HiSCoD

Description (langue originale) : -

Description (anglais) : ‘In 1637 the Croquants of nearby Perigord set the record for militancy and made the term ‘‘Croquant’’ a feared household word. ln that year special military levies increased the taille by a third […]. The response astounded the authorities. When an archer who was delivering the tax commissions was asked by an old woman in the village of Notre-Dame des Vertus what he was carrying, he replied jokingly that it was ‘‘the gabelle’’. Seemingly out of nowhere the tocsin rang out and 5,000 men marched forth and besieged the city of Périgueux, which was considered the tax collectors' base of operations. They demanded that they be given the city's cannons and that the gabeleurs be turned over to be killed. This was a clear conflict bctween the towns and the countryside. When the city closed its gates, the peasants proceeded to lay waste the rural homes of known gabeleurs and held a great rally in a field outside the city. There they elected Antoine du Puy, sieur de La Mothe La Forêt, as their ‘‘general’’ and sent messengers throughout the province to summon more men. Two other nobles, Antoine de Ribeyreix, 'the Turk', and Léonde Laval, baron de Madaillon, emerged as leaders. All three were from the genuine lesser nobility‘.