French Monarchy Research Paper

Just about any country that one can name has some history of civil unrest, class issues, rioting in the streets, and outright warfare. These patterns of behavior are common denominators for most civilization in the world. The names, faces, and places may change, but the motivations are generally the same, because of the need for change and the willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve it. In contrast to the United States, which was in the process of freeing itself from British colonial rule, France was working to free itself from royal absolutism. This period is historically known as the French Revolution. Many scholars do not agree on the chronology of the French Revolution; some scholars suggest that the Revolution took place between 1789 to 1799 while others feel that it did not end until Napoleon lost power in 1815. To better understand the history of the French Revolution it is necessary to discuss the causes, major events, significant figures, and the outcomes associated with these political developments. Without this uprising, that changed the face of the entire country and influenced local political life in many countries in Europe, in all likelihood the France we know today would never have existed.

Castles, palaces, and cathedrals are scattered across Europe. Each one possesses unique characteristics and architecture bearing resemblance of their time. Some castles incorporate Greek influence, roman or gothic influence in design. Other castles and palaces are surrounded by sculptures outside in the courtyard or include sculptures worshiped as an altarpiece. While any one of these things would serve to make an ordinary castle more elaborate there is one palace that possesses all of these: The Palace of Versailles in France. The Palace of Versailles has managed to incorporate classic architecture, exquisite sculptures, and amalgamated the old design with the newer design trends of the day.

During the time period of the late sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century the concept of what nobility is and what it was conceived to be varied greatly as more modern thoughts developed and desperation of monarchs grew to meet such demand. The arguments related to nobility differed greatly, but these were the most crucial; the difference between the sword and the robe and the right to even hold such a position at all.

The French Nobility has been around since the beginning of the Roman Empire. Similar to the Romans, the French organized their state around the nobility and the clergy, not taking into account the massive amount of commoners. The Third Estate was finally created centuries later to help bring order and give common people their own place within society. Charles Loyseau and Isabelle de Charriere are two prime sources that compare French nobility during the 17th and 18th century, leading up to the French Revolution. Charles Loyseau, both a jurist and legal scholar evaluates French society in his writing A Treatise on Orders. In the writing of his treatise, Loyseau describes the “social anatomy of France” in an

The revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in France and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes, the most important of which were the inability of the ruling classes of nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie to come to grips with the problems of state, the indecisive nature of the monarch, impoverishment of the workers, the intellectual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment, and the example of the American Revolution. Recent scholarship tends to downplay the social class struggle and emphasize political, cultural, ideological, and personality factors in the advent and unfolding of the conflict. The Revolution itself produced an equally vast complex of

The French Revolution was a time of political and social rebellion in France. It began in 1789 because of the inequalities that existed

The French Revolution was a turning point that changed Europe and its history completely. It changed the composition of society and how France is run today. It was looked at as a possibility for different varieties of societies later on in the future. There were multiple causes that led up to the French Revolution. One cause was considered to a be political battle between the monarchy and the nobles.

The social state of France was the final reason for the French Revolution. The French social class was divided into three classes that included the clergy, nobles, ant the common people. The First estate was made of the higher and lower clergy. The higher clergy lived amongst luxury while the lower clergy were miserable. The Second Estate was made of the court nobles and provincial nobles, the court nobles also lived in luxury and the provincial nobles did not enjoy the same treatment. The Third estate was made of common people such as farmers, cobblers, and sweepers. In document 10 it presents a political carton that shows people of the upper-class standing on and crushing someone of lower class. This shows how the upper class were riding

In many revolts and reforms the people were fighting for three things Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. These rights of every frenchman fueled the revolution so well that it ended up burning up. The achievement of uniting hundred of thousands of people for a ideologies is still unimaginable in today's world. Even though some of these ideologies did more harm than good does not make the achievement of unitation null because success is only a measurement that every person has their own definition for. An example of this is when the national convention abolishes the monarchy and declares France a republic. Although this is than overruled by napoleon it still shows how france united under one main cause. The abolishment of the monarchy makes every man closer to Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity because it gives everyone a chance to voice their opinion to a representative instead of being ignored by one superior being. All in all the french revolution was a minor success due to the improved socialistic ideologies and abolishment of the three

On March 26, 1811 Henri Christophe crowned himself King Henri I and change the name of his country to the Kingdom of Haiti. The difference between him and Dessalines was he made sure to have a lot of nobles and structured his “kingdom” to replicate European monarchy. He was a dictatorial king, but a person who saw that development was important and set goals to bring his kingdom into a more modern world. He tried to improve the education system for the elite children and spent very much money on monuments and buildings. King Henri I was paranoid like Dessalines, he believed that the French would attempt to re-invade and try to get Haiti back as a colony; since everybody in the world saw that Haiti was a colony in rebellion. He built the Citadelle

to get all the power of France. It should also be said that not all the nobles

The nobility of the Kingdom of France has been evaluated by various scholars of history. There is something to be said, however, for those who chronicled their impressions while living them in the 17th and 18th centuries. The excerpts of Charles Loyseau’s A Treatise on Orders, written in 1610, and Isabelle de Charriere’s The Nobleman, written in 1763 provide two very different glimpses on the French nobility from differing time periods. From these two accounts, it is clear that there was a marked shift in the way some viewed the nobility and their role in the operation of the French state. While Loyseau praises the nobility nearly wholeheartedly,

The Avignon Papacy was a period of time in which the Roman capital of the Church was moved to Avignon, France. This move was symbolic of the French domination over the Catholic Church, both politically and economically. After Pope Boniface’s failure at the hands of King Philip and the death of his successor, the Catholic Conclave elected the French Archbishop Clement V as Pope. Clement refused to move to Rome so the papacy was moved to Avignon. The result of this move and the subsequent French-benefitting advancements was the Church losing most of their respect, while gaining the reputation of being corrupt, scheming, and materialistic.

Title- The road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the fall of the French Monarchy

The French desired a representative government, but Napoleon truly believed that the French needed some sort of monarchy. So Napoleon decided to bring forth a monarchy that would be more efficient, and more powerful than any other Monarchy created in the “Ancien Regime”. So with this, he decided to completely undermine the French, everything they fought for in the early Revolution, would be torn to pieces, and the Equality that they wished upon would no longer be. So do I think Napoleon brought forth Enlightenment, no I don’t. I am sure the French were disappointed by this.