Great Ordinance of 1357
Encyclopedia
The Great Ordinance of 1357 was an edict
through which Étienne Marcel
attempted to impose limits on the French monarchy, in particular in fiscal and monetary matters.
renaissance, medieval society had evolved considerably. Europe had made great technical, artistic and demographic advances. Towns had developed, creating new social classes centred on the trades and commerce. Just as agricultural society had adapted to a feudal and religious system where nobility protected the lands and dispensed justice, so the new classes of craftsmen and merchants needed to be free to develop their business enterprises. With more and more matters of state to attend to, kings and their lords could no longer rule alone, and had to delegate part of their judicial powers to parliaments and other courts of justice.
In England, the setbacks that John
(considered as illegitimate and as usurping the throne from his brother Richard the Lionheart) faced against the Dauphin
(heir apparent) led city-dwellers in 1215 to impose the Magna Carta
on the king, a charter that instituted liberty for the cities and parliamentary checks on royal taxation. In France the Capetians
held onto their power while favoring the development of strong cities as a counterbalance to strong (often over-strong) nobles. Starting with Philip IV
, this was done by favouring the development of villes franches (towns granted special franchises), and by consulting with legislative assemblies known as States-General
for making important decisions. In fact, the royal domain
was considerably extended and most of the dukedoms progressively became appanage
s entrusted to the king's sons, avoiding the progressive division of the Capetians' possessions.
In France, the outset of the Hundred Years' War
had been catastrophic and royal power was greatly contested after the defeat at Crécy
in 1346. In effect, Philip VI
was enthroned to the detriment of Edward III
thanks to a series of legal technicalities. In the same way, Charles II of Navarre
(called "Charles the Bad") was a pretender to the throne, his mother Jeanne having been removed in order to avoid a powerful foreigner taking control of France by marriage. In this era the nobility justified the divine essence of its power by chivalrous
conduct, especially on the battlefield. Thus, Crécy was a disaster against a very numerically inferior army and Philip VI fled, calling into question the divine legitimacy of the Valois. This disrepute was worsened by the appearance of the Black Death
in 1348, supporting the idea that this dynasty was not supported by God. Edward III and Charles of Navarre therefore saw their chance to emphasize their respective claims to the crown of France and attempted to win over the cities then losing hope in the institution of a controlled monarchy
.
In 1356, at the Battle of Poitiers
, King John the Good
- not wanting to flee as his father had after Crécy - fought heroically and was captured by the English, but acquired an enormous prestige. His son, and Dauphin, Charles
, who was able to leave the battlefield, assumed the regency and attempted to negotiate with England. The grandes compagnies (demobilized mercenary soldiers) pillaged the countryside, and to counteract them the Dauphin suggested a permanent army of 30,000 men. To raise such an army, he had to raise taxes, and so he summoned the States-General.
The États généraux
Étienne Marcel
, provost
of the merchants of Paris
became head of the Third State in the States-General of 1355 and 1356. In 1355 the Hundred Years' War reignited, and John the Good had to convene the States-General, to finance his army of 30,000 men necessary to defend France. They were extremely suspicious of the question of public finances (angered by the devaluations brought about by repeated monetary changes), and would only accept a rise in the salt tax (the gabelle
) if the States-General were able to control the application and the usage of the funds raised by it. The officers who would raise the tax had to be designated by the States-General, and ten representatives had to be on the king's counsel of the king in order to check the finances. This ordinance was ratified on 28 December 1355.
The Battle of Poitiers
occurred on the 19 September 1356. In a new disaster for France, John II came close to victory but he and one of his young sons, Philip the Bold
, were captured.
The beginnings of the Dauphin Charles
's regency were fraught with difficulty: only 18, with little experience or personal prestige (unlike his father and brother he had quit the field of battle at Poitiers), and carrying the shame of the Valois dynasty on his shoulders. He surrounded himself by greatly discredited members of his father's royal counsel.
