#chouannerie

Most Chouans took a nom de guerre, mainly to hide their identities and spare their families from retaliation, but also because it was creepier for the Blues to have to fight a guy calling himself “Stab-Everyone” than some peasant named Jan Valjan.

Chouan noms de guerre fell into eight main categories:

Physical Descriptions: Le Blond, Belle-Jambe, Frisé, La Gaieté, Jambe-d'Argent, Brûle-Moustache

Geography: Flaire-Andouille, Montfort-la-Canne, La France, l'Empire

Military Vocabulary: La Giberne, Carabine, Mousqueton, Le Canonnier, Mitraille, Housard, Le Chasseur, Rochambeau

Useful Qualities: Rapide, Vif-Argent, Fend-l'Air, Vol-au-Vent, Frappe-d'Abord, Sans-Peur, Le-Petit-Sans-Peur, Va-Sans-Peur, Cœur-de-Lion, Carpar, l'Intrépide, Vaillant, Bon-Conseil, Franc-Coeur, La Volonté, La Victoire, l'Invincible, Sans-Pareil

Committed: Cœur-de-Roi, Sans-Regret, Sans-Chagrin, Bénédicité, Chambort

Tryhard: Danse-à-l'Ombre, Tranche-Montagne, Frappe-à-Mort, Placenette, Sabre-Tout, Brise-Bleu, Court-Bleu, Le Vengeu, Sans-Quartier, Sans-Pitié, Sans-Rémission

WTF:  Bas-d'Argent, Petit-Profit, Brin-d'Amour, Blanc-d'Amour, La Musette, Chante-en-Hiver, Cadet-Roussel, Beau-Séjour, Beau-Soleil, Gobe-Soleil, Gueule-d'Empeigne

Vegetation: La Violette, La Giroflée, La Rose, Fleur-de-Rose, Branche-d'Or, Pomme-d'Or, L’Épine, Fleur-d'épine, Belle-Vigne, La Ramée

Sources: 

Lettres sur l'origine de la Chouannerie et sur les Chouans die Bas-Maine, Jacques Duchemin Descepeaux, Paris, 1825:  Volume 1  Volume 2

“Histoire de la Ville de Saint-James-de-Beuvron”, Mémoires de la Société Académique du Contentin, Volume 10, Victor-Jacques-François Ménard, Avranches,1894

The fourteenth-century Château de la Bretesche, rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century after being fought over by Republicans and Breton counter-revolutionaries, then ravaged by fire, during the French Revolution.