The canuts () were

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

nais silk workers, often working on Jacquard looms. They were primarily found in the

Croix-Rousse La Croix-Rousse is a hill high in the city of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a neighborhood located on this hill. The neighborhood is divided into les pentes (slopes, belonging to the city's 1st arrondissement) and le plateau (atop the hil ...

neighbourhood of

in the 19th century. Although the term generally refers to Lyonnais silk workers, silk workers in the nearby commune of

l'Arbresle L'Arbresle () is a Communes of the Rhône department, commune of the Rhône (department), Rhône Departments of France, department, eastern France. Composer Claude Terrasse and inventor Barthélemy Thimonnier were born in L'Arbresle. Population ...

are also called canuts.

Etymology

The word canut may come from an abbreviation of the French expression "Voici les cannes nues!" (''Look at those bare canes!''), as

canes Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...

without any

charm Charm may refer to: Social science * Charisma, a person or thing's pronounced ability to attract others * Superficial charm, flattery, telling people what they want to hear Science and technology * Charm quark, a type of elementary particle * Ch ...

s or

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...

s were considered a sign of poverty. It may equally well come from the word ''canette'' ('' spool'') referring to the spool on which the silk was kept prior to being used.

History

The canuts were

nais silk workers in the 19th century, often working on Jacquard looms primarily in the

neighbourhood. The canuts were subject to extremely poor working conditions. On account of these conditions, they staged many worker uprisings, known as the

Canut revolts The Canut revolts (french: Révolte des canuts) is the collective name for the major revolts by Lyonnais silk workers (french: canuts) which occurred in 1831, 1834 and 1848. They were among the first well-defined worker uprisings of the period kn ...

. The first revolt, in October 1831 is considered to be one of the first worker uprisings. The canuts occupied Lyon, shouting "Vivre libre en travaillant ou mourir en combattant!" (''Live free working or die fighting!'') King

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate List of French monarchs#House of Orléans, July Monarchy (1830–1848), monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, h ...

sent 20,000

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s and 150

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s to suppress the "riot". On February 14, 1834, the canuts revolted a second time, occupying the heights of Lyon. The revolt lasted 6 days before being suppressed by 12,000 soldiers. According to historian Gérard Cholvy, the revolts had a profound effect on the French scholar

Frédéric Ozanam Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam (; 23 April 1813 – 8 September 1853) was a French literary scholar, lawyer, journalist and equal rights advocate. He founded with fellow students the Conference of Charity, later known as the Society of Saint Vincent ...

Other uses

Laurent Mourguet Laurent Mourguet (3 March 1769 – 30 December 1844) was a French puppeteer, creator of the famous puppet Guignol. See also * Guignol Guignol () is the main character in a French puppet show which has come to bear his name. It represents t ...

was an unemployed canut when he created the character

Guignol Guignol () is the main character in a French puppet show which has come to bear his name. It represents the workers in the silk industry of France. Although often thought of as children's entertainment, Guignol's sharp wit and linguistic verve ha ...

and his eponymous

puppet show Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

for children, supposedly in his own image.

Cervelle de canut Cervelle de canut is a cheese spread or dip that is a specialty of Lyon, France. The dish is a base of fromage blanc, seasoned with chopped herbs, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. Its name literally means "silk worker's brain", a ...

(lit. ''silk worker's brains'') is a cheese spread/dip, a Lyonnais speciality. The dish is a base of

fromage blanc ''Fromage blanc'' (; ; also known as ''maquée'') is a fresh cheese originating from the north of France and southern Belgium. The name means "white cheese" in French. ''Fromage frais'' ("fresh cheese") differs from ''fromage blanc'' in that, acc ...

, seasoned with chopped

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the d ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

and

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to et ...

. The canuts were the subject of songs by

Aristide Bruant Aristide Bruant (; 6 May 1851 – 11 February 1925) was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He ...

and Éric La Blanche. In contemporary times, the word canut is often used to talk about citizens of Lyon in general in an affectionate way.

References

External links

Histoire des canuts
* La chanson d'

''Les canuts''
*{{in lang, fr La chanson d'Eric la Blanche
''Les canuts''
19th century in Lyon Society of France