Guillaume Cale

Guillaume Cale (sometimes anglicized to William Kale, also known as Guillaume Caillet, popularly known as Jacques
Bonhomme ("Jack Goodfellow") or Callet) was a wealthy peasant from the village of Mello near Beauvais, who became leader of
the peasant Jacquerie which broke out in May 1358 and continued for a month unchecked until the Battle of Mello on 10 June. Cale's
origins are unknown; it is not clear how old he was at the time of the uprising, nor is anything known about his family and business
ties, except that he was a reasonably well-off farmer.

The Jacquerie
In 1358 the Beauvais was perhaps the only region of France that had remained
unaffected by twenty years of warfare with England. It was still prosperous despite
the impact of the Black Death, and maintained its wealth under the protection of the
household troops of the French king and the other nobles who lived in and around
Paris, depending on the region for food and for taxation income. However, in 1356,
King John II was captured by the English at the battle of Poitiers. His exorbitant
ransom began to drain the already depleted French treasury and the authority Guillaume Cale by the sculptorVictor
exercised by the nobility diminished. In the spring of 1358 violence broke out in Nicolas (plaster statue, 1934).
Paris, as a clothier named Étienne Marcel seized the city with an army of townsmen,
drove out the Dauphin and formed a revolutionary commune, presided over by
Marcel.

Cale was sympathetic to the Parisians, and so when a similar rebellion began to ferment in the Beauvais region, he rose to become its
leader, forming bands of peasants, villagers and brigands into a fairly cohesive though ill-equipped force. Cale and his supporters
were able to overcome the scattered opposition from noble bodyguards and retainers and take control of the region. Loosely
organized, the rebel bands ran amok, killing hundreds of nobles, retainers, and their wives and families amid scenes of brutality. Cale
was joined by contingents from the towns of Senlis, Clermont and Creil and eventually could field 5,000 men, including several
minor nobles, whose military experience gave his force structure.

Cale conducted a campaign of reduction against local castles and forts designed to give his army more mobility, and his troops were
substantial enough that they were able to menace local towns into feeding them under threat of destruction. The rebellion spread all
around Paris, and it was said flames could be seen from the walls on all sides. Amongst the castles taken was a royal dwelling at
Montmorency, which was burnt to the ground.

On 7 June, just a few weeks after the uprising began, Cale drew his forces up on a hill near his hometown of Mello and awaited the
arrival of a force of nobles and mercenaries commanded by King Charles II of Navarre, which had been despatched to crush the
rebellion. In an attempt to distract the advancing force, Cale sent 800 men to Meaux, where the Dauphin was sheltering with his
family. Dauphin Charles fled, leaving his wife and daughter to be besieged in the castle of Marché. This did not however divert the
King of Navarre, whose force arrived on 10 June. Promising safe passage, Charles of Navarre offered Cale a chance to discuss treaty
terms in his camp, an opportunity Cale accepted. He left his lines, having prepared an efficient defense and entered the lines of the
opposing forces. Charles did not however keep to his word and Cale was seized. The army of Jacques was destroyed in the ensuing
Battle of Mello.

Cale was taken in irons to Clermont where, following torture, he was beheaded in the town square, along with some of the remnants
of his army. (Some accounts offer that he was tortured to death by being crowned with a red-hot crown.)

The Jacquerie was destroyed and major reprisals were undertaken against the peasants who had threatened the social order of
medieval France.
References
Sumption, Jonathan, Trial by Fire, Faber and Faber, Great Britain: 1999. ISBN 0-571-13896-9

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