What does “Montjoie!” St Denis !” shouted at Macron’s face? – Release

“Montjoie! St Denis ! Down with macronie “, it is by launching this cry, a royalist slogan, that a man attacked the President of the Republic by slapping him, this Tuesday noon in Tain-l’Hermitage, near Valence (Drôme). If the exact profiles of the attacker and another man who accompanied him, both arrested in the wake, have not yet been detailed by the authorities, the public prosecutor of Valencia has confirmed the content of the cry that we can clearly hear in the video facts that very quickly circulated on social networks. He also said that the two arrested are 28 years old and without a criminal record.

This is not the first time that a politician has been attacked by a man shouting this slogan. In April 2018, already, the deputy of rebellious France Eric Cocquerel had been entarted by an activist of the French Action who had launched the same words to him. An action then claimed on Twitter by the extreme right-wing royalist group which accused the elected official of having “Organized the desecration of the Saint-Denis basilica” (in reality the occupation of the building by a collective of undocumented migrants) and accompanied his tweet with a hashtag repeating what is a war cry inherited from medieval times.

Rallying cry of the royal armies

“Montjoie! St Denis !” is a rallying cry that was used by the French royal armies. Its origin dates back to the kings of the Capetian dynasty but there is no historical consensus on the date of its appearance. It could have been used during the battle of Bouvines between the troops of Philip II Augustus and those of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Otto IV, in 1214. “Montjoie” designates, among others, at the time the banner behind which gathers the host – the medieval army – as it marches into battle as well. Saint-Denis is the patron saint of the kings of France and also refers to a banner of the same name, a red banner dotted with golden flames, behind which gathered the French knights. This war cry remained in force until the 16th century.

Later the expression was popularized by the film visitors (1993) in which Godefroy de Montmirail, played by Jean Reno, makes the war cry his own with his famous “Montjoie! Saint-Denis, what pass if I weaken! “

– .