Paysans massacrant un noble

This miniature from the Chronicles of Froissart depicts peasants attacking a nobleman in a scene of collective violence set in the context of the great popular revolts of the late Middle Ages. The image emphasizes the brutal reversal of the social order: a fallen knight is struck by several attackers, while in the background appear a fortified town, a military encampment, and other armed figures. Through its composition, the work stresses the disorder, fear, and violence of uprisings that marked certain phases of the Hundred Years’ War, especially episodes associated with the Jacquerie. As is often the case in illuminated manuscripts, the scene does not aim at exact realistic reconstruction, but at a vivid and memorial representation of the breakdown of seigneurial order.