On his arrival in Paris, 10 days after the battle, he convened a meeting of called the States-General of the langues d'oïl
on 17 October 1356. The deputies of the Third Estate numbered 400. The Dauphin faced a strong opposition - Étienne Marcel headed the Bourgeoisie and the friends of Charles of Navarre regrouped around Robert le Coq
, Bishop of Laon
. Within the States-General, a committee of 80 members, formed on its own initiative to facilitate discussions, supported their claims. The States-General declared the Dauphin the king's lieutenant and defender of the kingdom in his father's absence and assigned him a counsel of twenty men (twelve nobles, twelve bourgeois and four clerks) as foreseen by the order of 1355.
Étienne Marcel sought to reform the government and the administration of the kingdom. In return for allowing the king to raise new taxes, he demanded the discharge of the seven most compromised counselors and the freeing of the King of Navarre. On these conditions, the states were disposed to vote for the period of one year the Dauphin an aid of a décime and a half on all the three orders' revenues. Not powerful enough to refuse these suggestions straight away, the Dauphin postponed his response (on the pretext of waiting for messengers from his father)), dissolved the States-General and left Paris for Metz
to render homage to his maternal uncle emperor Charles IV
. But, lacking money, he soon found himself at the mercy of Marcel, who had seized upon the indignation provoked by a new ordinance to change the currency (published on 10 December 1356) and caused all the corporations to take up arms; the Dauphin had to accept the dismissal of his counsellors, cancel the currency change and recall the States-General, to meet at the start of February 1357. On 3 March, after stormy debates, the Dauphin accepted the promulgation
of the major "grande ordonnance" that had been voted for on 28 December during the States-General of 1355 and that his father had ratified just before departing to fight the English in summer 1356.
commission of twenty-eight representatives, of which twelve would be bourgeois, would be put in charge of discharging faulty officials (particularly the collectors of particularly unpopular taxes). Guilty officials would then be condemned and their wills confiscated. The Dauphin renounced all impositions not voted on by the States-General and accepted the creation of a 36-strong counsel of guardianship that immediately started to put in place reforming measures. Six representatives of the States-General entered the king's counsel, which became the counsel of guardianship, to oversee the royal administration closely: finances and particularly the monetary changes and extraordinary subsidies were to be checked by the States-General. The ordinance also foresaw a fixed currency, no tax exemption for the nobility, the abolition of lords'
right of requisition, and the taking of forage and horses sheltered from pillaging. In exchange for these measures the cities would furnish one soldier for every hundred homes. Five days after the ordinance was promulgated, almost all those who were royal counselors at that moment were exiled, the members of Parlement
and of the Chamber of Accounts
had their posts renewed, the officers of justice and of finances were discharged, and a court of appeal created.
However, the full execution of this ordinance was quickly blocked. The purging committee was set up but only functioned for 5 months. The tax collectors named by the States-General met with hostility from peasants and poor craftsmen. The six representatives on the guardianship counsel were in a minority and the States-General lacked the political experience to keep a permanent check on the Dauphin’s strength, as he took advice and rediscovered his officials' support. The frequent displacements, costly and dangerous in this era, discouraged the provinces' representatives, and the states became less and less representative. Little by little, only the Parisian middle class came to sit in the assemblies. But at last, the King, John the Good
, keeping a good reputation and signing a two year truce with the prosecutors of the Prince of Wales
, disavowed the Dauphin and, from his prison at Bordeaux, on 6 April 1357 banned the reforming ordinance from being applied. Étienne Marcel and Robert le Coq
protested to the Dauphin who, feeling confident in his support from the provinces (the provinces were not following the Parisian population's course of action), in the month of August forbade Marcel and his adherents from taking any part in government and announced that he would rule alone. Le Coq withdrew to his diocese; but Marcel remained at Paris, and took advantage of the Dauphin's departure (who had left to call the States-General together outside the capital) to organize resistance. From then on he planned to oppose the reigning branch of the Valois family, another part of the royal, and found in the person of the King of Navarre, Charles the Bad, already claiming the French throne. A "coup de main" arranged by Marcel enabled the King of Navarre to escape the castle of Ailleux
where he was held, and the Dauphin returning to Paris without money, had to once again convene the States-General for 7 November; under pressure from the heads of the people, he granted his brother-in-law one safe conduct and authorization to return to Paris. On 13 January 1358, the States-General assembled again, but almost no nobles and very few churchmen attended. The representatives departed without having been able to come to an agreement on how to find subsidies. The following 23 January, the Dauphin prescribed an order authorizing the States-General to devalue the currency. Étienne Marcel, noting the failure of his attempts to control the monarchy by legislation, proclaimed he would attempt to control it by force. It does not put back in cause the necessity to have a sovereign one, but it must compose with the one that will leave to him the more of strength. He did question the necessity of a sovereign, but it had to be composed with those who would most check his power. He oscillated between the supposed weakness of the Dauphin and the avarice of Charles the Bad.
