This statue doesn’t show a king… but the man who defied the monarchy
Étienne Marcel, a Parisian cloth merchant born in 1315, was not destined to make history by birth, but by courage. In 1355, he became provost of the merchants and took advantage of the king’s absence, held prisoner in England, to impose the Great Ordinances in 1357, limiting royal power.
When the Dauphin Charles refused to comply, Marcel rose up in Paris. He welcomed the King of Navarre and organized militias wearing red and blue hoods, symbols of the capital. By 1358, the Dauphin finally gave in… but history took a dramatic turn.
Marcel’s failed attempt to rally the peasants at Meaux weakened him. Cornered, he turned to the Anglo-Navarrese allies, provoking the anger of the Parisians. On July 31, 1358, Étienne Marcel was assassinated, bringing to a brutal end a revolt that could have changed the course of history.
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