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French Revolution > Absolutism and the structure of the ancien regime > Flashcards

Absolutism and the structure of the ancien regime Flashcards

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1
Q

What was the ancien regime?

A

An absolute monarchy that was present in France before the Revolution. It consisted of 3 estates that all reported to the King.

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2
Q

4 layers of the French government

A

Central government, Local government, The Intendants and Parliament.

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3
Q

Who was the absolutist king and what powers did this give him

A

King Louis XVI

There are no legal limits to the power over his subjects

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4
Q

What was patronage?

A

Provision of appointments to offices and the granting of privileges.

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5
Q

What were ‘lettres de cachet’?

A

Royal letter from the King warranting a person to be imprisoned without trial

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6
Q

What was ‘Lit de justice’?

A

The king could formally override the remonstrance and order registration of the law (He could continue with making laws even if people opposed them)

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7
Q

Who was the first estate?

A

The clergy

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8
Q

What powers did the Catholic Church have in France?

A

Administered mass
Preforming christenings
Cared for the sick and elderly
Powers of censorship- conveyed royal messages

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9
Q

What percent of the population was the First Estate

A

0.5%

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10
Q

Why was the Church so rich?

A

Owned 10% of the land
Payed no taille (gave large sums of money directly to the king instead called don gratuit)
Didn’t provide military service
Paid by the tithe
Escaped tax on their land

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11
Q

Criticisms of the Church

A

Church has too much control
Clergy men were prosecuted in Church courts
Plurality
Absentism (having so many positions in the church that you neglect the others)
Class divide in the church- cardinals, bishops + archbishops were like nobles but some clergy were poorer than their own parishioners.

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12
Q

Who was the Second Estate?

A

The aristocracy

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13
Q

What percentage of french population were in the Second Estate?

A

1.5%

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14
Q

What were the three divisions of the Second Estate?

A

Noblesse d’épée
Noblesse de robe
Princes of the blood

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15
Q

Describe the Noblesse D’épee

A

Nobles of the Sword
Hereditary nobility
Served as ambassadors or councillors, or some remained in the provinces living on their country estates
Sent first child to military and second to church
Some became impoverished over the years and were heavily judged by upper nobility- they called them ‘hobereaux’ (sparrow hawks)

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16
Q

Describe Princes of the Blood

A

They were apart of the Noblesse d’épée
Members of the Kings own family
Top nobility

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17
Q

Describe Noblesse de robe

A

Acquired their positions because of venal jobs they did. (bought their positions)
You could also marry into nobility
Preformed legal +administrative duties around towns/cities in France
Usually looked down on working in business and trade but by the 1780s there were business nobles in France.

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18
Q

Who was the Third Estate?

A

Everyone else in France

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19
Q

What percentage of the population were in the Third Estate

A

98%

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20
Q

The bourgeoisie in the Third Estate

A

Wealthiest part of the Estate
Relied on their skills for income
Thrived in the expansion of trade and commerce in the 18th Century
Merchants, Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, Artists, Small-Scale Traders, Craftsmen
Wealthiest part of the bourgeoisie lived a life similar to those in the Second Estate or even better of that of an impoverished nobleman.

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21
Q

What was life like for the urban workers in the Third Estate?

A

Lived in poor housing and crowded streets
Better off than peasants
Mixed with fellow workers- They were literate so they started to share ideas/ read pamphlets about things such as new ideas (Voltaire)
Brewers, Carpentry
Disconnected from other classes
Reading rates for urban workers goes up

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22
Q

Why was life tough for the peasants?

A

Constantly being taxed
Couldn’t poach otherwise you would get hanged
seigneur makes the peasants become subject to dues like the champart (paid in grain or produce) or the cens (paid in cash)
Peasants had to be tried in seigneurial courts
Seigneur keeps all the male cattle/pigs so he has a charge to breed animals

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23
Q

Who were the bottom of the regime?

A

Day labourers, tramps, beggars, prostitutes
They were very feared

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24
Q

Why were things for the Third Estate getting worse?

A

France population 22 million in 1705 -> 28 million in 1709
Increased demand for farms
French agriculture isn’t efficient (strip farming)
Price of goods are going up whilst income is only slowly increasing
[ Wages rose by 22% but prices rose by 65%
Seven Years War introduced new taxes

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25
Q

Other taxes

A

Third Estate payed the tithe to the Catholic Church
Peasants living in a seigneurie payed a cens (land royalty) and champart (a share of the harvest) to their lord. Also we’re subject to the corvée which was an obligation to provide unpaid labour on infrastructure like roads.

26
Q

What happened to taxes through the 1700s and why were people upset about this?
(historian)

A

French taxes rose in some areas and fell in others.
Gail Bossenga ‘the real problem with french taxation seems not to have been it’s crushing weight but it’s inequities, inefficiencies and imperviousness to true reform’
In other words, the taxation system was the same as being grossly overtaxed because it was so unfair.

