A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - IDEAS AND STRUGGLES: The Jacquerie followed by Youth in Revolt (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Stand up, Jacques Bonhomme!! ---- Here is a term situated in time that 
has become commonplace to describe a somewhat vigorous social movement: 
the Jacquerie. Words have meaning, a history, and Gaëtan Bonnot retraces 
the events and social interpretations in his book, *The Jacquerie: The 
Evolution of Terrors from 1358 to the Present Day*. On the cover, 
soldiers in helmets, armor, and shields, slaughtering common people, 
beggars, and Jacques with their swords-signs of nobility. As Patrick 
Boucheron points out in his preface: "We thought we knew the history of 
the Jacquerie, but we only had the chronicle: that which the narrative 
sources of the 14th century have transmitted to us, and with them the 
tenacious prejudices they carried." ---- What is a Jacquerie? Patrick 
Boucheron again: "a revolt of peasant poverty, possibly violent but 
always doomed from the start, and whose impotence is inscribed in the 
contempt it inspires." Guillaume Calle, initiator of the 1358 revolt in 
the Oise region, is said to be the figure of this Jacques Bonhomme 
portrayed in history books. Gaëtan Bonnot revisits the events up to the 
recent actions of the Breton Red Caps in 2013 and the Yellow Vests of 
2018. He dismantles hasty assertions by relying on meticulous archival 
analysis using digital text analysis and political lexicometry 
techniques. Is it a discord, a conspiracy, a plot? The terms are 
essential for understanding the legal classification of the crime. The 
term "terror" is often used.

A Century of Crisis

The century was turbulent, a century of crisis between the common people 
and the monarchy, between various claimants to the French throne. The 
figure of Étienne Marcel would rise to prominence until his 
assassination on July 31, 1358. The Jacquerie was short-lived, beginning 
around May 28 with the murder of several nobles in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent, 
and ending with two simultaneous battles on June 9-10. The main events 
took place in the Oise region, with some hotspots near 
Vitry-le-François, in the Essonne department, and extending into the 
Creuse. These were very localized and sporadic. Alongside the peasants, 
there were merchants, bourgeois, and clerics. It is also interesting to 
identify the sites of the revolts, often peaceful villages or towns today.

In the chronicles, the political dimension is erased, and collective 
action is reduced to mere agitation (commotion), to unrest (emotion). 
Occasionally, an excessive and uncontrolled defensive reaction to 
aristocratic and seigneurial abuses is noted. Contrary to the 
traditional view, the rural Jacquerie was integrated into towns like 
Senlis and Beauvais. And this Guillaume Calle, described as a 
"knowledgeable and eloquent man," commands respect but will be beheaded 
at the Battle of Mello. And after this revolt, how to restore order? 
Victory over the rebels, but also the granting of pardons. Gaëtan Bonnot 
analyzes the content of these pardons with great precision, allowing us 
to go beyond the schematic chronicles. However, the repression was 
ferocious, as the testimonies show by distinguishing between the world 
of the towns and that of the countryside. The vanquished will experience 
a kind of reversed terror. The victors will be distributed land, farms, 
and fairs, like the one in Dormans along the Marne. The judgments 
recounting the alleged offenses are fascinating.

Contempt for the Jacques

The reader is immersed in the life of the century. In the memoirs of the 
nobility and among the political right, contempt for the Jacques, often 
perceived as alcoholics, rapists, and destroyers, remains undiminished. 
These are the same labels attributed to the Communards by the Versailles 
government. Over time, they are periodically mentioned, notably during 
the French Revolution of 1789, in novels such as Eugène Le Roy's 
*Jacquou le Croquant*, Émile Guillaumin's *La Vie d'un simple*, and 
Gaëtan Bonnot, who draws a connection with more recent tax revolts. 
Towns like Nointel and Montataire name a street or public building after 
Guillaume Calle. It is up to each of us to take up the staff again, the 
simple club raised by the peasants throughout our history, shouting 
their protest.

* Gaëtan Bonnot
The Peasant Revolt,
The Evolution of Terrors from 1358 to the Present Day
PUF Publishing, 2026

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=9158
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en