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 ...

nais silk workers, often working on Jacquard looms. They were primarily found in the Croix-Rousse 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 commune of the Rhône department, eastern France. Composer Claude Terrasse and inventor Barthélemy Thimonnier were born in L'Arbresle. Population See also * Communes of the Rhône department The following is a list of t ...

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 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 * Cha ...

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 Spool may refer to: *Bobbin, a cylinder or reel on which a quantity of thread, yarn or wire is wound for use in a particular machine or device * Cable reel, used to carry various types of electrical wires *Spool (record label), active 1998–2008 ...

'') 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 Croix-Rousse 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 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 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 duri ...

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 was an unemployed canut when he created the character Guignol and his eponymous puppet show for children, supposedly in his own image. Cervelle de canut (lit. ''silk worker's brains'') is a cheese spread/dip, a Lyonnais speciality. The dish is a base of fromage blanc, 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 medicina ...

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 ...

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 quanti ...

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: ...

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 ...

. 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