Marie Antoinette's

The peasantry of France, in a despair ridden world, had been described as so famished they would risk life for life.  What risks were they taking?  In one instance it was noted attacks were made on private grounds; the slaughter of game for food. Risky business but fair enough.

Other types of 'attacks' on property included an assault on the Abbey of Saint Denis.  The great abbey, final home of France's late kings and queens, sat among many acres of woodland.

Those who lived near the abbey took to cutting down the trees around it, without any permission, of course.  Cart after cart were filled with the trunks of aged trees and hauled off the property quite illegally.  The horse drawn carts made no secret of their cargo, and the wood was transported to villages such as Tremblay and Vert Galant.  The wood was sold there on the public market while wood rangers (those who supplied wood) were threatened with physical harm.

An estimate on the damages caused by the attack on the woodlands of Saint Denis was 60,000 livres! Similar property 'attacks' occurred elsewhere; no attention paid to whose property was being meddled with.