French Rev Key Terms Section 1

Question 1

Royal levée

Answer 1

Kings waking for intimacy & accessibility to monarch

Question 2

Letters de Cachet

Answer 2

Letters bearing royal seal by which king could order imprisonment

Question 3

Intendants responsibilities

Answer 3

King appointed royal agents for: taxation, edicts, policing, conscription & presiding over local courts

Question 4

Remonstrance

Answer 4

Parlement could question & criticise king’s edicts & force him to reconsider

Question 5

Lit de justice

Answer 5

King could overrule his Parlements & force acceptance of an edict; to do so would seem despotic!

Question 6

What was the problems w/ law across Paris?

Answer 6

It differed geographically

Question 7

First estate

Answer 7

Clergy - 150,000 members

Question 8

Tithes

Answer 8

Church tax everyone had to pay

Question 9

Taille

Answer 9

Main French direct tax; clergy (1st estate) exempt BUT many nobles (2nd estate) also managed to avoid it!

Question 10

Don gratuit

Answer 10

Contribution made by the church to the government as they didn’t pay taxes; paid every 5 years; 2% of total revenue

Question 11

Second estate

Answer 11

Nobility - 200,000-400,000 members ; lived off rents of their landed estates

Question 12

Noblesse de court

Answer 12

Heredity nobles who live in Versailles; acted as ambassadors & council

Question 13

Noblesse de robe

Answer 13

Noble status due to venal jobs or marriage

Question 14

Noblesse d’epee

Answer 14

Hereditary nobles living less royal life

Question 15

Privileges of Second estate

Answer 15

Exempt from taille (found way to avoid it), from military service, from gabelle (salt tax), corvée royale (manual labour duty to king)

Question 16

Gabelle

Answer 16

Salt tax

Question 17

Corvée royale

Answer 17

Manual labour duty to king; usually built roads etc

Question 18

Third estate

Answer 18

Everyone else (bourgeoisie, commoners, peasants etc (but many wanted social advancement)

Question 19

Peasantry

Answer 19

Part of 3rd estate - 85% of population; 21 of 27 million people involved in agriculture; bound to the land under feudal dues

Question 20

Taxes on the Third estate

Answer 20

Direct: taille, vingtieme, capitation
Indirect: gabelle, aides (on drinks), tobacco, tithe
Conscription
Corvée royale: unpaid manual labour service on king’s roads

Question 21

Enlightenement

Answer 21

Intellectual & cultural movement which spread during 18th century; challenged tradition of absolute monarchy, church & structure of society

Question 22

Key areas of Enlightenment thought

Answer 22

Church, Divine Right, Civil Liberty, Economic Freedom

Question 23

Vingtième

Answer 23

Direct tax- 5% levy on all possessions (but clergy exempt)

Question 24

Cost of French involvement in Seven Years War

Answer 24

1.3billion livres

Question 25

Cost of French involvement in American Revolution

Answer 25

3.3billion livres

Question 26

Name the 4 Controller-Generals in order w/ dates

Answer 26

Turgot (1774-76), Necker (1777-81), Calonne (1783-87), Brienne (1787-88) back to Necker (1788-89)

Question 27

Six Edicts under Turgot

Answer 27

Aim to abolish privilege & instead tax all estates; met by 2 remonstrance from Paris Parlement BUT registered via lit de justice (Mar 1776)

Question 28

Compte Rendu au Roi under Necker

Answer 28

Aka. Report to the king (1781); first ever ‘budget-system” realised to public; sold 100,000 copies in a week; v inaccurate statement as suggested France had surplus of 10million livres rather than financial deficit

Question 29

May Edicts

Answer 29

May 1788 - KL attempt to remove Paris Parlements powers

Question 30

Day of Tiles

Answer 30

June 1788 - Royal officials pelted with roof slates; intendantes attacked; taxes not paid

Question 31

When was France declared bankrupt?

Answer 31

August 1788

Question 32

What did 3rd estate want in Estates-General?

Answer 32

Double representation aka. Voting by head; this was denied by Paris Parlement who established equal representation for all estates :(

Question 33

Politicisation of 3rd Estate

Answer 33

1. Activities of The Society of Thirty (encourage 3rd to fight for rights via pamphlets & meetings
2. Publication of pamphlet ‘What is the third estate?’ Sieyes (Jan 1789) arguing they represented the nation
3. Poor economic sit e.g. poor harvest 1788 & rising bread prices & unemployment
4. France increasingly secular e.g. (giving Church 1/3rd of vote was unfair!)
5. Cahiers de doleances = documented grievances encouraged people to focus on issues

Question 34

Fundamental Laws

Answer 34

May 1788 issued by Paris Parlement stating right to vote such fundamental taxes belong solely to Estates-General (some laws stressed couldn’t be changed even by royal demand) & consent of E-G was needed to approve Louis’ changes