C'est la Guerre - Parade Ground

OK, so it is pretty darn unlikely that the Jacquerie would ever fight alongside the French army despite what the army list notes say, but I like them anyway. They are fairly cheap, can be good at storming a given terrain feature, and provide a convenient set of fortifications to secure one flank of your army.

[Grand Ferre] The actual Jacquerie movement seems to have not lasted more then several weeks from May 21, 1358 when it started until June 9th and 10th when they were defeated decisively at Meaux and Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, so I’m not even sure why the list allows you to run them from 1356 until 1360. They may simply represent independent, desperate peasants and not necessarily the Jacquerie. I gave them flags of red and blue since the uprising in Paris led by Etienne Marcel reportedly had banners of those colors and the Parisiens gave the Jacks aid during their ephemeral existence.

The lone figure at the head is Grand Ferré, who is something of a legendary figure among the peasants that were independently fighting against the the general infestation of goddam English in northern France after the defeat of the French at Poitiers. He reportedly dispatched several dozen of them before succumbing to, I believe, drinking too much cold water.

The connection of Enguerrand de Coucy with putting down the rebellion is interesting to note. Froissart’s account states: “After that route at Meaux, there were no more assemblies of the Jacks, for the young Lord de Coucy, whose name was Sir Enguerrand, placed himself at the head of a large company of knights and squires who wiped them out wherever they found them, without pity or mercy.”