(no subject)
I wonder what led to the The eighteenth century saw a shift in thinking in Europe from the medieval to the contemporary. Concepts such as liberty and freedom were taking hold; it was as much a revolution in thinking as the Renaissance was to art. During the Enlightenment, modern ideas were replacing the old, all the while industry was at its beginnings in Europe. It was a hopeful time when the great philosophers talked of a world without war or want. Ironically, one of the nations with the largest influence on The Enlightenment was home to one of the most archaic forms of government. France, a powerhouse at the heart a Europe, was ruled by a king whose power was absolute. The Bourbons of France did not have any use for enlightened trouble makers or reformists.
The Kings of France, while absolute, were not alone - large numbers of advisors, bureaucrats, and assistants were required to run such a huge Kingdom. In 1715, the old king, Louis XIV, died of gangrene after 72 years on the throne. During his reign, he could have drawn his advisors from the ancient noble families of France - ancient bloodlines descended from the knights and feudal lords of the Dark Ages. This group of old families was known as the Nobility of the Sword, named so as a tribute to their ancestors who fought in countless wars and battles beside the great kings of the past. Louis, however, did not seek their advice or input on the ruling of his Kingdom. Their ancient status made them a constant threat to his Absolute power as long as they had major roles to play in his Government. Instead of the Nobility of the Sword, he relied on a different group of nobles to fill positions of governance and advisory roles, the Nobles of the Robe. The Nobles of the Robe had become ‘noble’ after buying or being awarded hereditary titles by the King; most went to judges, government Ministers, especially useful servants, and the richest and most ambitious among the emerging bourgeoisie - men who would loyal to the King, not to history. In fact, 74 years after his death at the dawn of the Revolution, half of the French Nobility had acquired their titles in the previous 200 years.
In 1715, the Kingship passed to Louis XV who was just a child and could not rule in his own right. Phillip, the Duke of Orleans, became the young King’s regent after cutting a number of deals with various members of the Nobility of the Sword who offered their support in exchange for their return to governing roles. It only took a few years for the folly of these deals to be exposed and by 1718 Phillip had realized that the old nobility had no clue how to run a government. Having been uninvolved for so many years under previous kings, they were entirely unprepared for the tasks that confronted them and so the King’s Regent dismissed them all and returned to the Louis XIV model. This did not exactly put the Nobles of the Sword in a particularly good mood.
While the Nobility of the Sword was busy nursing their egos, the King came of age and replaced the Duke of Orleans as head of state with one of his childhood tutors and oldest friends in 1726. Under the direction of Cardinal Fleur, the French economy strengthened; the currency stabilized, France developed the best system of roads in the world, peace was had with England and Spain, and by 1738 the Cardinal had managed to balance the budget. From 1733 to 1738, France participated in the War of Polish Succession which resulted in temporary hedging of Austrian power as well the new Province of Lorraine being delivered to France. France had come out of the war in good shape militarily and financially. That would soon change with the outbreak of the War of Austrian Succession in 1740 and the death if Fleur in 1743, after which Louis ruled the nation himself for the rest of his reign. At that wars end in 1748, Louis XV returned Lorraine to the Austrians, basically making all of those years of war for nothing. From 1756 to 1763, France was also involved in the 7 Years War with England, another huge financial burden.
From the end of the War the War of Austrian Succession to his death, Louis was very unpopular in France. It was not only because Louis had given up hard won territorial gains, that concession was just the straw the broke the camel’s back of public opinion. After the death of Cardinal Fleur, Louis lost the guiding hand of his Kingship and began a long downward spiral after an initial high. Louis XV had a large amount of mistresses from all social classes in France. Through various trials and exposes, rumors of these women reached the ear of the French people, who frowned upon such indulgences. The tax structure under Louis XV was also highly unfair, the Kingdom was not bringing in enough money, and the King lived an outrageously lavish lifestyle. In spite of all that, what really turned the people against their King were his perceived military failures.
In 1774, Louis XVI, at the age of 20, became the new King of France. He inherited a country with some major problems, most of them compounded by years of inaction from the former King, his grandfather, who was content to sit back and watch the forces and pressure build in his old age. In fact, Louis XV is reputed to have remarked “after me, the deluge,” when commentating on the future of his Kingdom.
