JACQUERIE, THE, an insurrection of the French peas antry which broke out in the Ile de France and about Beauvais at the end of May 1358. The hardships endured by the peasants in the Hundred Years' War and their hatred for the nobles who oppressed them were the principal causes which led to the rising, though the immediate occasion was an affray which took place at the village of Saint-Leu between "brigands" (militia infantry armoured in brigandines) and country-folk. The latter having got the upper hand united with the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages and placed Guillaume Karle at their head. They destroyed
numerous châteaux in the valleys of the Oise, the Breche and the Therain, where they subjected the whole countryside to fire and sword, committing the most terrible atrocities. Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, crushed the rebellion at the battle of Mello, and the nobles then took violent reprisals upon the peasants, mas sacring them in great numbers.
See Simeon Luce, Histoire de la Jacquerie (1859 and 1895). (j. V.)