Collapse of the Ancien Regime (1778-89) Flashcards
How did the Cahiers de doleances contribute to rising tension?
The cahiers de doléances (ledgers of complaints) were compiled in the early months of 1789 as elections proceeded. Around 40,000 were produced amidst much public debate.
The cahier of the parish of Vitry-sur-Seine demanded ‘the total suppression of all privileges whatsoever’.
Increased the expectation amongst both urban civilians and rural peasantry for radical reform (eg motivated the Great Fear). Meant that the meeting of the Estates General was particularly underwhelming and encouraged the population, especially Parisians, that a new constitution was needed under their terms.
Why did the meeting of the Estates General increase tensions? Give date.
- The King’s insistence on ceremonies made clearer distinctions between the estates so contributed to tensions: the 1st and 2nd estate were received in the hall of mirrors but the 3rd estate in a lesser apartment and were made to wait several hours before being let in. The orders were also separated by clothing, with the 3rd estate being made to wear black – 3rd estate felt deliberately undermined
- Downplayed severity of issue – Barentin condemned ‘false and exaggerated maxims’ that had been made
- Necker spoke for 3 hours – very boring and ineffective
- May 1789
Causes of the formation of the NA
The 3rd estate made up 90% of the population and felt themselves to be the nation’s main representatives. The King’s absence due to the death of the Dauphin increased radicalism.
Abbe Sieyes argued that the 3rd estate was ‘the nation’ and had every right to act alone is others refused to join it.
Main events of the formation of the National Assembly
17th June: the 3rd estate voted by 491 votes to 90, to call itself the ‘National Assembly’
19th June: the clergy joined the Assembly, joined by some liberal nobles in the following weeks
20th June:
1. the doors to the deputies’ assembly room were locked and guarded (Louis was making alternations to the room).
2. Led by the Assembly’s elected president, Bailly, they went to the royal tennis court.
3. They signed the ‘tennis court oath’ by which they promised never to disband until France had a new constitution under their terms
23rd June: the royal session took place and Louis accepted to the principle of consent to new taxation and a fairer land tax based on the value of land, not social status.
Members refused to leave in an open act of defiance because Louis continued to use the term ‘Estates-General’ and demanded that the estates should continue to meet separately.
Consquences of the formation of the NA
- Louis was threatened and brought in more troops to Paris: By 4th July there were 30,00 troops in the capital which raised tensions significantly and catalysed the Storming of the Bastille
- Louis refusal to use the term ‘National Assembly’ further persuaded the Parisians of his unwillingness to respond to the needs of the people and make fair reforms
- ‘tennis court oath’ was a direct challenge to Louis’ absolute power – the momentum and intensity of the revolution was dramatically amplified as the Assembly had now promised not to be deterred by challenges posed by the king and to persist in creating a new constitution.
Causes of the Storming of the Bastille
- 30,000 troops in the capital by 4th July
- The King’s dismissal of Necker on 11th July – confirmed popular fears that Louis was seeking to prevent reform and go back on his promises
- High bread prices: by 14th July, bread prices were the highest they had been since 1715
- 1780s was the great age of prison literature (eg Lingoirs ‘Memoirs of the Bastille’ presented the prison as a living death – psychological suffering)
Events of the Storming of the Bastille
- 14th July: a crowd of around 8000 descended on Les Invalides, where 32,000 muskets and some artillery were found – needed gunpowder
- The crowd, accompanied by some member of the National Guard, stormed the Bastille to access the gunpowder and also make a symbolic statement against the absolutist government (and potentially the lettres de cahet)
- Roughly 70 ‘attackers’ killed
Consequences of the Storming of the Bastille
- 17th July: Louis persuaded to go to Paris to address the Parisians, alongside Bailly and Lafayette
- Louis announces the reinstatement of Necker, his acceptance of the NA, Paris Commune, and National Guard
Causes of the Great Fear
- Revolutionary developments in Paris got back to the rural peasants, who believed that the reforms would end their burdens and bring imminent new wealth and status – they refused to pay taxes and attacked landlords’ chateaux
- 1788 Spring drought followed by a bad harvest and bad winter
- Drawing up of the cahiers de doleances created a general expectation of reform amongst the peasantries
- There were rumours circulating that the King/his aristocrats had hired gangs of brigands to destroy their crops and property as a means of establishing political control.
Why was the Great Fear problematic for Louis? Give date too.
- 17th July – 3rd August
- They armed themselves, burnt down fences, hedges and barns
- They sought their masters’ terriers (deeds listing their feudal rights) and records of sales and obligations recording dues owed.
- Few areas left untouched (only Alsace, Lorraine and Brittany)
How was the Great Fear not problematic for Louis?
- Not bloodthirsty: fewer than 20 killed July-August
- Not an organised movement: the Compte de Germany describes ‘a group of criminal and ruffians’ together with his ‘own vassals and other local people’ (200 in all) as being responsible for the attack – looting and personal grievances, not organised attack on the absolute government
The August Decrees (date, nature, terms and response)
- Created overnight between the 4th and 5th August 1789 – rash, radical thinking with little moderation
- Terms:
1. Abolished feudal rights (most without compensation)
2. Abolished ‘tithes and fees’ (which funded the church)
3. ‘every citizens will pay the same taxes on everything’ (although still not proportional to income’
4. ‘Every citizen, whatever their origins are, can hold any ecclesiastic, civilian, or military job’ (no restricted access/opportunity) - On completion, one deputy exclaimed ‘What a nation! What glory. What honour for the French’
Declaration of Rights of Man (date, nature and terms)
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
- 26th August 1789
- Was debated fiercely between deputies over the weeks (contrast to August Decrees)
Terms:
1. ‘Men are born and remain free and equal in rights’ – principle of equality good but very vague
2. ‘The principle of sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body and no individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from it’
3. ‘No man may be harassed for his opinions, even religious opinions, provided their expression does not disturb the public order’ – how do you apply this qualifier?
