Great Fear

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The "Great Fear" (French: la Grande Peur) occurred in July and August of 1789 in France at the start of the French Revolution. Rumors spread among the peasantry that nobles had hired brigands to march on villages and destroy the peasants' new harvest, adding to this was the lack of good harvests (due to freak weather) beginning in 1787.

In response, peasants ransacked the castles of the nobles and burned documentation recording feudal obligations. These documents were known as terriers and were stored in chateaux.

Historian Mary K. Matossian argued that one of the cause of the Great Fear was consumption of ergot, a hallucinogenic fungus. In years of good harvests, wheat with ergot was thrown away, but when the harvest was poor, the peasants could not afford to be so choosy. ^[1].

The Great Fear was most intense between 20 July and 6 August, and partly explains why the nobility and the clergy surrendered their privileges on the Night of 4 August.

This event led to the abolition of serfdom and feudal obligations, and brought up the need for a new social structure. Even during months of July and August many communities took legal action against their feudal lords which forced them to submit their feudal titles for judicial review, and refused to pay their dues during the trial.

The Great Fear was largely responsible for the National Constituent Assembly's dismissal of feudal rights and obligations; this in effect led to the general unrest of the nobility of France.