The French Revolution
Ancien Regime & Estate System
● The Estates were a class system that was similar to English feudalism and was
popular in pre-revolutionary France.
● There were 3 Estates: 1st Estate (Church), 2nd Estate (Nobles), 3rd Estate
(Bourgeois and working class).
● Depending on what estate you were in you got certain privileges eg tax
exemptions.
● Above the estate system was the Monarchy which was an absolute monarchy at
the time.
1st Estate:
● The 1st Estate was the clergy e.g. archbishops and bishops.
● They had tax exemption but only had to pay don gratuit (free gift).
● Huge difference in wealth and power between parish priests,monks and nuns
and bishops, archbishops and cardinals (came from nobility).
● Not all members were rich.
● Privileges: Only prosecuted in church courts, no military service, not required to
provide money for royal troops, financial privileges (tax).
● Tithes: Average of 7% of crop value paid by landowners to the church annually.
● Some Bishops had more than one job.
● Some never visited their diocese (the area they were bishop in).
● They had too much power; they ran the Catholic church, some aspects of the
country and kept birth, death and marriage records.
● Influential in France as they governed the daily lives of most people, controlled
education and looked after the sick.
2nd Estate:
● The nobility which owned ⅕ of the land in France.
● 350,000 nobles in France.
● 4000 of the most powerful lived in Versailles as advisors
● Nobility was divided and not everyone was very rich.
● Ancient nobility: Status came from birth. Known as the nobility of the sword as
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, they used to be the only men who were allowed to carry a sword.
● Nobility of the robe: Status derived from the work they did. Acquired through
performance in a specific job, like a judge, in return for money, outstanding
military service or as a perk of holding a particular government office.
● Nobility could be bought by venality. Useful source of income in the 18th
Century. Caused 2nd Estate to grow considerably.
● Nobles that lacked political power wanted change eg. Provincial nobles like the
Hobereaux and newer bourgeois nobles.
● Privileges: The right to wear a sword, display their coat of arms and take
precedence at public ceremonies reinforced the belief in superiority. Right to be
heard in a high court and be beheaded rather than hung. Exempt from corvee,
taille, gabelle and had lower rates on other direct taxes.
3rd Estate:
● Everybody who was not a noble or part of the clergy
● Bourgeoise, Urban Workers and Peasants
● 29-30 Million People
● Made up 95% of the population
● Peasants mostly worked the lands of others
● At the top there was landowning peasants, tenant farmers and bourgeoisie who
made their money from their professions (lawyers, doctors, teachers)
● The richest bourgeoisie members identified more with the 2nd estate and could
buy offices to move up.
● Required to pay direct taxes such as taille and vingtieme.
● Capitation and indirect taxes like gabelle
● Aides on food, drink and tobacco.
● Tithes to the church
● Required to do unpaid labour to maintain the roads.
● Privileges: The wealthy could buy their way up to the 2nd Estate.
Taxes and Feudal Dues
System:
● The French taxation system was inefficient and unfair and failed to provide
enough money for the government.
● Direct taxes were imposed on individuals and were collected by royal officials.
● Indirect taxes on items such as wine were collected by tax farmers
● Third Estate members had other obligations: payments to the church and their
local lord, payments in cash to their landlords, taxes on the use of noble’s mills
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, and bakeries, an obligation of unpaid labour to help build infrastructure.
● Taxes were collected by a system known as tax farming.
● The collection of taxes was initially trusted to elected officials, but later these
positions were bought.
● Most indirect taxes were gathered by tax-farmers’: wealthy individuals who
acquired the right to collect taxes on behalf of the government. Many of the taxes
were collected by officials who bought the right to hold their jobs/positions under
a system of venality.
● Farmers-General, a company that collected indirected taxes for the government,
paid the state an agreed sum and kept the rest for themselves.
● Peasants gave up 45% of their earnings to taxes
● Problems with tax: Officials keeping tax money to themselves, tax evasion, unfair
taxation, only taxing 3rd Estate
Direct Taxes:
● Taille- a tax on land or income. All citizens meant to pay but men on army
service, clergy or nobles.
● Capitation- Fixed sum paid each year to the government. Nobody was exempt
but many nobles and clergy evaded it or paid very little.
● Vingtieme- Income tax of one twentieth of a year’s earnings. All citizens meant
to pay but 1st and 2nd evaded it.
● Corvee- Labour tax requiring unpaid work for mending the roads. Nobles and
clergy were exempt.
Indirect Taxes:
● Gabelle- A tax on salt
● Octroi- A tax on goods being taken to market. Merchants transporting goods had
to pay.
● Aidas- A tax on drinks, especially wine.
● Traites- A tax on goods being transported from one province to another.
Merchants transporting goods had to pay.
Feudal Rights:
● The right of the oven: Peasants had to bake their bread in an oven owned by
the landlord, paying a fee for its use.
● The rights of the mill: Peasants had to grind their grain in the landlord’s
windmill, paying a fee for its use.
● The right of the press: Peasants had to press their grapes in the landlord’s
press, paying a fee for its use.
● The right of the hunt: The landlord could ride over his tenant’s fields whilst
hunting, even if they were planted.
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, ● The right of the warren: The landlord could keep rabbits in a warren. Tenants
could not kill them, even if they damaged crops.
● The right of the dovecote: The landlord could keep pigeons in a dovecote.
Tenants could not kill them, even if they damaged crops.
Dues:
● The corvee: Peasants had to do 7 days unpaid work for the landlord each year
(eg. harvest)
● The cens: Peasants had to pay a tax to the landlord each year
● The champart: Peasants had to give the landlord a portion of their crops each
year.
Land Ownership:
● Nobles (400,000): 20%
● Clergy (170,000): 15%
● Bourgeoisie (2.5 million): 30%
● Peasantry (24 million): 35%
The Enlightenment
What was the Enlightenment?:
● It was a movement of criticism which emphasised the importance of reason
guiding society.
What did the writers believe?:
● Men could control their own destiny
● Change was necessary to destroy the inequalities of the ancien regime
● Questioned the power of the Church
● Believed that more could be done for ordinary people
● Challenged divine right
● Believed that rulers should use their powers more effectively to benefit their
subjects
● Importance of reason and common sense to promote progress, wealth and
happiness.
● The idea that government was based on a “contract” between the king and his
subjects, with obligations on both sides
● Improvement of social conditions
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