Harelle

[1] France was in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, and had seen decades of warfare, widespread destruction, high taxation, and economic decline, made worse by bouts of plague.

With their re-imposition months later, a localized revolt, led by Rouen's guilds, occurred in the city and was followed by many similar such incidents across France.

The new king, Charles VI, accompanied troops led by his uncle and regent, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, from Paris.

Twelve leaders of the revolt were executed, the city was stripped of its independent councils and placed under royal governorship, and a fine of 100,000 francs was imposed.

Despite the victory, the King was unable to re-enforce the taxation that prompted the Harelle and would spend much of the new two years suppressing other revolts that had sprung up in its wake.

Charles V, King of France died in 1380 and on his deathbed repealed all of the royal taxes at the suggestion of his confessor, to better prepare his soul for the afterlife.

The kingdom was entirely dependent upon heavy taxation for the prosecution of the war effort; their repeal led to an immediate suspension of fighting as there was no money to pay for it.

[3] Plague and war had ravaged the kingdom, while the collection of high taxes shrunk the economy and led to a significant rise in poverty.

On February 24, a group of men led by draper Jean le Gras, began sounding the great bells of the city's commune.

The mob was drawn largely from the poorest section of the city and was referred to as "la merdaille" (meaning approximately "shit-stinking rabble"[7]) by a local chronicler.

The mob pillaged every major building in the city, ransacked the courts and the houses of government, and documents listing rents, lawsuits, debts, rights and privileges were destroyed.

[1] The Duke of Burgundy recruited a small army from the loyal garrisons in and around Paris and set out for Rouen accompanied by Charles VI and several other high officials.

They offered to submit and allow the king to reenter the city if he met three conditions: abolish all royal taxes, release certain individuals imprisoned by the duke in recent months, and grant amnesty to everyone who had been involved in the Parisian revolt.

Phoebus Gaston, Count of Foix, repudiated the lieutenancy of the Duke of Berry over southern France and raised his own army after seizing Toulouse.

The largely autonomous areas of Provence, Brittany, and Burgundy, where the royal government had no taxing authority, were the only parts of the country to avoid a revolt.

Over the course of the next year the Duke of Burgundy set forth a plan to strengthen the government's position while ordering the continued arrest and execution of his enemies.