Structure of the Ancien Regime
Social Divisions
THE FIRST ESTATE - CLERGY
● Formed less than 0.5 percent of population but owned a 1/10 of French land
● Controlled almost all education, most hospitals and poor relief
● Powers of censorship (they published government messages)
● Huge difference in wealth between parish priests, monks, nuns and the bishops and
archbishops
● In towns, clergy tended to dominate
● In countryside, parish priests were influential
THE SECOND ESTATE - NOBILITY
● Less than 1 percent of population but owned about 1/3 of French land
● Three different levels within the nobility
○ NOBLESSE D’EPEE lived with King at Versailles, were very wealthy, provided the
King’s advisors and ministers, and had access to royal support
○ NOBLESSE DE ROBE created through the monarchy selling legal and
administrative offices in return for a hereditary title (1789, over 70K venal offices)
○ OTHERS lived on county estates and many weren’t wealthy, jealous of court nobles,
protective of their privileges, dependant on their feudal rights
THE THIRD ESTATE - EVERYONE ELSE
● Made up the rest of society and consisted of approximately 28 million people
○ BOURGEOISIE MIDDLE CLASS who lived mostly in towns (by 1789, they were
growing in both wealth and numbers) owned most industrial and commercial capital
and were often ambitious to become part of the nobility
○ PEASANTS consisted over 80 percent of the population, majority farmed and worked
as labourers on the land in either industries or as migrant workers in towns
Privileges and Burdens
The Clergy paid no taxes. The Church instead made a voluntary annual grant of about 16 million
livres but this was only 5% of their total income!
The nobility were exempt from taille (land tax - the heaviest tax) and from corvées royals (labour
service on roads). They paid newer taxes linked to income but were often easily able to avoid paying
the full amount. Exempt from military conscription though many volunteered to and paid to be in
officer positions.
The bourgeoisie were often richer than the nobles and were frustrated since nobles dominated
higher posts in the army and Church, along with their tax privileges. This well-educated, prosperous
section of French society was increasingly resentful.
The peasantry included some of the poorest members of society and carried the heaviest burden
(paid rents and taxes on grain harvest, paid taille and gabelle (salt) and did corvées royals, could be
conscripted or have soldiers billeted on them). Richer peasants resented the burden of dues and taxes.
, Qualities of the King of France
Louis XVI (rules 1774-1792, executed 1793)
● Didn’t become dauphin (heir to the throne) until he was 11 years old when his elder brother
and father died
● Intelligent - fluent in Italian and English but withdrawn and shy as a boy
● Married age 15 to 14 year old Marie Antoinette - their first child born 8 years later
● Relished ceremonies of kingship but didn’t enjoy its luxuries or the grandeur of monarchy
● Enjoyed hunting, pouring over naval plan, ship designs and lock making
● Anxious and apprehensive, pressed with a sense of duty
● Didn’t command respect immediately, was awkward and ill-easy at social occasions
● Indecisive and uncommunicative, limited ability to analyse problems and situations
(consistently failed to act and solve problems he was worried about)
● King man with a rough sense of humour
● Believed in divine kingship, was religiously devout, had a strong sense to protect the Church
● Took interest in improvements for his people and in affairs for the state but lacked the
decisive character needed to steer France through the problems it faced (was too conscience
of the importance of tradition and privilege to step away from it but was too eager to be
popular so didn’t wholly rely on absolute authority or always assert strong governance)
Absolutism
● Louis was head of the ancien regime and was an ‘absolute monarch’
● At coronation, kings swore an oath to God, not to subjects
● Absolutism meant no legal limits to the king’s power over subjects but it was actually limited
○ Louis had been taught to take advice on important decisions and so usually relied on
career administration and courtiers for this
○ He was bound by laws and customs of France
○ Louis needed noble elite’s consent
● Personality and abilities of the king were still very vital
Problems of Government
● Government in the Palace of Versailles consisted of: Louis, his advisors and his ministers
● Louis decided what the overall direction of government policy was - he met his ministers one
by one to discuss the work of their department rather than making decisions collectively (this
created the problem of ministers and court factions though, where groups of nobles sought