Louis XVI’s France was a nation of around 26 million people. Twenty-one million of them were farmers, poor peasants who worked the land hard and often came up just short and had to spend part of the year laboring on farms owned by wealthier landowners or had to borrow livestock to survive. These 21 million owned a quarter of the land in France and were often very poor, the worst off would labor without shoes. From these peasants, most of the taxes were collected in France. There was the Gabelle, requiring every person in the Kingdom to aged 8 and older to buy a fix amount of salt at a set price every two weeks. The Taille was another hated tax, imposed on peasants based on the amount of land they owned (most owned less than 20 acres); the nobility were exempt from this tax. The peasants paid a 10% annual tithe to their church that Nobility was also exempt from. During Louis XV’s reign, taxes were also imposed to pay for the wars that plagued the end of his tenure, but the nobility and the clergy found ways to skirt them, leaving the poor with the burden. At the time of Revolution, these peasants were extremely poor, being overtaxed and extremely hungry because during the 1780s there had been several weak harvests, causing the price of grain and thus bread to rise.
In many cities, there was an emerging middle-class at this time, the bourgeoisie. They were doctors and lawyers, mostly well to do businessmen whose families had not ascended the social order to become Nobles of the Robe in earlier centuries. These people were also subject to the unfair taxation the peasants encountered. The two groups made up what was called the Third Estate, the common people, or more simply, 97% of the population of France. The Nobility, old and new, made up the Second Estate. The Nobility numbered 400,000 and owned twenty percent of the land in France. Only they could be appointed ambassadors or command regiments in the Army. The First Estate was made up of the clergy, the individuals who ran and operated the Church in France. They were fewer than 100,000 in number and owned between ten and fifteen percent of the land in the Kingdom. The make-up of the clergy was a reflection of the social structure that existed in wider French society. Only members of the Second Estate could become Bishops and other high ranking positions in the Church - these “higher clergy” made up ten percent of the Clergy while the other ninety percent of “lower clergy” were Priests, Nuns, and Monks from families of the Third Estate.
This unfair social hierarchy was bound to crumble eventually and the fact that by the time Louis XVI took the throne France was essentially broke did nothing to ease the strains between the social classes or within the Estates themselves. By 1787, while the newly independent Americans were writing their Constitution (a right won with French funds), the King realized that he could not put it off any longer, despite their protests, the Nobility and the Clergy must pay taxes. Of course, the rich balked at paying any more in taxes and the Church was an instrument of God, so surely they could not be taxed. Money was desperately needed and it was becoming obvious that the only way to get the Second and First Estates to even think about paying their fair share was to call the Estates General, a council of the three Estates that had not been called since 1614. So it was that in the summer of 1888 the King called for the Estates General to assemble the next May.
The Kings of France, while absolute, were not alone - large numbers of advisors, bureaucrats, and assistants were required to run such a huge Kingdom. In 1715, the old king, Louis XIV, died of gangrene after 72 years on the throne. During his reign, he could have drawn his advisors from the ancient noble families of France - ancient bloodlines descended from the knights and feudal lords of the Dark Ages. This group of old families was known as the Nobility of the Sword, named so as a tribute to their ancestors who fought in countless wars and battles beside the great kings of the past. Louis, however, did not seek their advice or input on the ruling of his Kingdom. Their ancient status made them a constant threat to his Absolute power as long as they had major roles to play in his Government. Instead of the Nobility of the Sword, he relied on a different group of nobles to fill positions of governance and advisory roles, the Nobles of the Robe. The Nobles of the Robe had become ‘noble’ after buying or being awarded hereditary titles by the King; most went to judges, government Ministers, especially useful servants, and the richest and most ambitious among the emerging bourgeoisie - men who would loyal to the King, not to history. In fact, 74 years after his death at the dawn of the Revolution, half of the French Nobility had acquired their titles in the previous 200 years.
In 1715, the Kingship passed to Louis XV who was just a child and could not rule in his own right. Phillip, the Duke of Orleans, became the young King’s regent after cutting a number of deals with various members of the Nobility of the Sword who offered their support in exchange for their return to governing roles. It only took a few years for the folly of these deals to be exposed and by 1718 Phillip had realized that the old nobility had no clue how to run a government. Having been uninvolved for so many years under previous kings, they were entirely unprepared for the tasks that confronted them and so the King’s Regent dismissed them all and returned to the Louis XIV model. This did not exactly put the Nobles of the Sword in a particularly good mood.
