The Harelle (; from
''haro'') was a revolt that occurred in the French city of
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
in 1382 and followed by the Maillotins uprising a few days later in Paris, as well as numerous other revolts across France in the subsequent week.
[ France was in the midst of the ]Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, and had seen decades of warfare, widespread destruction, high taxation, and economic decline, made worse by bouts of plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
. In Rouen, the second largest city in the kingdom, the effects of the war were particularly felt.
Tensions had been building nationally for nearly a year following the death of Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
; on his deathbed he repealed many of the war taxes he had previously imposed. With the re-imposition of the taxes months later, a localized revolt, led by Rouen's guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
s, occurred in the city and was followed by many similar such incidents across the kingdom. Charles VI traveled with an army led by his uncle and regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
, Philip the Bold
Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and '' jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg.
Philip II was ...
, Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...
, from Paris. Paris itself revolted shortly after the army left the city. After returning to Paris to deal with the rebels there, the Duke and King traveled with an army to Rouen to end the revolt. The leaders of the Harelle in Rouen feared execution on the scale that occurred in Paris, and resolved to not resist the army. Twelve leaders of the revolt were executed, the city's rights were revoked, it was put under the rule of a royal governor, and a fine of 100,000 franc
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...
s was imposed. Despite the victory, the King was unable to re-enforce the taxation that prompted the revolt, and spent most of the next two years putting down similar tax revolts around the kingdom that followed the example of Rouen. The Harelle was one of many popular revolts in late medieval Europe
Popular revolts in late medieval Europe were uprisings and rebellions by (typically) peasants in the countryside, or the bourgeois in towns, against nobles, abbots and kings during the upheavals of the 14th through early 16th centuries, part of a l ...
, including the English peasants' revolt of 1381
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...
one year earlier, all part of a larger crisis of the Late Middle Ages
The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages was a series of events in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that ended centuries of European stability during the Late Middle Ages. Three major crises led to radical changes in all areas of society: demog ...
.
Background
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
, King of France
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...
died in 1380 and on his deathbed repealed all of the royal taxes at the suggestion of his confessor, to better prepare his soul for the afterlife. France was in the midst of the Hundred Years War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...
with England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The kingdom was entirely dependent upon the royal taxes for the prosecution of the war effort, and their repeal resulted in the collapse of the war effort for a period of time. Complicating matters was that Charles' successor, Charles VI, was a minor and was under the regency of his three uncles, the Dukes of Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
, Berry
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...
, and Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
*County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duke ...
. Louis, Duke of Anjou was the senior regent, but the three disagreed on policies for France. The plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
and war had ravaged the kingdom, and the heavy taxation increased poverty in many parts of the country. The cities were particularly affected, as people abandoned the countryside for the security of the larger walled cities. England was having similar financial difficulties, and the high taxation led to the Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...
there in 1381.
By 1382 an agreement for managing the country had been agreed to, with Philip, Duke of Burgundy left to manage the administration. After several failed attempts to have taxation approved by the councils and estates general of the numerous French principalities, the Duke resolved to reimpose the gabelle
The ''gabelle'' () was a very unpopular tax on salt in France that was established during the mid-14th century and lasted, with brief lapses and revisions, until 1946. The term ''gabelle'' is derived from the Italian ''gabella'' (a duty), itself ...
, a sales tax on salt, and the aides
Aides may refer to:
* AIDES, a French non-governmental organization assisting people with HIV/AIDS
* ''Aides'' (skipper), a genus of skippers of family Hesperiidae
* Aides (tax), a French customs duty during the time of Louis XIV
* Hades, a Gree ...
, a customs duty
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
. The representatives of Paris were summoned before the King on January 16 and individually pressured to approve the imposition of the new tax. Under duress they agreed, but the news only gradually became known to the public. The Duke, as was customary at the time, appointed tax farmer
Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contract ...
s to collect the tax.
