MARCEL, ETIENNE (d. 1358), provost of the merchants of Paris under King John II., is mentioned as provost of the Grande-Confrerie of Notre Dame in 135o, and in 1354 he suc ceeded Jean de Pacy as provost of the Parisian merchants. His po litical career began in 1356, when John was made prisoner of ter the battle of Poitiers. In conjunction with Robert le Coq, bishop of Laon, he played a leading part in the states-general called to gether by the dauphin Charles on Oct. 17. A committee of eighty members, constituted on their initiative, pressed their demands with such insistence that the dauphin prorogued the states-general; but financial straits obliged him to summon them once more on Feb. 3, 1357, and the promulgation of an edict of reform was the consequence. John the Good forbade its being put into effect, whereupon a conflict began between Marcel and the dauphin, Marcel endeavouring to set up Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, in opposition to him. The states-general assembled again on
Jan. 13, 1358, and on Feb. 22, the populace of Paris, led by Marcel, invaded the palace and murdered the marshals of Cham pagne and Normandy before the prince's eyes. Thenceforward Marcel was in open hostility to the throne. After vainly hoping that the insurrection of the Jacquerie might turn to his advantage, he next supported the king of Navarre, whose armed bands in fested the neighbourhood of Paris. On the night of July 31 Marcel was about to open the gates of the capital to them, but Jean Maillart prevented the execution of this design, and killed him before the Porte Saint-Antoine.
See F. T. Perrens, Etienne Marcel et le gouvernement de la bour geoisie au xive siecle (186o) ; P. Fremaux, La Famille d'Etienne Marcel, in the Memoires of the Societe de l'histoire de Paris et de Pile de France (1903) , vol. xxx. ; and Hon. R. D. Denman, Etienne Marcel (1898).