Jean Chouan

Who was Jean Chouan?

Jean Chouan was the nom de guerre of the Frenchman, Jean Cottereau, who was born at Saint-Berthevin, near Laval, in the department of Mayenne on 30 October 1757 and died 18 July 1794 at Olivet, also in Mayenne. He was a counter-revolutionary, an insurrectionist, and a staunch royalist.

Of the four Cottereau brothers, — Jean, Pierre, François, and René, — Jean, the second-born, was the one called chouan by their father. Others say his nickname came from an imitation of the call of the tawny owl he customarily used as a recognition signal. Less flatteringly, Jean's young comrades nicknamed him "the boy liar".

The 1926 Luitz-Morat film, Jean Chouan, starred Maurice Lagrenée as Chouan.