Rouen
The first violence to break out as a result of the re-imposition of the taxes occurred in Rouen, the second largest city in the kingdom. On February 24, a group of men led by draper
Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher.
History
Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...
Jean le Gras, began sounding the great bells of the city's commune. Another group of men seized and closed the gates of the city, and a large mob quickly filled the streets. The mob was drawn largely from the poorest section of the city and was referred to as "la merdaille" (meaning approximately "shit-stinking rabble") by a local chronicler. The initial target of the mob was the wealthy, the town's councillors, the churches, and the tax farmers. Few people were killed, but there was widespread destruction. The mob looted every major building in the city. As the day progressed, the leaders of the mob directed the attack against any building thought to contain public records. All records containing evidence of rents, lawsuits, debts, rights and privileges were destroyed.[
A mob left the city and attacked the nearby Abbey of St. Ouen where they destroyed the gallows and entered the abbey to recover the city's charter, which had been granted to the city by ]Louis X Louis X may refer to:
* Louis X of France, "the Quarreller" (1289–1316).
* Louis X, Duke of Bavaria (1495–1545)
* Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse (1753–1830).
* Louis Farrakhan (formerly Louis X), head of the Nation of Islam
{{hndis ...
after a similar rebellion in 1315. The abbot managed to escape to a nearby castle, but a large part of the abbey was destroyed. The charter was put on a large pole and paraded around the city. It granted significant individual rights to the citizens, but the document was rarely enforced in the normal times. The leaders of the city were rounded up and forced to take an oath and swear to abide by the charter. The riots lasted three days. The Archbishop of Rouen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Ar ...
William V de Lestranges, who held feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
rights over the city, was captured and forced to renounce his claims to the city.[Sumption, p. 444]
The Duke of Burgundy recruited a small army from the garrisons in and around Paris and set out for Rouen accompanied by Charles VI and several other high officials. After being gone from the city only two days, they learnt that a far more violent revolt had broken out in Paris, and quickly turned the army to return to the capital.[
]
Paris
On March 3, the tax farmers began to collect the new tax in Paris. Violence began in the market of Les Halles
Les Halles (; 'The Halls') was Paris' central fresh food market. It last operated on January 12, 1973, after which it was "left to the demolition men who will knock down the last three of the eight iron-and-glass pavilions""Les Halles Dead at 200 ...
. About five hundred men attacked collector's booths, beating several collectors to death. The mob quickly grew into the thousands and attacked the Place de Grève
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
in search of weapons. They located a large store of iron mallets; Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: '' Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthuria ...
coined the term "maillotins", so naming their revolt.[ The newly armed mob spread out across the city attacking buildings where anything of value was thought to be. Churches, businesses, the homes of the wealthy, and government buildings were all looted. The ''hôtel'' of the Duke of Anjou was seized and used as a headquarters. The mob began to attack wealthy individuals, government officials, business owners, and moneylenders, beating them to death. The riot quickly degenerated into a ]pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
, and the Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
section of the city was attacked. Hundreds of Jews were murdered, their children forcibly baptized.[Sumption, p. 445]
The city's royal captain, Maurise de Treseguidy, led his small contingent in an attempt to stem the violence. The mob quickly ran chains across the streets and began to attack the soldiers, who were forced to flee. The government of the city fled along with most of the royal administration and met with the King and the returning army. What military forces remained held onto the Grand Châtelet The Grand Châtelet was a stronghold in Ancien Régime Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, on the site of what is now the Place du Châtelet; it contained a court and police headquarters and a number of prisons.
The original building on the s ...
