Jack Wambasium. A sort of coat armor, formerly worn by horsemen, not of solid iron but of many plates fastened together, which some persons by tenure were bound to furnish upon any invasion.
Jack-boots. Cavalry boots, made of thick, firm leather, hardened in a peculiar manner. They were sometimes lined with plates of iron.
Jacket. A short, close garment, extending downward to the hips; a short military coat is so called. In the manufacture of ordnance a tube inclosing and reinforcing another tube is called a jacket.
Jack-man. One wearing a jack; a horse-soldier; a retainer.
Jack-screw. See [Implements].
Jacob, St. A Swiss hamlet, about a mile south of Basle, on the Bienne road, and the scene of a great battle fought in 1444, between 1600 Swiss and a vastly more numerous French force, under the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. The Swiss fought for ten hours, slew three times their number of the enemy, but were themselves cut off to 10 men. This battle is known as the “Swiss Thermopylæ.”
Jacobins. One of those clubs which played so conspicuous a part in the first French revolution. In 1792 they took the name of “The Society of the Friends of Liberty and Equality.” Immediately after the fall of the king, the Jacobins began that struggle against the Girondists which ended in the destruction of the latter. After the fall of Robespierre during the Convention they rapidly lost influence, and were at last suppressed.
Jacobites. This name was given to those who, at the English revolution in 1688, adhered to the cause of the dethroned James II. In Ireland the adherents of the Stuarts rose in rebellion, but were vanquished by force of arms. In Scotland attempts were made in 1715 and 1745 by the descendants and adherents of James II. to expel the house of Hanover. Both were unsuccessful, and involved the ruin of many noble families.
Jacob’s-staff. A mathematical instrument for taking heights and distances, used by military engineers.
Jacquerie, Insurrection of the. The name given to the war of the French peasantry, which broke out in 1358. The immediate occasion of it was the enormities perpetrated by Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, and his adherents; but it was really caused by long-continued oppression on the part of the nobles. Suddenly rising against their lords, the peasants laid hundreds of castles in ruins, murdered the nobles, and violated their wives and daughters, practicing every enormity, and acting, as they said, on the principle of doing as had been done to them. For some weeks they were successful; but the magnitude of the danger induced the nobles to make common cause against them, and on June 9 the peasants were defeated with great slaughter near Meaux by Captal de Buch and Count of Foix. This put an end to the insurrection.