after policies that benefited them personally, leading to them working against each other
rather than with each other)
● Dealing with factional issues was hard for Louis as he lacked good communication skills and
a decisive personality
● Another issue was the wide variety within laws and customs - France had no single
representative body covering the whole country
● Royal legislation had to be ratified by one of the 13 regional parliaments
● France was a patchwork of different administration, legal systems, taxes and rules on who
paid them - there was no single solution to the problem because of this massive variation
, ● Previous kings had tried to create one system through splitting the country up into 36
administrative areas under the control of an intendant but this was seen as overly authoritarian
● What was needed was decisive modernisation and reform coming from strong leadership from
the king and consistent support from able reforming ministers - unfortunately, neither Louis
nor his factionally competitive ministers were not the correct men for the job
Financial Problems: Turgot, Necker, Calonne
Royal Debt
● 1774, Louis’ biggest issue was money, monarchy heavily in debt due to foreign war costs
○ WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION (1740-1748) - 1 billion livres
○ SEVEN YEARS WAR (1756-1763) - 1.8 billion livres
● Louis could not pay off this debt
● Even in the aftermath-peacetime, royal income was not enough to cover the expenditure due
to the size of interest payments
● Short term solution - the crown borrowed from international banks
● Long term - this made issues worse
● The decision to go to war in support of the American colonies against Britain made this
already dire financial situation even more worse!
Insufficient Tax System
● Most royal income came from taxation but this wasn’t enough
○ Nobles - Louis’ richest subjects - were exempt from most taxes
○ Tax collection was chaotic and incomplete due to regional differences
○ Implementation of tax farming reduced the crown’s income
Attempts to Improve Royal Finances
Louis attempted to follow a policy of reform to improve royal finances. The Controller General was
the minister responsible.
TURGOT
- 1774 appointed
- Influenced by ideas of the physiocrats (economists believing the wealth of the nation came
solely from agriculture and all state regulations and price controls should end)
- Removed price controls
- Abolished guilds
- Proposed new property tax
- His reforms and methods of reform introduction brought about hostility from those whose
interests were threatened
- Louis dismissed him in 1776
Social Divisions
THE FIRST ESTATE - CLERGY
● Formed less than 0.5 percent of population but owned a 1/10 of French land
● Controlled almost all education, most hospitals and poor relief
● Powers of censorship (they published government messages)
● Huge difference in wealth between parish priests, monks, nuns and the bishops and
archbishops
● In towns, clergy tended to dominate
● In countryside, parish priests were influential
THE SECOND ESTATE - NOBILITY
● Less than 1 percent of population but owned about 1/3 of French land
● Three different levels within the nobility
○ NOBLESSE D’EPEE lived with King at Versailles, were very wealthy, provided the
King’s advisors and ministers, and had access to royal support
○ NOBLESSE DE ROBE created through the monarchy selling legal and
administrative offices in return for a hereditary title (1789, over 70K venal offices)
○ OTHERS lived on county estates and many weren’t wealthy, jealous of court nobles,
protective of their privileges, dependant on their feudal rights
THE THIRD ESTATE - EVERYONE ELSE
● Made up the rest of society and consisted of approximately 28 million people
○ BOURGEOISIE MIDDLE CLASS who lived mostly in towns (by 1789, they were
growing in both wealth and numbers) owned most industrial and commercial capital
and were often ambitious to become part of the nobility
○ PEASANTS consisted over 80 percent of the population, majority farmed and worked
as labourers on the land in either industries or as migrant workers in towns
Privileges and Burdens
The Clergy paid no taxes. The Church instead made a voluntary annual grant of about 16 million
livres but this was only 5% of their total income!
The nobility were exempt from taille (land tax - the heaviest tax) and from corvées royals (labour
service on roads). They paid newer taxes linked to income but were often easily able to avoid paying
the full amount. Exempt from military conscription though many volunteered to and paid to be in
officer positions.
The bourgeoisie were often richer than the nobles and were frustrated since nobles dominated
higher posts in the army and Church, along with their tax privileges. This well-educated, prosperous
section of French society was increasingly resentful.