Great Ordinance
In French political history, a great ordinance or grand ordinance was an important royal ordinance or decree. The French Estates-General might also adopt one to, for example, grant the king the exclusive right to raise troops, and establish the taxation measure known as the taille in support of a...
through which Étienne Marcel
Étienne Marcel
Etienne Marcel was provost of the merchants of Paris under King John II, called John the Good .Etienne Marcel was born into the wealthy Parisian bourgeoisie, being the son of the clothier Simon Marcel and his wife Isabelle Barbou...
attempted to impose limits on the French monarchy, in particular in fiscal and monetary matters.
Historical context
Since the year 1000 and the ClunyCluny
Cluny or Clungy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km northwest of Mâcon.The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 910...
renaissance, medieval society had evolved considerably. Europe had made great technical, artistic and demographic advances. Towns had developed, creating new social classes centred on the trades and commerce. Just as agricultural society had adapted to a feudal and religious system where nobility protected the lands and dispensed justice, so the new classes of craftsmen and merchants needed to be free to develop their business enterprises. With more and more matters of state to attend to, kings and their lords could no longer rule alone, and had to delegate part of their judicial powers to parliaments and other courts of justice.
In England, the setbacks that John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
(considered as illegitimate and as usurping the throne from his brother Richard the Lionheart) faced against the Dauphin
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
(heir apparent) led city-dwellers in 1215 to impose the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
on the king, a charter that instituted liberty for the cities and parliamentary checks on royal taxation. In France the Capetians
Capetian dynasty
The Capetian dynasty , also known as the House of France, is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of King Hugh Capet of France in the male line. Hugh Capet himself was a cognatic descendant of the Carolingians and the Merovingians, earlier rulers of France...
held onto their power while favoring the development of strong cities as a counterbalance to strong (often over-strong) nobles. Starting with Philip IV
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
, this was done by favouring the development of villes franches (towns granted special franchises), and by consulting with legislative assemblies known as States-General
French States-General
In France under the Old Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...
for making important decisions. In fact, the royal domain
Crown lands of France
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France refers to the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France...
was considerably extended and most of the dukedoms progressively became appanage
Appanage
An apanage or appanage or is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture...
s entrusted to the king's sons, avoiding the progressive division of the Capetians' possessions.
In France, the outset of the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
had been catastrophic and royal power was greatly contested after the defeat at Crécy
Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
in 1346. In effect, Philip VI
Philip VI of France
Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...
was enthroned to the detriment of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
thanks to a series of legal technicalities. In the same way, Charles II of Navarre
Charles II of Navarre
Charles II , called "Charles the Bad", was King of Navarre 1349-1387 and Count of Évreux 1343-1387....
(called "Charles the Bad") was a pretender to the throne, his mother Jeanne having been removed in order to avoid a powerful foreigner taking control of France by marriage. In this era the nobility justified the divine essence of its power by chivalrous
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
conduct, especially on the battlefield. Thus, Crécy was a disaster against a very numerically inferior army and Philip VI fled, calling into question the divine legitimacy of the Valois. This disrepute was worsened by the appearance of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
in 1348, supporting the idea that this dynasty was not supported by God. Edward III and Charles of Navarre therefore saw their chance to emphasize their respective claims to the crown of France and attempted to win over the cities then losing hope in the institution of a controlled monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
.
