La révolte des Tuchins : banditisme social ou sociabilité villageoise ?

Abstract

The Revolt of the Tuchins : Social Banditism or Village Sociability ? - Traditional historiography looks upon the revolt of the Tuchins as a movement led by asocials and outcasts. Taking the opposite view, this article attempts to demonstrate that the Tuchins were on the contrary perfectly integrated into Languedocian society. From the example of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, it appears that the Tuchin movement, very active in Languedoc between 1380 and 1384, was organized around the urban as well as the rural networks of sociability since recruits came at the same time from village communities as well as from town suburbs. The revolt of the Tuchins, a reaction of self defense by individuals and communities alike fighting for survival at once against the ravages of roving bands and against fiscal levies, was doubtlessly an extreme form of sociability.

Two Kinds of Freedom: Language and Practice in Late Medieval Rural Revolts

“…The Norman brigans de bois, like the Auvergnat Tuchins, were reacting against English occupation of the territory which had entailed widespread pillaging in the countryside. Their movement has been interpreted in different ways but can probably best be understood as 'a reaction of self-defence against a pattern of raiding which… put the survival of peasant communities at risk' 109 Rural self-defence could look suspicious to political elites. It cut to the heart of the justification for peasant subjection as the consequence of seigneurial protection from violence.…”