Quotation from: A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 3

Written by: Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot


The victory of Rosebecque was a great cause for satisfaction and pride to
Charles VI. and his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy. They had conquered on
the field in Flanders the commonalty of Paris as well as that of Ghent;
and in France there was great need of such a success, for, since the
accession of the young king, the Parisians had risen with a demand for
actual abolition of the taxes of which Charles V., on his death-bed, had
deplored the necessity, and all but decreed the cessation. The king's
uncles, his guardians, had at first stopped, and indeed suppressed, the
greater part of those taxes; but soon afterwards they had to face a
pressing necessity: the war with England was going on, and the revenues
of the royal domain were not sufficient for the maintenance of it. The
Duke of Anjou attempted to renew the taxes, and one of Charles V.'s
former councillors, John Desmarets, advocate-general in parliament,
abetted him in his attempt. Seven times, in the course of the year 1381,
assemblies of notables met at Paris to consider the project, and on the
1st of March, 1382, an agent of the governing power scoured the city at
full gallop, proclaiming the renewal of the principal tax. There was a
fresh outbreak. The populace, armed with all sorts of weapons, with
strong mallets amongst the rest, spread in all directions, killing the
collectors, and storming and plundering the Hotel de Ville. They were
called the Malleteers. They were put down, but with as much timidity as
cruelty. Some of them were arrested, and at night thrown into the Seine,
sewn up in sacks, without other formality or trial. A fresh meeting of
notables was convened, towards the middle of April, at Compiegne, and the
deputies from the principal towns were summoned to it; but they durst not
come to any decision: "They were come," they said, "only to hear and
report; they would use their best endeavors to prevail on those by whom
they had been sent to do the king's pleasure." Towards the end of April
some of them returned to Meaux, reporting that they had everywhere met
with the most lively resistance; they had everywhere heard shouted at
them, "Sooner death than the tax." Only the deputies from Sens had voted
a tax, which was to be levied on all merchandise; but, when the question
of collecting it arose, the people of Sens evinced such violent
opposition that it had to be given up. It was when facts and feelings
were in this condition in France, that Charles VI. and the Duke of
Burgundy had set out with their army to go and force the Flemish communes
to submit to their count.

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