and capture at Poitiers in September, he had no bourgeois troops but relied solely on
nobles.
In the last months of 1356, Marcel seems to have become a partisan of Charles the
Bad, the rebellious king of Navarre. An inflammatory Navarrese partisan, Robert Le Coq,
dominated the Estates that met after Poitiers, and the urban representatives, led by
Marcel, lent at least tacit support to his demands. In December, Marcel organized his first
large Parisian street demonstration against the government. He made frequent use of such
intimidating tactics in subsequent months.
The Estates obtained a sweeping ordinance of reform in March 1357, but when they
failed repeatedly to deliver the taxes needed to prosecute the war, the government ceased
to feel bound by the reforms. Marcel and the Parisian crowd became increasingly
intimidating, and in February 1358 they murdered two military commanders in the
presence of the dauphin Charles, thereby alienating the nobles who had originally
spearheaded the reform movement. Marcel and his followers became increasingly radical
in their hostility to nobles and gave some support to the Jacquerie of late May. The
dauphin, meanwhile, left Paris in March and began to rally noble support. Marcel failed
in his effort to organize a league of towns to oppose them, and Paris became increasingly
isolated. At the end of July, one of the citizens murdered Marcel, paving the way for the
dauphin’s triumphant return to the capital.
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: CHARLES II THE BAD; HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR; JACQUERIE;
PARIS]
Avout, Jacquesd’. Le meurtre d’Étienne Marcel Paris: Gallimard, 1960.
Cazelles, Raymond. Étienne Marcel: champion de l’unité française. Paris: Tallandier, 1984.
MARCH
. As a defense against external threats to the Carolingian realm, Charlemagne (r. 768–
814) established along its frontiers special regions known as marches (Lat. marca,
marcha). Some of these areas aided the assimilation of rebellious tribes into the
Carolingian kingdom, as did the Saxon March, formed in the northeast in the 770s. Other
marches included the March of Brittany, to help in the subjugation of the Bretons, the
March of Spain, to protect Frankish territories from incursions over the Pyrénées, the
March of Friuli, bordering the southern Slavonic regions, and a March of Bavaria.
Each march was organized on a military basis. The “count of the march” (Lat. comes
marcae, whence “marquis, marquess”), who possessed important military skills, served
as commander of the troops stationed there and headed the area’s government. His
presence, together with that of his garrison, was meant to guarantee the march’s stability
as well as provide ready forces to deal with problems beyond its boundaries.
Celia Chazelle
[See also: MARQUIS/MARQUISATE]
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