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
, King John the Good
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
- not wanting to flee as his father had after Crécy - fought heroically and was captured by the English, but acquired an enormous prestige. His son, and Dauphin, Charles
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
, who was able to leave the battlefield, assumed the regency and attempted to negotiate with England. The grandes compagnies (demobilized mercenary soldiers) pillaged the countryside, and to counteract them the Dauphin suggested a permanent army of 30,000 men. To raise such an army, he had to raise taxes, and so he summoned the States-General.
The États générauxFrench States-GeneralIn France under the Old Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...
Étienne MarcelÉtienne Marcel
Etienne Marcel was provost of the merchants of Paris under King John II, called John the Good .Etienne Marcel was born into the wealthy Parisian bourgeoisie, being the son of the clothier Simon Marcel and his wife Isabelle Barbou...
, provost
Provost (civil)
A provost is the ceremonial head of many Scottish local authorities, and under the name prévôt was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France.-History:...
of the merchants of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
became head of the Third State in the States-General of 1355 and 1356. In 1355 the Hundred Years' War reignited, and John the Good had to convene the States-General, to finance his army of 30,000 men necessary to defend France. They were extremely suspicious of the question of public finances (angered by the devaluations brought about by repeated monetary changes), and would only accept a rise in the salt tax (the gabelle
Gabelle
The gabelle was a very unpopular tax on salt in France before 1790. The term gabelle derives from the Italian gabella , itself from the Arabic qabala....
) if the States-General were able to control the application and the usage of the funds raised by it. The officers who would raise the tax had to be designated by the States-General, and ten representatives had to be on the king's counsel of the king in order to check the finances. This ordinance was ratified on 28 December 1355.
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
occurred on the 19 September 1356. In a new disaster for France, John II came close to victory but he and one of his young sons, Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold , also Philip II, Duke of Burgundy , was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and his wife, Bonne of Luxembourg. By his marriage to Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, he also became Count Philip II of Flanders, Count Philip IV of Artois and Count-Palatine Philip IV...
, were captured.
The beginnings of the Dauphin Charles
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
's regency were fraught with difficulty: only 18, with little experience or personal prestige (unlike his father and brother he had quit the field of battle at Poitiers), and carrying the shame of the Valois dynasty on his shoulders. He surrounded himself by greatly discredited members of his father's royal counsel.
On his arrival in Paris, 10 days after the battle, he convened a meeting of called the States-General of the langues d'oïl
Langues d'oïl
The langues d'oïl or langues d'oui , in English the Oïl or Oui languages, are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives spoken today in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands...
on 17 October 1356. The deputies of the Third Estate numbered 400. The Dauphin faced a strong opposition - Étienne Marcel headed the Bourgeoisie and the friends of Charles of Navarre regrouped around Robert le Coq
Robert le Coq
Robert le Coq was a French bishop and councillor.Le Coq belonged to a bourgeois family of Orléans, where he first attended school before coming to Paris. In Paris he became advocate to the parlement ; then John II appointed him master of requests, and in 1351, a year during which he received many...
, Bishop of Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
. Within the States-General, a committee of 80 members, formed on its own initiative to facilitate discussions, supported their claims. The States-General declared the Dauphin the king's lieutenant and defender of the kingdom in his father's absence and assigned him a counsel of twenty men (twelve nobles, twelve bourgeois and four clerks) as foreseen by the order of 1355.
