The Fronde
series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653
The Fronde was a civil war fought in France between 1648 and 1653. The term comes from the French noun for slingshot, and was originally a derogatory term for the rebels.
The conflict derived from opposition to the centralising policies pursued by the government of Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin. These in turn were a response to the financial crisis caused by French involvement in the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648, and the ongoing Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659). It can be divided into two parts, the first from 1648 to 1649, generally known as La Fronde des Parlements, followed by La Fronde des Princes from 1650 to 1653. Both resulted in victory for the ruling regime.
Origins
The Fronde arose from French involvement in the recently concluded Thirty Years' War, combined with the ongoing Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659). Paying for these wars forced the government under Cardinal Mazarin to raise taxes, the majority of which were paid by the bourgeoisie, whose power base lay in the regional Parlements. The most significant was the Parlement of Paris, which refused to register the new decrees, claiming they represented an assault on established rights.
They were initially supported by members of the regional nobility, who had lost power and influence under Mazarin's predecessor, Cardinal Richelieu, but hoped to regain these privileges.
“The Fronde” enters the record as series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fronde, series and civil can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q656186. The Library of Congress control number is sh85052063. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1648, 1653, 1635 and 1659.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Fronde” 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.