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Barricade
(3 syl.) To block up. The term rose in France in 1588, when
Henri de Guise returned to Paris in defiance of the king's order. The
king sent for his Swiss Guards, and the Parisians tore up the pavement,
threw chains across the streets, and piled up barrels filled with earth
and stones, behind which they shot down the Swiss as they passed
through the streets. The French for barrel is barrique, and to
barricade is to stop up the streets with these barrels.
The day of the Barricades:
(1) May 12th, 1588, when the people forced Henri III to flee from
Paris.
(2) August 5th, 1648, the beginning of the Fronde War.
(3) July 27th, 1830, the first day of le grand semain which
drove Charles X, from the throne.
(4) February 24th, 1848, which drove Louis Philippe to abdicate and
flee to England.
(5) June 23rd, 1848, when Affre, Archbishop of Paris, was shot in his
attempt to quell the insurrection.
(6) December 2nd, 1851, the day of the coup d'état, when Louis
Napoleon made his appeal to the people for reelection to the Presidency
for ten years.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Barricade from Infoplease:
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