What happened when the Assembly of Notables met? Why was Calonne eventually replaced with Brienne?
- In February, the Assembly of Notables meet
- The clergy strongly opposed Calonne’s plan to tax the church. This opposition was led by the Archbishop of Toulouse (Brienne)
- Matters made worse by Calonne’s published attack on Necker, revealing that the Compte Rendu was an error. Due to Necker’s popularity, Calonne faced a lot of backlash from the Assembly of Notables, being accused of incompetence and trying to shift the blame onto others.
- Calonne published articles claiming that the nobility were allowing self-interest to stand in the way of tax reform, but this wasn’t always true. Many nobles, including Brienne, were actually influenced by Enlightened ideas and merely distrusted Calonne who they saw as an example of ‘ministerial despotism’
- Calonne is then replaced with Brienne in April.
What did Brienne propose to the Assembly of Notables? Why did Louis then give up on the Assembly?
Brienne’s proposals are actually quite reasonable and rational (extending tolerance to Protestants, deregulated the grain trade, changed the corvee royale into a tax and extended the provincial assemblies, giving local taxpayers the right to vote for these representatives).
But… Brienne was unable to carry out the land tax idea inherited from Calonne, as the Assembly had become fixated on opposing any royal representative.
Louis dismissed the Assembly in May 1787, having realised that it wasn’t going to find any solutions to the financial crisis (‘no taxation without representation’ had become the unanimous cry of the notables)
How did the clash with the parlaments arise? How did Brienne exacerbate this?
- Having dismissed the Assembly of Notables, Louis turns to the parlements to approve his tax changes: he asks the Paris Parlement to register his proposals for a land tax and higher stamp duties but the parlement (predictably, as it contained many of the same notables) said that it didn’t have the power to authorise such changes, though it agreed the principle of reform
- This criticism of the ‘ministerial despotism’ of Louis’ ministers was further amplified when Brienne tried to force the registration of the tax proposals using the lit de justice.
- In July, responding to Brienne’s attempt to implement the tax proposals without authorisation, the Paris parlement petitions the King for an Estates-General. Parisians gathered in support of this demand outside the house of Louis’ liberal-minded cousin, the duc d’Orleans (the home was called the Palais-Royal)
How did Louis respond to the obstinacy of the Paris Parlement? How did Louis then respond to his cousins criticism?
- In August, Louis responds by banishing the Paris parlement to Troyes, but then allows its return in September
- In November, Louis holds a ‘séance royale’, during which the duc d’Orleans makes an outspoken criticism of Louis and exiles him by lettres de cachet (along with two other rebellious members)
What did Louis ultimately give in to regarding the clash with the parlements?
- Louis, though, is forced under pressure from the parlements to call the Estates-General, and he promises to do so ‘by 1792’ (too far into the future, so not being entirely compliant)
What did the parliaments issue in May 1788?
- In May 1788, Parlement issues the ‘Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom’, which, it claimed, could not be changed, even by royal demand – it asserted once more that an Estates-General (which hadn’t been called since 1614) was need to approve the sort of reforms Louis was suggesting
What did Louis and Brienne issue in May 1788?
May 1788: Louis’ last attempt to reform the old institutions of the state within an absolutist framework. It is actually suggested first by Brienne, though, in April.
- New Plenary Court of nobles, officiers and magistrates, appointed by the King, would be responsible for the registration of laws
- The legal duties of the parlements would be transferred to 47 lower courts
- The number of judges in the Paris Parlement would be reduced (basically just resolving
Why did the nobles revolt in 1788?
In response to the May Edicts, the provincial parlements flooded the royal Court with remonstrances and demands to end the lettres de cahet
Brienne continually tried to impose tax reforms: in June 1788, he demanded an enlarged don gratuit but only a quarter of what was expected was provided. Pamphlets attacked Brienne, claiming that ‘the general will’ wasn’t being respected.
Hailstorm on 13th July destroyed many crops, meaning Brienne’s tax demands were even more unlikely to be met.
So… they revolted because of economic instability combined with their dislike of Brienne and the financial pressures he was placing on them (even though it was to improve the economic situation)
Describe the causes and events of the Day of the Tiles
In Grenoble, lots of people are angry because they have been put out of work by the financial crisis (there is a dominant glove-making industry which has recently flopped because of the national crisis)
On 7th June in Grenoble, ordinary peasants but also members of the nobility attacked royal officials and intendents. It was triggered by the reading out of Brienne’s edicts in a marketplace, and quickly escalated into a mass riot with the rioters laying siege to the governor’s house.
Royal troops had to come and restore order but were pelted with stones and roof slates and were far too few in numbers. They make a mess of it and kill a 12 year old boy as well as a hatter (ordinary worker).
What is the response of Marie-Antoinette to the Day of the Tiles? And what events follow?
In July, Marie-Antionette claimed in a letter to her brother than ‘every day brings further rebellious and seditious declarations’
In August, foreign loans dry out and France had to be officially declared bankrupt.
Louis is also forced to summon the Estates-General, since its the only way of authorising reform given the obstinacy of the parlements.
Brienne resigns at Marie Antoinette’s request, and Necker was recalled on 25th August.
What was the key
