It begins in 1815 (Napoleon 1st is already exiled to St Helena), at Combenegre, a poor farm dependant on the lands of the château, where the Ferral were farmers for the Count of Nansac. Following the murder of Laborie, manager of the château, Martissou, his father, is condemned to hard labour where he died shortly afterwards. Marie, obliged to quit Combenegre, took refuge in a hovel at Bars, where she died in her turn. Jacquou is left alone, an orphan at 9 years. Despite being alone in the world, he sets out and gleans a little work here and there, hungry often and sleeping in ditches. He ends up at Fanlac and goes to sleep at the foot of the old well, exhausted. The priest of the village, Bonal, accepts him and sets about his education; litlle by little Jacquou gains his form, but never forgets the injustice which made his parents die.. On the death of the kind priest Bonal, Jacquou, who visits Lina, takes on the work of coal miner with his friend Jean. He also poaches in the woods of the count. One evening he is caught by the counts guards, who lock him up in the dungeon of the château ; not seeing his friend and believing him dead. Lina throws herself into the Gour (a cave near Thenon); during this time the knight Galibert, friend of Bonal, frees Jacquou, threatening the count with reprisals. Jacquou is free, but, on learning of the death of his beloved, he gathers around him all who have a grudge against the count, andf God knows, there are lots; one evening the burn the château. Nansac is in ruins. Jacquou comes back to L’Herm where he marries and takes back his work as a quiet farmer.

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Extrait de la plaquette : Sur les pas de Jacquou le Croquant en Dordogne disponible sur les lieux de tournage et les lieux réels de l'histoire (donc vous pouvez l'avoir à l'Herm !). Crédits Photos : Numériques : COS AELENEI / Argentiques : PASCALITO.

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The campaign rumbles and grinds in the Perigord as well and in 1594 erupts in its turn; civil war, the pestilence and fretful crowds. A huge uprising grips the countryside that has had enough.
The sporadic movement reaches its climax on the night of August 4 th , which saw the abolition of the privileges. The country folk or “croquants” are suffering all sorts of unhappiness – disease, taxes, religious war and war with the English, which leaves the mercenaries lay waste the country between two campaigns. In 1594 the civil war in France, which has lasted 30 years, has left lots of unhappiness locked up the lords dungeons. Will these years never be avenged?
The revolt grinds on, in the Bas-Limousin the country folk renounce their rights with violence; the movement has started. On 27 th March 1594 , one of the chiefs, La Sagne, led a group of “croquants”. Again in 1637, 60,000 “croquants” raised the cry “vive le roi sans taille, vive le roi sans gabelle”, and several of the gentry joined them.
Antoine du Puy de la Mothe, assisted by Madaillan, de Bessou and Bouchard of Aubeterre is name general of the “croquants”. The insurgents take the town of Bergerac where La Mothe takes the role of mayor and levies a tax to cover the upkeep of his army. The region of Agen rises up in its turn organized by the weaver Buffarost, 2000 “croquants” are entrenched at Sauvetat d'Eymet; their chief taken prisoner and hung at Monpazier 16 th August 1637.
In the Bordeaux region, 8000 “croquants” assembled in the forest of Abzac. In the Dordogne, 15,000 men rallied at Atur and marched on Grignols. 10,000 men in the north of the department at Excideuil and laid waste to Chateau-L'Eveque; from 1638 to 1642 , a labourer, Pierre Grellety held the forest of Vergt under the nose of the sergeants of the king. The “jacquerie” rumbled on in the countryside with bands operating here and there, but towards the end of 1642, an armistice is declared throughout the whole of the Perigord.

The action took place in a small commune in the Dordogne at Saint-Mayme de Pereyrols, during the reign of Louis XIII. In 1638, a captain of the kings troop looked to enroll a force of young recruits, and took Jean Grellety; his brother, a simple labourer came out of a house and killed the captain. Thus was the beginning of a miserable time in the forest of Vergt, but little by little, convinced by the justice of his act, he rejoined the revolution against the oppression.
At the head of his band, in the heart of the forest of Vergt, he fought off the king’s armies for four years. Lightweight and mobile they could move freely through the forest, disciplined and well-armed they were a true guerilla army. It was in September 1640 that Grellety showed his real military talents; with only 200 men he obtained an honorable victory against 3000 well-trained soldiers. Richelieu, fed up with the quarrels with the “paysans”, poisoning the life in the south-west of France, and especially this guerilla who was cutting the route towards Spain, proposed an end to these activities.
On 25th January 1642, Pierre Grellety received from the king a letter granting a general amnesty to all his men, and for him, the position of captain in the king’s army and post of the city of Verneuil in Italy.