, a fortified royal building in the city.[
When the king arrived at the gates of Paris on March 5, the Duke of Burgundy negotiated with leaders of the mob from the city walls. They offered to submit and allow the king to reenter the city if he met three conditions: abolish all royal taxes, release certain individuals imprisoned by the Duke in recent months, and grant amnesty to everyone who had been involved in the Parisian revolt. The Duke replied that the King would release the prisoners, but not meet their other demands. Fresh violence immediately erupted in the city. The mob attacked the Chatelet and killed several soldiers who were unable to escape. The prisons of the city were opened and everyone released. During the night, however, the mob faded away and leaders of the city's guilds took control of the situation. They too refused to open the gates and offered to negotiate with the King. The King and his army seized posts overlooking the city and stopped river traffic into the city, cutting off its primary source of food. The Duke of Burgundy summoned a large army of retainers from his domains, and the Dukes of Brittany and Anjou sent forces to assist in suppressing the rebellion.
]
Resolution
News of the revolts in Rouen and Paris spread across France, and many other places followed suit. Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
, Dieppe
Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France.
Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...
, Falaise
Falaise may refer to:
Places
* Falaise, Ardennes, France
* Falaise, Calvados, France
** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War
* La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France
* The Falaise escarpment in Quebec ...
, Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[Orléans
Orléans (;]["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Rheims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...]
were all seized by rebels who followed the pattern established by Rouen and Paris.[ The cities were looted, the wealthy persecuted, the Jews proscribed, and public records destroyed. More revolts occurred across the south of France, and the ]Estates of Languedoc
The Estates of Languedoc was the provincial assembly for the province of Languedoc during the ancien regime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior" ...
who were meeting to consider granting a new tax, dispersed without making the much needed grant. Phoebus Gaston, Count of Foix
The Count of Foix ruled the independent County of Foix, in what is now Southern France, during the Middle Ages. The House of Foix eventually extended its power across the Pyrenees mountain range, joining the House of Bearn and moving their court ...
, repudiated the lieutenancy of the Duke of Berry over southern France and raised an army set up his own administration after seizing Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
. The largely autonomous areas of Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, and Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
, where the royal government had no taxing authority, were the only parts of the country to avoid a revolt. Tax collection became impossible which in turn made raising a substantial army to deal with the revolution nearly impossible, forcing the royal council to compromise. The King agreed to repeal the taxes and offered amnesty to all those involved, but they were required to submit to mediation. After regaining admittance to Paris, the leaders of the Parisian revolt were rounded up and executed.[Sumption, p. 447]
With control of Paris reestablished, the King and the Duke took the army and again set out for Rouen. The city put up no resistance and opened the gates when the king arrived on March 29. Their leaders feared execution, but most were spared. Only twelve leaders of the revolt were executed, the city's bells were confiscated, the gates of the city symbolically thrown down, a 100,000 franc
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...
fine imposed, the city charter was revoked and Rouen was put under the administration of a royal governor.[
The government was unable to reimpose the taxes needed to continue the war effort in the short term, and considerable effort had to be put forth to reassert authority in all the cities were revolts had occurred. The king refused to call a meeting of the Estates General, but numerous local councils were summoned to meet in ]Compiègne
Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''.
Administration
Compiègne is the seat of two cantons:
* Compiègne-1 (with 19 c ...
, where minor taxation concessions were made to partially fund the war effort. Over the course of the next year the Duke of Burgundy set forth a plan to strengthen the government's position and gradually arrested and executed their opponents. It was not until 1387 that the last of the issue of taxation was finally resolved, in favor of the king. The collapse of government revenues hastened the government to negotiate the Truce of Leulinghem
The Truce of Leulinghem was a truce agreed to by Richard II's kingdom of England and its allies, and Charles VI's kingdom of France and its allies, on 18 July 1389, ending the second phase of the Hundred Years' War. England was on the edge of f ...
, a long truce lasting several years with the English while they attempted to reassert their power.[Sumption, p. 459]
References
Sources
*
External links
The Harelle Revolt
{{Tax resistance
Conflicts in 1382
1382 in Europe
1380s in France
14th-century rebellions
History of Rouen
Popular revolt in late-medieval Europe
Rebellions in France
Hundred Years' War
Tax resistance in France
Medieval anti-Jewish pogroms
Massacres of Jews
14th-century massacres
Jewish French history
Antisemitism in France