While the Nobility of the Sword was busy nursing their egos, the King came of age and replaced the Duke of Orleans as head of state with one of his childhood tutors and oldest friends in 1726. Under the direction of Cardinal Fleur, the French economy strengthened; the currency stabilized, France developed the best system of roads in the world, peace was had with England and Spain, and by 1738 the Cardinal had managed to balance the budget. From 1733 to 1738, France participated in the War of Polish Succession which resulted in temporary hedging of Austrian power as well the new Province of Lorraine being delivered to France. France had come out of the war in good shape militarily and financially. That would soon change with the outbreak of the War of Austrian Succession in 1740 and the death if Fleur in 1743, after which Louis ruled the nation himself for the rest of his reign. At that wars end in 1748, Louis XV returned Lorraine to the Austrians, basically making all of those years of war for nothing. From 1756 to 1763, France was also involved in the 7 Years War with England, another huge financial burden.
From the end of the War the War of Austrian Succession to his death, Louis was very unpopular in France. It was not only because Louis had given up hard won territorial gains, that concession was just the straw the broke the camel’s back of public opinion. After the death of Cardinal Fleur, Louis lost the guiding hand of his Kingship and began a long downward spiral after an initial high. Louis XV had a large amount of mistresses from all social classes in France. Through various trials and exposes, rumors of these women reached the ear of the French people, who frowned upon such indulgences. The tax structure under Louis XV was also highly unfair, the Kingdom was not bringing in enough money, and the King lived an outrageously lavish lifestyle. In spite of all that, what really turned the people against their King were his perceived military failures.
In 1774, Louis XVI, at the age of 20, became the new King of France. He inherited a country with some major problems, most of them compounded by years of inaction from the former King, his grandfather, who was content to sit back and watch the forces and pressure build in his old age. In fact, Louis XV is reputed to have remarked “after me, the deluge,” when commentating on the future of his Kingdom.
Louis XVI’s France was a nation of around 26 million people. Twenty-one million of them were farmers, poor peasants who worked the land hard and often came up just short and had to spend part of the year laboring on farms owned by wealthier landowners or had to borrow livestock to survive. These 21 million owned a quarter of the land in France and were often very poor, the worst off would labor without shoes. From these peasants, most of the taxes were collected in France. There was the Gabelle, requiring every person in the Kingdom to aged 8 and older to buy a fix amount of salt at a set price every two weeks. The Taille was another hated tax, imposed on peasants based on the amount of land they owned (most owned less than 20 acres); the nobility were exempt from this tax. The peasants paid a 10% annual tithe to their church that Nobility was also exempt from. During Louis XV’s reign, taxes were also imposed to pay for the wars that plagued the end of his tenure, but the nobility and the clergy found ways to skirt them, leaving the poor with the burden. At the time of Revolution, these peasants were extremely poor, being overtaxed and extremely hungry because during the 1780s there had been several weak harvests, causing the price of grain and thus bread to rise.
In many cities, there was an emerging middle-class at this time, the bourgeoisie. They were doctors and lawyers, mostly well to do businessmen whose families had not ascended the social order to become Nobles of the Robe in earlier centuries. These people were also subject to the unfair taxation the peasants encountered. The two groups made up what was called the Third Estate, the common people, or more simply, 97% of the population of France. The Nobility, old and new, made up the Second Estate. The Nobility numbered 400,000 and owned twenty percent of the land in France. Only they could be appointed ambassadors or command regiments in the Army. The First Estate was made up of the clergy, the individuals who ran and operated the Church in France. They were fewer than 100,000 in number and owned between ten and fifteen percent of the land in the Kingdom. The make-up of the clergy was a reflection of the social structure that existed in wider French society. Only members of the Second Estate could become Bishops and other high ranking positions in the Church - these “higher clergy” made up ten percent of the Clergy while the other ninety percent of “lower clergy” were Priests, Nuns, and Monks from families of the Third Estate.
This unfair social hierarchy was bound to crumble eventually and the fact that by the time Louis XVI took the throne France was essentially broke did nothing to ease the strains between the social classes or within the Estates themselves. By 1787, while the newly independent Americans were writing their Constitution (a right won with French funds), the King realized that he could not put it off any longer, despite their protests, the Nobility and the Clergy must pay taxes. Of course, the rich balked at paying any more in taxes and the Church was an instrument of God, so surely they could not be taxed. Money was desperately needed and it was becoming obvious that the only way to get the Second and First Estates to even think about paying their fair share was to call the Estates General, a council of the three Estates that had not been called since 1614. So it was that in the summer of 1888 the King called for the Estates General to assemble the next May.