True or False: The Jacquerie was a peasant revolt in France.

The story behind the answer

The Jacquerie erupted in 1358 in northern France, when rural communities—exhausted by the Hundred Years’ War, heavy taxation, and the chaos following the capture of King John II—rose against the nobility. Peasants attacked manor houses and targeted lords they felt had failed to protect them from raids and devastation. The revolt’s name comes from “Jacques” or “Jacques Bonhomme,” a dismissive term for peasants.

Led in part by Guillaume Cale and briefly intersecting with urban unrest in Paris, the movement spread rapidly but was crushed within weeks by noble forces, notably under Charles of Navarre. Brutal reprisals followed. The Jacquerie became a symbol of medieval social tensions, foreshadowing later uprisings like the English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.