Generalissimo Jacques Cathelineau was a French Vendéan insurrectionist leader during the Revolution. He was known among his followers as the Saint of Anjou.
Jacques Cathelineau (1759-1793), généralissime vendéen, by Girodet (1816)
Engraving of Jacques Cathelineau
The Vendeans ask Cathelineau to lead the uprising, by Jules Gabriel Hubert-Sauzeau, 1900
The War in the Vendée was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loire in western France. Initially, the revolt was similar to the 14th-century Jacquerie peasant uprising, but the Vendée quickly became counter-revolutionary and Royalist. The revolt headed by the newly formed Catholic and Royal Army was comparable to the Chouannerie, which took place in the area north of the Loire.
Henri de La Rochejaquelein at the Battle of Cholet in 1793, by Paul-Émile Boutigny
The massacre of 150 to 200 Vendean Republicans by Vendean Royalists in Machecoul was the starting event of the War in the Vendée.
Vendean rebel. Painting by Julien Le Blant
Sacred Heart patch of the Vendean royalist insurgents. The French motto 'Dieu, le Roi' means 'God, the King'.
