While the social reforms of the French Revolution had been well received by the majority of the populace of France, the Revolution's strongly anti-Catholic stance had created anti-republican sympathies in many Roman Catholics. In March 1793, this sentiment boiled over into an armed insurrection in the fiercely Catholic Vendée region of western France. Under leaders like François de Charette de la Contrie and Louis d'Elbée, a rebel army, titled Armée catholique et royale now proved to be a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary Government in Paris. The rebels were known as Chouans, a title which comes from early royalist leader Jean Cottereau’s nickname Jean Chouan. He was known for his perfect imitation of an owl’s cry, a noise which had become the rallying cry of the insurgents of Vendée.