Maillotins

(from French maillet or maillot, “mallet”; sometimes known in Russian historical literature as the molotoboitsy\ participants in the uprising of 1382 in Paris, caused by the aggravation of the tax burden during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453).

A direct cause of the Maillotin uprising was the introduction in January 1382 of an indirect tax (aide). The uprising broke out on March 1 during the first attempt to collect this tax. The maillotins—primarily apprentices, day laborers, and small-scale traders—seized the weapons (including mallets) that were stored in the city hall and began to ransack the homes of the tax collectors, rich burghers, and the aristocracy. The guild elite, who at first were attracted to the movement, became frightened of its scope and entered into negotiations with the royal authorities. The latter promised to abolish the tax on condition that the initiators of the uprising be turned over (they were subsequently executed). The collection of the taxes was temporarily halted by the king. When the government attempted to restore this tax, disturbances were renewed in Paris during the summer of 1382. It was only in early January 1383 that the Maillotin uprising was finally crushed.