Les Gueux

[ ley gœ ]

noun

1. a league of Dutch and Flemish patriots, composed chiefly of nobles and formed in 1566 to resist the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition into the Netherlands.
2. (later) any of various Dutch or Flemish partisan groups organized to gain independence for the Netherlands from Spain.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Les Gueux¹

< French: literally, the beggars

Example Sentences

D’Israeli noticed that sometimes, politicos hijacked a “contemptuous name,” making it their own: The “first revolutionists of Holland” — known as Les Gueux or the Beggars — “accepted the name as much in defiance as with indignation, and acted up to it.”

From Time

The words caught on, and the hall resounded with loud cries of “Vivent les gueux!”

From Project Gutenberg

Formed in the 16th Century to harass Spanish conquerors, Les Gueux was revived last year by students of the Nazi-shuttered Universities of Delft and Leiden.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was at a banquet at the Hotel Culemburg on the 8th of April, presided over by Brederode, that the sobriquet of les Gueux, or “the Beggars,” was first given to the opponents of Spanish rule.

From Project Gutenberg

Le Grenier, Le Roi d'Yvetot, Roger Bontemps, Les Souvenirs du Peuple, Les Fous, Les Gueux, cover a considerable variety of tones and subjects, all of which are happily treated.

From Project Gutenberg