La Jacquerie

This illustration by Henri Louvet depicts the Jacquerie, the great peasant revolt that broke out in 1358 in northern France, in the context of the Hundred Years’ War and the crisis opened by the defeat at Poitiers. The scene shows insurgents launching an assault on a fortified gate with a tree trunk used as a battering ram, while others try to climb or force their way across the defensive structure. The image emphasizes collective violence, improvised methods of attack, and the desperate character of this outburst of popular anger against seigneurial order. Produced long after the events, it is not a contemporary witness but a historical reconstruction that contributes to the imagination of the great social revolts of medieval France.