The Parliament of Rouen had always passed for one of the most recalcitrant. The province of Normandy was rich, and, consequently, overwhelmed with imposts; and several times the Parliament refused to enregister financial edicts which still further aggravated the distress of the people. In 1637 the king threatened to go in person to Rouen and bring the Parliament to submission, whereat it took fright and enregistered decrees for twenty-two millions. It was, no doubt, this augmentation of imposts that brought about the revolt of the Nu-pieds (Barefoots) in 1639. Before now, in 1624 and in 1637, in Perigord and Rouergue, two popular risings of the same sort, under the name of Croquants (Paupers), had disquieted the authorities, and the governor of the province had found some trouble in putting them down. The Nu-pieds were more numerous and more violent still; from Rouen to Avranches all the country was a-blaze. At Coutances and at Vire, several monopoliers and gabeleurs, as the fiscal officers were called, were massacred; a great number of houses were burned, and most of the receiving-offices were pulled down or pillaged. Everywhere the army of suffering (armee de souffrance), the name given by the revolters to themselves, made, appeal to violent passions; popular rhymes were circulated from hand to hand, in the name of General Nu-pieds (Barefoot), an imaginary personage whom nobody ever saw. Some of these verses are fair enough.
[Illustration: The Barefoots——221]
TO NORMANDY.
“Dear
land of mine, thou canst no more
What
boots it to have served so well?
For
see! thy faithful service bore
This
bitter fruit—the cursed gabelle.
Is
that the guerdon earned by those
Who
succored France against her foes,
Who
saved her kings, upheld her crown,
And
raised the lilies trodden down,
In
spite of all the foe could do,
In
spite of Spain and England too?
“Recall
thy generous blood, and show
That
all posterity may know—
Duke
William’s breed still lives at need:
Show
that thou hast a heavier hand
Than
erst came forth from Northern land;
A
hand so strong, a heart so high,
These
tyrants all shall beaten cry,
’From
Normans and the Norman race
Deliver
us, O God of grace!’”