Étienne Marcel

Like Jacob van Artevelde in Flanders, his upbringing in the urban upper class brought him close to the powerful; he grew up at a time when towns were becoming a political force, especially Paris, which was the largest city in western Europe (its population in about 1328 is estimated at 200,000 people).

In conjunction with Robert le Coq, Bishop of Laon, Marcel played a leading part; a committee of eighty members, formed by the two, pressed their demands for new taxes with such insistence that the Dauphin dismissed the body.

Financial straits, not least dealing with the ransom for King John, obliged the Dauphin to summon them once more on 3 February 1357, with the consequence being the promulgation of a great edict of reform.

After vainly hoping that the insurrection of the Jacquerie might turn to his advantage, he next supported the King of Navarre, whose armed bands infested the neighbourhood of Paris.

[2] Marcel was assassinated by the guards at the Porte Saint-Antoine;[1] the Parisian bourgeoisie believed he had gone too far in opposing the king, and thought he might hand over the city to the English.