie de 1358. Paris: Champion, 1979.
Mollat, Michel, and Philippe Wolff. The Popular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages, trans.
A.L.Lytton-Sells. London: Allen and Unwin, 1973.
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