AGRARIAN REVOLUTIONS OF THE PAST 31 



the Hundred Years' War reversed conditions and 

 brought great suffering to the peasant proprietors. 

 Their fields were laid waste by invading armies and 

 the rural population became the prey of underpaid 

 soldiers and lawless marauders. It was during this 

 period that the great peasant rising, called the 

 Jacquerie, occurred (1358). This was a civil war 

 between the nobility and the peasantry. The spirit 

 of rebellion swept over a large area of the country 

 and became a serious menace to life and property. 

 The peasantry swore to put the nobles to death 

 and proceeded to carry their threat into execution. 

 The historians tell us that "everywhere at night 

 the skies were aflame with burning castles. Lords 

 and ladies were massacred or tortured with brutal 

 barbarity." The organized armies of the nobility, 

 however, were able to overcome the poorly clothed 

 and inadequately equipped peasants, and the insur- 

 rection was stamped out. This peasant rising is 

 significant because it is one of the few attempts 

 of the French peasantry to right their wrongs by 

 force of arms. 



As the Hundred Years' War progressed, the differ- 

 ences between peasants and landlords increased. 

 Many landlords became capricious, overbearing and 

 increasingly unjust. This general attitude is par- 

 tially explained by the fact that they were experi- 

 encing great privations as a result of the long con- 

 tinued war activities. It caused the peasant pro- 

 prietors to organize secretly for self -protection. In 



