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List of incidents of civil unrest in France

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ20715185
Source-derived summary

This is a list of incidents of civil disorder that have occurred France since the 13th century, including riots, strikes, violent labor disputes, minor insurrections, and other forms of civil unrest.

According to one dataset, there were 8,516 rebellions in France over the period 1661–1789.

13th century

1229: 1229 University of Paris strike, riots at the University of Paris that resulted in a number of student deaths and reforms of the medieval university.

1251: Shepherds' Crusade, attacks on monasteries, universities and Jews.

1257: Revolt in Marseille

1261: Revolt in Marseille

1270: Tax revolt in Cahors

1274: Revolt in Limoges

1276: Revolt in Limoges

1281: Revolt in Rouen

1292: Tax revolt in Rouen

14th century

1307: Revolt in Paris

1309: Crusade of the Poor in northern Europe and notably Picardy, Avignon and Marseille

1320: Shepherds' Crusade, widespread violence in France and Aragon

1338: Peasant revolt near Laon

1347: Tax revolt in Rouen

1351: Tax revolt in Rouen

1358: Jacquerie peasant revolt in northern France

1364: Peasant revolt near Toulouse

1378–1384: Tuchin revolt in southern France

1378–1382: Tax revolts across France, including the Harelle and Maillotins uprisings in Rouen and Paris

15th century

1407–1435: Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War

1413: Cabochien revolt in Paris

1418: Revolt in Châlons-en-Champagne

1418: coup d'état and massacres in Paris

1440: Praguerie, a noble rebellion

1465: League of the Public Weal, a noble rebellion

1485–1488: Mad War, a noble rebellion

16th century

1505: Riot in Nîmes

1506: Riot in Carcassonne

1507: Riot in Nevers

1514: Tax revolt in Agen

1516: Riot in Laval

1519: Revolt in Libourne

1521: Peasant revolt in Lantriac and Velay

1521: Grain riots in Aix, Marseille and Tarascon

1522: Revolt in Meaux

1522: Grain riots in Beauvais and Tours

1523: Revolt of Captain Montélon in Ile-de-France

1525: Riots in Romans

1526: Riots in Dijon

1526–1527: Peasant riots in Sarladais

1528: Wine tax revolt in Bordeaux

1529: Grande Rebeyne in Lyon, riots in Dijon and Troyes

1535: Riot in Foix

1536: Peasant revolt in Provence, tax riot in Le Puy

1537: Fighting between gendarmerie and commons in Albi

1539: Gabelle salt tax revolt in Bordeaux, tax riot in Vermandois

1539–1542: Strikes over printers' wages in Lyon and Paris

1542: Gabelle revolt in La Rochelle, riots in Rouen and Tours

1544: Revolt over taxes and religion in Saint-Maixent

1545: Tax revolts and riots in Niort, Saintes, Périgueux, St Foy, Duras, Rouen and Comminges

1545: Mérindol massacre

1545–1546: Religious agitation across France

1545–1547: Riots in Vitry over real estate speculation

1548–1549: Revolt of the Pitauds in south-west France

1552: Revolt in Nay

1553: Riots in Le Puy

1554: Peasant revolt in Normandy

1560: Amboise Conspiracy, a failed attempt by Protestant nobles and ministers to seize the King.

1560: Maligny Affair: an abortive Protestant uprising in the city of Lyon, backed by nobles and ministers including John Calvin.

1561: Saint Médard Riot, a violent religious action in Paris that saw a church seized and more than ten killed.

1562–1598: French Wars of Religion

1562: 1562 Riots of Toulouse, a series of events that pitted members of the Reformed Church of France (often called Huguenots) against members of the Roman Catholic Church in violent clashes that ended with the deaths of between 3,000 and 5,000 citizens of the French city of Toulouse.

1572: St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “List of incidents of civil unrest in France” is wikimedia list article. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through List, incidents and civil, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1661, 1789, 1229, 1251—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, List, incidents and civil is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20715185. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1661, 1789, 1229 and 1251.

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This entry incorporates text from List of incidents of civil unrest in France” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.