While power at the top consolidated, discontent seethed from below. Throughout the
fourteenth century popular uprisings across Europe gave vent to discontent. The
“popular” component of these revolts should not be exaggerated, as many were led
by petty knights or wealthy burghers. But they also involved large masses of people,
some of whom were very poor indeed. Although at times articulating universal
principles, these revolts were nevertheless deeply rooted in local grievances.
Long accustomed to a measure of self-government in periodic assemblies that
reaffirmed the customs of the region, the peasants of Flanders reacted boldly when
the count’s officials began to try to collect new taxes. Between 1323 and 1328,
Flemish peasants drove out the officials and their noble allies, redistributing the lands
that they confiscated. The peasants set up an army, established courts, collected
taxes, and effectively governed themselves. The cities of Flanders, initially small,
independent pockets outside of the peasants’ jurisdiction, soon followed suit, with the
less wealthy citizens taking over city government. It took the combined forces of the
rulers of France and Navarre plus a papal declaration of crusade to crush the
peasants at the battle of Cassel in 1328.
Anti-French and anti-tax activities soon resumed in Flanders, however, this time
at Ghent, where the weavers had been excluded from city government since 1320.
When England prepared for the opening of the Hundred Years’ War, it cut off wool
exports to Flanders, putting the weavers (who depended on English wool) out of
work. At Ghent the weavers took the hint and rallied to the English cause. Led by
Jacob van Artevelde, himself a landowner but now spokesman for the rebels, the
weavers overturned the city government. By 1339, Artevelde’s supporters dominated
not only Ghent but also much of northern Flanders. A year later, he was welcoming
the English king Edward III to Flanders as king of France. Although Artevelde was
assassinated in 1345 by weavers who thought he had betrayed their cause, the
tensions that brought him to the fore continued. The local issues that pitted weavers
against the other classes in the city were exacerbated by the ongoing hostility between
England and France. Like a world war, the Hundred Years’ War engulfed its
bystanders.
In France, uprisings in the mid-fourteenth century signaled further strains of the
war. At the disastrous battle of Poitiers (1356), King John II of France was captured
and taken prisoner. The Estates General, which prior to the battle had agreed to
heavy taxes to counter the English, met in the wake of Poitiers to allot blame and
reform the government. When the new regent (the ruler in John’s absence) stalled in
instituting the reforms, Étienne Marcel, head of the merchants of Paris, led a plot to