Étienne Marcel sought to reform the government and the administration of the kingdom. In return for allowing the king to raise new taxes, he demanded the discharge of the seven most compromised counselors and the freeing of the King of Navarre. On these conditions, the states were disposed to vote for the period of one year the Dauphin an aid of a décime and a half on all the three orders' revenues. Not powerful enough to refuse these suggestions straight away, the Dauphin postponed his response (on the pretext of waiting for messengers from his father)), dissolved the States-General and left Paris for Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
to render homage to his maternal uncle emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
. But, lacking money, he soon found himself at the mercy of Marcel, who had seized upon the indignation provoked by a new ordinance to change the currency (published on 10 December 1356) and caused all the corporations to take up arms; the Dauphin had to accept the dismissal of his counsellors, cancel the currency change and recall the States-General, to meet at the start of February 1357. On 3 March, after stormy debates, the Dauphin accepted the promulgation
Promulgation
Promulgation is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring a new statutory or administrative law after its enactment. In some jurisdictions this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect....
of the major "grande ordonnance" that had been voted for on 28 December during the States-General of 1355 and that his father had ratified just before departing to fight the English in summer 1356.
The ordinance
The text of this ordinance consisted of 61 articles. Less rigorous than that of December 1355, it sketched out a controlled monarchy and a vast plan of administrative reorganization. It specified that a purgingPurge
In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...
commission of twenty-eight representatives, of which twelve would be bourgeois, would be put in charge of discharging faulty officials (particularly the collectors of particularly unpopular taxes). Guilty officials would then be condemned and their wills confiscated. The Dauphin renounced all impositions not voted on by the States-General and accepted the creation of a 36-strong counsel of guardianship that immediately started to put in place reforming measures. Six representatives of the States-General entered the king's counsel, which became the counsel of guardianship, to oversee the royal administration closely: finances and particularly the monetary changes and extraordinary subsidies were to be checked by the States-General. The ordinance also foresaw a fixed currency, no tax exemption for the nobility, the abolition of lords'
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
right of requisition, and the taking of forage and horses sheltered from pillaging. In exchange for these measures the cities would furnish one soldier for every hundred homes. Five days after the ordinance was promulgated, almost all those who were royal counselors at that moment were exiled, the members of Parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
and of the Chamber of Accounts
Chambre des comptes
Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit...
had their posts renewed, the officers of justice and of finances were discharged, and a court of appeal created.
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
, keeping a good reputation and signing a two year truce with the prosecutors of the Prince of Wales
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
, disavowed the Dauphin and, from his prison at Bordeaux, on 6 April 1357 banned the reforming ordinance from being applied. Étienne Marcel and Robert le Coq
Robert le Coq
Robert le Coq was a French bishop and councillor.Le Coq belonged to a bourgeois family of Orléans, where he first attended school before coming to Paris. In Paris he became advocate to the parlement ; then John II appointed him master of requests, and in 1351, a year during which he received many...
protested to the Dauphin who, feeling confident in his support from the provinces (the provinces were not following the Parisian population's course of action), in the month of August forbade Marcel and his adherents from taking any part in government and announced that he would rule alone. Le Coq withdrew to his diocese; but Marcel remained at Paris, and took advantage of the Dauphin's departure (who had left to call the States-General together outside the capital) to organize resistance. From then on he planned to oppose the reigning branch of the Valois family, another part of the royal, and found in the person of the King of Navarre, Charles the Bad, already claiming the French throne. A "coup de main" arranged by Marcel enabled the King of Navarre to escape the castle of Ailleux
Ailleux
Ailleux is a commune in the Loire department in central France....
where he was held, and the Dauphin returning to Paris without money, had to once again convene the States-General for 7 November; under pressure from the heads of the people, he granted his brother-in-law one safe conduct and authorization to return to Paris. On 13 January 1358, the States-General assembled again, but almost no nobles and very few churchmen attended. The representatives departed without having been able to come to an agreement on how to find subsidies. The following 23 January, the Dauphin prescribed an order authorizing the States-General to devalue the currency. Étienne Marcel, noting the failure of his attempts to control the monarchy by legislation, proclaimed he would attempt to control it by force. It does not put back in cause the necessity to have a sovereign one, but it must compose with the one that will leave to him the more of strength. He did question the necessity of a sovereign, but it had to be composed with those who would most check his power. He oscillated between the supposed weakness of the Dauphin and the avarice of Charles the Bad.