Jacquemart (bellstriker)

A jacquemart (sometimes jaquemart and also called a quarter-jack) is an automaton, an animated, mechanised figure of a person, usually made from wood or metal, which strikes the hours on a bell with a hammer.

One of the oldest and best-known jacquemarts is found on the south tower of the cathedral Church of Notre Dame of Dijon: it was installed by Philippe II of Burgundy in 1383.

Other well-known historic jacquemarts are found on top of the Zytglogge[1] tower in Bern, Switzerland and the Moors on the Torre dell'Orlogio di San Marco in Venice, Italy.

The origin of the word is disputed, but one theory relates it to a tool called a 'jacke', used by the craftsmen building church towers, the steeplejacks.

In the South-West, the only existing one is that of Lavaur, located at the top of the bell tower of the Saint-Alain cathedral.