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Jacquerie

American  
[zhahkuh-ree] / ʒɑkəˈri /

noun

  1. the revolt of the peasants of northern France against the nobles in 1358.

  2. (lowercase) any peasant revolt.


Jacquerie British  
/ ʒakri /

noun

  1. the revolt of the N French peasants against the nobility in 1358

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Jacquerie

< French, Middle French, equivalent to jaque ( s ) peasant (after Jacques, a name thought to be typical of peasants) + -rie -ry

Explanation

A jacquerie is an insurrection or revolt, especially by peasants against the ruling class. The original jacquerie was an organized uprising by working class farmers in 14th-century France. Chaos among the nobility had left these peasants charged with risking their lives to defend the palaces against invading English soldiers. They rebelled violently for months, but ultimately lost to the aristocrats. Jacquerie derives from the nobles' mocking nickname for peasants, Jacques, a reference to the padded jackets, or jacques, they wore.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

This, combined with the soaring fiscal burden of near-constant war, set off a series of uprisings, most notably the French Jacquerie of 1358 and the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

From Salon Apr. 26, 2020

We may add, that a Jacquerie had been promised, and that M. Bonaparte could not break all his promises at once without some inconvenience.

From Napoleon the Little by Hugo, Victor

Time has not wiped, time never will wipe from the French memory the fear of a Jacquerie.

From The Abbess Of Vlaye by Weyman, Stanley J.

His opera of La Jacquerie had a run of seventeen nights consecutively at the theatre.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 424 Volume 17, New Series, February 14, 1852 by Chambers, Robert

La Jacquerie is injured to some tastes by excessive indulgence in the grime and horror which the subject no doubt invited.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George

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