1351: Ordinances on Paris Trades and Military Reforms

At the beginning of his reign, John II attempts to take control of two essential levers: urban economy (prices, wages, labor) and the army (discipline, payment, oversight). War and plague have weakened the social order; governing also means regulating.

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🏙️ January 30, 1351: Trades, Wages, and Social Control

Plague has reduced the labor force and destabilized prices. On January 30, 1351, an ordinance seeks to contain the effects of this tension:

• regulation of prices and wages;
• limitation of vagrancy and begging, perceived as worsening labor scarcity;
• measures on labor organization in Paris, with an effect of stronger competition among artisans.

These policies aim to stabilize, but they directly touch social balances and also nourish resistance.

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🛡️ April 1351: Military Ordinances

In April 1351, John II promulgates ordinances to improve the organization and discipline of an army weakened by setbacks:

• reinforcing the authority of royal command;
• organizing men into companies under responsible captains;
• instituting the “muster” (review) to check manpower and equipment;
• regulating pay and reducing fraud and indiscipline.

These texts testify to a will to move from fragmented feudal mobilization toward a more coherent apparatus, better controlled by the crown.

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⚠️ Incomplete Implementation

Noble resistance and political divisions limit the application of ordinances. Part of the great magnates, sensitive to their autonomy and rights of command, resists serving under stricter royal oversight or fighting in frameworks where hierarchy is regulated. In practice, some captains apply the rules, others ignore them.

Financial constraints worsen this difficulty: without regular pay, the control of discipline and the retention of troops become more difficult, and the state often falls back on levies and arrangements.

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🏹 A Link to Poitiers

In 1356, the defeat at Poitiers reveals these fragilities: disputed command, unequal tactical discipline, imperfect cohesion, and difficulty in imposing coordinated battle conduct against a more coherent English army, backed by archers and a defensive posture.

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🧠 To Remember

• 1351: the state attempts to regulate labor, prices, and wages after the plague.
• 1351: military reform to discipline and control the war effort.
• Implementation remains unequal, hindered by nobility, factions, and finances.