From 1410 to 1415 France was a prey to civil war between the Armagnacs and Burgundians, and to their alternate successes and reverses brought about by the unscrupulous employment of the most odious and desperate means.

The Burgundians had generally the advantage in the struggle, for Paris was chiefly the centre of it, and their influence was predominant there.

Their principal allies there were the butchers, the boldest and most ambitious corporation in the city.

For a long time the butcher-trade of Paris had been in the hands of a score of families the number had been repeatedly reduced, and at the opening of the fifteenth century, three families, the Legoix, the St.Yons, and the Thiberts, had exercised absolute mastery in the market district, which in turn exercised mastery over nearly the whole city.
"One Caboche, a flayer of beasts in the shambles of Hotel-Dieu, and Master John de Troyes, a surgeon with a talent for speaking, were their most active associates.

Their company consisted of 'prentice-butchers, medical students, skinners, tailors, and every kind of lewd fellows.
When anybody caused their displeasure they said, 'Here's an Armagnac,' and despatched him on the spot, and plundered his house, or dragged him off to prison to pay dear for his release.