The Harelle (French pronunciation: [aʁɛl]; from haro) was a revolt that occurred in the French city of Rouen in 1382 and followed by the Maillotins uprising a few days later in Paris, as well as numerous other revolts across France in the subsequent week.[1] France was in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, and had seen decades of warfare, widespread destruction, high taxation, and economic decline, made worse by bouts of plague. In Rouen, the second largest city in the kingdom, the effects of the war were particularly felt.
Tensions had been building nationally for nearly a year following the death of Charles V; on his deathbed he repealed many of the war taxes he had previously imposed. With the re-imposition of the taxes months later, a localized revolt, led by Rouen's guilds, occurred in the city and was followed by many similar such incidents across the kingdom. Charles VI traveled with an army led by his uncle and regent, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, from Paris. Paris itself revolted shortly after the army left the city. After returning to Paris to deal with the rebels there, the Duke and King traveled with an army to Rouen to end the revolt. The leaders of the Harelle in Rouen feared execution on the scale that occurred in Paris, and resolved to not resist the army. Twelve leaders of the revolt were executed, the city's rights were revoked, it was put under the rule of a royal governor, and a fine of 100,000 francs was imposed. Despite the victory, the King was unable to re-enforce the taxation that prompted the revolt, and spent most of the next two years putting down similar tax revolts around the kingdom that followed the example of Rouen. The Harelle was one of many popular revolts in late medieval Europe, including the English peasants' revolt of 1381 one year earlier, all part of a larger crisis of the Late Middle Ages.