27
Q

Restrain on the absolute monarchy

A

‘fundamental laws of the king’
Unwritten principles which limited absolute powers
Based on beliefs about the roles of God, the monarch and his subjects (upholding Christian morality
Expected to consult others on the formulation of policy, such as Royal Councils

28
Q

What were the different councils called?

A

Royal councils

29
Q

What were these councils called and what did they do?

A

Couseils d’Etat (Council of State)
State and foreign major affairs

Counseil des Dépêches
Received despatches from the King
Church affairs

Counseil Royal des Finaces
State finances and household costs
From 1787 also handled economic policy

30
Q

Who hindered the council’s power?

A

Power fell into the hands of independent, influential individuals who conducted private business with the King.

31
Q

How separate were the provinces?

A

No single law or culture is present in each province
Different dialects

31
Q

How many provinces were there in the 1780s?

A

30-35

31
Q

What were the roles of the attendants?

A

Used to achieve centralisation of the French monarchy
Kept central government informed of local problems in each province
Responsible for finance, policing and justice

32
Q

What were the intendants?

A

Administrative officials in the provinces
Served as an agents

33
Q

Examples of duties intendants did

A

Ensure taxes are paid and that the king’s edicts were carried out
Presiding over local courts
Raising troops but they had to obtain an order

34
Q

Provincial governors- who were they and what did they do?

A

King’s representatives
Responsible for provinces and maintaining order

35
Q

What were the pays d’etats?

A

6 areas in France that negotiated

36
Q

Seigneurs

A

Exercised considerable influence
Ran their own courts

37
Q

How many governors were there in 1779?

A

39

38
Q

3 examples of indirect taxes

A

Taille
Tabelle
Corvees royales

39
Q

How many parlements were there?

A

13

40
Q

What was the job of the parlements?

A

They were sovereign courts
Heard both civil and criminal cases local courts couldn’t solve
Controlled guilds, corporations and markets as well as local government finance, law and order.

41
Q

Most important job of the parlements?

A

Registering each of the King’s edicts to conform with legislation and provincial codes

42
Q

How did parlements check royal power?

A

They could critise decrees and ask the King to think again about an edict- ‘remonstrance’

43
Q

Who were in parlement?

A

Atleast 12 magistrates who had bought their positions
From these were usually intendants and Crown ministers

44
Q

Tension between parlement and the King

A

From 1763 the Paris Parlement blocked a series of reforms which resulted in Louis XV trying to abolish parlements altogether in 1771. In 1774 they were restored by Louis XVI, but they were still not easy to manage.

45
Q

When did Louis XVI become the Dauphin and what is it?

A

1765
Given to the oldest son of the King (the heir to the throne)

46
Q

When did Louis XVI take the throne?

A

1774

47
Q

When did Louis XVI marry Marie Antoinette and why was this positive?

A

1770
United the enemy nations of France and Austria

48
Q

Who was Marie Antionette?

A

The daughter of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa

49
Q

Why was the marriage of Louis and Marie unpopular?

A

Austria was blamed for the French defeat in the Seven Years War

50
Q

Why was Louis unsuited to the role of King?

A

He was weak willed, shy, introverted and indecisive

51
Q

How was the King centre of life in Versailles ?

A

Gave royal favours
Ultimate dispenser of patronage

52
Q

Why was Louis’ position a sacred one?

A

Gods representative (Divine Right of Kings)
Anointed with sacred oils at his coronation

53
Q

Diamond necklace affair: What was it and what was the consequence?

A

1770 King Louis XV ordered for the creation of a 2 million livres diamond necklace (30 million today) and he died before it was paid.
Marie Antionette refused to buy it as she both didn’t like it and she was critiqued for spending too much money.
An obsessed cardinal bought it for her but instead he was conned and gave it to a thief.
As a result Marie-Antoinette’s reputation went down as people said she asked the cardinal to buy it for her.

54
Q

Diamond necklace affair: What was it and what was the consequence?

A

1770 King Louis XV ordered for the creation of a 2 million livres diamond necklace (30 million today) and he died before it was paid.
Marie Antionette refused to buy it as she both didn’t like it and she was critiqued for spending too much money.
An obsessed cardinal bought it for her but instead he was conned and gave it to a thief.
As a result Marie-Antoinette’s reputation went down as people said she asked the cardinal to buy it for her.

55
Q

Why was Marie-Antoinette critiqued for living on a small farm on her estate?

A

It made her unpopular as she could never truly relate to the peasant life.

56
Q

In what ways was the peasant life a struggle?

A

Prices and rent had gone up by 2/3 whilst wages only went up by 1/4.

57
Q

Young’s writing about life before the French revolution

A

‘To what are we to attribute this difference in the manners of the lower people in the two kingdoms? To government’
Change would come
Focused on forests and hunting

58
Q

Some of examples of why conditions were bad in France pre-revolution

A

Leather making smelt
Waste was dumped in the Siene
4x4km in the city held 1/2 million people whereas in Versailles they had 67,000 square meters.

French Revolution (4 decks)

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