Charles II, Etienne Marcel and the Jacquerie, 1357-1358. Etienne Marcel, provost of the merchants of Paris, the most important position in the Parisian commercial bourgeoisie, takes the lead of this class tired of the military and financial adventures of an ineffective and defeated nobility. Its spokesman is the bishop of Laon, Robert de Coq, a staunch supporter of Charles II. Meanwhile, the prince Don Luis, brother of the Navarrese, sets out with a troop of about 1,500 Basques who parade in Hondarribia and Donibane Lohitzune. They are led by Miguel García, Juan Martínez de Medrano, Bort de Agramont, Mach n de Vergara, Martín Enríquez, Juan Ramírez de Arellano, the Lord of Luxe and Auger de Maule n. Charles II makes a triumphant entry into Paris on November 29, 1357, "carrying, among other cards in his deck, that of being the son of a queen deposed by the first application of the Salic law (Campín)."
There he demagogically addressed the assembled masses to the point of provoking les larmes et les pleurs du peuple . He claimed the French throne as the double grandson of Saint Louis of France: through his father Philip of Evreux and through his mother Joan, daughter of Louis the Hutin. A more direct Capetian than John II "The Good". His prestige grew vertiginously, while the Navarrese troops approached Paris. Etienne Marcel had all of Charles's French assets recognised (3 December), after which he set off for Normandy on a veritable electoral tour. R. Pernoud believed that he saw in it, for the first time in history, the use of personal propaganda. Marcel establishes himself as municipal dictator of Paris (22 February 1358) with the help of Charles, whose troops enter Paris (23 February), but on 25 March, the Dauphin manages to escape from Paris and go on the counter-offensive. Charles II then acts as intermediary the latter, a powerful king in the province, and a Cromwell, master of Paris.
When armed confrontation was inevitable, the famous peasant uprising called the Jacquerie (1358) broke out, and Marcel tried in vain to bring the waters to his mill. Charles "The Bad", driven by an unavoidable class reflex, opposed "the perishability of nobility" (Luce) at the hands of the Jacques and massacred the peasant army on June 10, 1358, near Clermont. Marcel had the Navarrese proclaimed "captain of Paris." But the time of this leader of the bourgeoisie was coming to an end. John's supporters - the nobility, the bourgeoisie in robes, the provinces in general - took advantage of the rebels' insecurity and reorganized. Days after the Navarrese's discreet retreat, Etienne Marcel was assassinated (July 31) and his companions arrested. The red hoods of the supporters of the king of Navarre furent dor navant d laiss s et bien cache s (Venette).