The peasantry included some of the poorest members of society and carried the heaviest burden
(paid rents and taxes on grain harvest, paid taille and gabelle (salt) and did corvées royals, could be
conscripted or have soldiers billeted on them). Richer peasants resented the burden of dues and taxes.
, Qualities of the King of France
Louis XVI (rules 1774-1792, executed 1793)
● Didn’t become dauphin (heir to the throne) until he was 11 years old when his elder brother
and father died
● Intelligent - fluent in Italian and English but withdrawn and shy as a boy
● Married age 15 to 14 year old Marie Antoinette - their first child born 8 years later
● Relished ceremonies of kingship but didn’t enjoy its luxuries or the grandeur of monarchy
● Enjoyed hunting, pouring over naval plan, ship designs and lock making
● Anxious and apprehensive, pressed with a sense of duty
● Didn’t command respect immediately, was awkward and ill-easy at social occasions
● Indecisive and uncommunicative, limited ability to analyse problems and situations
(consistently failed to act and solve problems he was worried about)
● King man with a rough sense of humour
● Believed in divine kingship, was religiously devout, had a strong sense to protect the Church
● Took interest in improvements for his people and in affairs for the state but lacked the
decisive character needed to steer France through the problems it faced (was too conscience
of the importance of tradition and privilege to step away from it but was too eager to be
popular so didn’t wholly rely on absolute authority or always assert strong governance)
Absolutism
● Louis was head of the ancien regime and was an ‘absolute monarch’
● At coronation, kings swore an oath to God, not to subjects
● Absolutism meant no legal limits to the king’s power over subjects but it was actually limited
○ Louis had been taught to take advice on important decisions and so usually relied on
career administration and courtiers for this
○ He was bound by laws and customs of France
○ Louis needed noble elite’s consent
● Personality and abilities of the king were still very vital
Problems of Government
● Government in the Palace of Versailles consisted of: Louis, his advisors and his ministers
● Louis decided what the overall direction of government policy was - he met his ministers one
by one to discuss the work of their department rather than making decisions collectively (this
created the problem of ministers and court factions though, where groups of nobles sought
after policies that benefited them personally, leading to them working against each other
rather than with each other)
● Dealing with factional issues was hard for Louis as he lacked good communication skills and
a decisive personality
● Another issue was the wide variety within laws and customs - France had no single
representative body covering the whole country
● Royal legislation had to be ratified by one of the 13 regional parliaments
● France was a patchwork of different administration, legal systems, taxes and rules on who
paid them - there was no single solution to the problem because of this massive variation
, ● Previous kings had tried to create one system through splitting the country up into 36
administrative areas under the control of an intendant but this was seen as overly authoritarian
● What was needed was decisive modernisation and reform coming from strong leadership from
the king and consistent support from able reforming ministers - unfortunately, neither Louis
nor his factionally competitive ministers were not the correct men for the job
Financial Problems: Turgot, Necker, Calonne
Royal Debt
● 1774, Louis’ biggest issue was money, monarchy heavily in debt due to foreign war costs
○ WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION (1740-1748) - 1 billion livres
○ SEVEN YEARS WAR (1756-1763) - 1.8 billion livres
● Louis could not pay off this debt
● Even in the aftermath-peacetime, royal income was not enough to cover the expenditure due
to the size of interest payments
● Short term solution - the crown borrowed from international banks
● Long term - this made issues worse
● The decision to go to war in support of the American colonies against Britain made this
already dire financial situation even more worse!
Insufficient Tax System
● Most royal income came from taxation but this wasn’t enough
○ Nobles - Louis’ richest subjects - were exempt from most taxes
○ Tax collection was chaotic and incomplete due to regional differences
○ Implementation of tax farming reduced the crown’s income
Attempts to Improve Royal Finances
Louis attempted to follow a policy of reform to improve royal finances. The Controller General was
the minister responsible.
TURGOT
- 1774 appointed
- Influenced by ideas of the physiocrats (economists believing the wealth of the nation came
solely from agriculture and all state regulations and price controls should end)
- Removed price controls
- Abolished guilds
- Proposed new property tax
- His reforms and methods of reform introduction brought about hostility from those whose
interests were threatened
- Louis dismissed him in 1776
