In 18th century France, the political and social structure was called The Old Regime. The Old Regime began during the Middle Ages, in about the 11th or 12th century, and divided the French people into three estates. Members of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church made up the First Estate, who owned 10% of the land in France, and made up 1% of the population. The two groups in the estate were the upper clergy and the lower clergy. The upper clergy contained church leaders such as bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. The lower clergy consisted of parish priests. Furthermore, members of the First Estate did not have to pay taxes and had certain privileges such as access to high offices; the Second Estate members also maintained these …show more content…
The few jobs that existed among the nobles included military officials, church workers, or government workers. Members of the Second Estate were also exempted from paying taxes and encompassed the same privileges as the French clergy; also, many employed peasants as servants, farmers, etc. Similar to the clergy, the nobles viewed ideas from the Enlightenment with disapproval and felt the notions threatened their status and power as favored people in France. The rest of the population in France (97%) fell into the Third Estate. This estate was comprised of three groups, all differing greatly in their economic conditions: the bourgeoisie, the urban workers, and the peasants. The bourgeoisie (upper middles class) included bankers, merchants, professionals, skilled artisans, teachers and judges; plus, they often received good educations and strongly supported the morals of liberty and equality that were introduced during the Enlightenment. There were even bourgeoisies who had as much money or even more money than the nobles, but they had to paid high taxes and they didn’t have access to the advantages of the other estates. A lot of members of the French upper middle class wanted greater social status and power; on rare occasions, a member of the bourgeoisie bought their way into the Second Estate with the purchase of a noble title. The urban workers of France were poverty-stricken; this subgroup consisted of
peasants were most affected group at the bottom who paid about a third or more of their income for taxes that supported the privileged classes of the first and second estates. Out of their hard work, they were only left with a little amount of food and money for their survival. Among other grievances, the tax burden was one of the peasant's greatest discontent to get rid of this burden during the 1789 revolution.
One might ask if the 1789 document, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen addressed the needs of all the people of the third estate like its writers claimed was its purpose. The National Assembly of France, which consisted of mostly wealthy bourgeoisies men, wrote the declaration. The remaining members of the third estate, which included the urban poor sans-culottes, therefore did not have much say in what was being addressed to the public. Enlightenment ideas such as popular sovereignty and civic equality, advocated by both the bourgeoisies and sans-culottes, is apparent in the statement. Furthermore, the National Assembly of France addressed the sans-culottes’ need of equality, employment based on talent, and desire for a political reorganization.
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 first estate, for the people of the highest position in France belonged to the clergy; this group contained the members of the religious rules such as Bishops, Monks and Nuns. However, the people of this estate were not popular among many people of especially the third estate. This was mainly because of the power
What is the Third Estate is not the only document that made common French folks confident about their future. In August 1789, the national assembly adopted declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which brought the height of liberty and freedom to a higher level. This document was influenced by both Enlightenment and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. In the declaration, it said that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Ever since that, liberty meant individual rights and responsibilities and, more specifically, freedom from arbitrary authority. (Cole, 449) Revolutionary leaders later adopted “liberty, equality, fraternity” as their motto. In addition, the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen encouraged
Prior to the beginning of the French revolution, the Catholic church was enormously powerful and very controlling, as it divided society apart and into estates. The first estate was the clergy, the second was the nobility and they accounted for only 500 000 of the country's population. Whilst the third estate was made up of the rest of society, all of which had to pay hefty taxes. As one of the three estates, the church had considerable political power that did not match their number of
Under the absolute monarchy during the eighteenth century, there was a divide between the three estates with the Third Estate, which encompassed subjects with no formal title, being the outcast. The nobility and the clergy formed a cohesive unit that agreed on each other’s needs, leaving the working men and women of the Third Estate to fend for themselves, which was a leading factor to the split between the Estates. Despite the famine and hunger that had affected some of the Third Estate, the aristocracy was still hosting lavish dinners. Even though this method was beneficial for the First and Second Estates, the substantial population that identified as the Third Estate, left in a formidable position, struggled to correct this situation.
The system had divided the citizens of Frances into three social classes, or estates – the Roman Catholic Church, the Nobility, and the Third Estate, which was further divided into the Bourgeoisie, the Workers, and the Peasants. The Roman Catholic Church had the most freedom in the country, and those that were considered to be in the estate were exempt from paying taxes, had access to high governmental positions, yet contributed only 2% of its income to the government. The Nobility also had access to the high official positions, and despite being only 2% of the French population, the nobility owned more than 20% of the land. The first two Estates scorned the Enlightenment ideals occurring at this time because they threatened their status and power in France.
France, as we know it today, is so much different from the France of yesteryear. About the fifteenth century, the political system in France, gave rise to a socially stratified society which comprised three different ranks of people, referred to as the Estates. The first Estate at the top was made up of the clergy, the Second consisted of the nobility; with the commoners at the bottom rank, or Third Estate. Within each rank were sub-ranks, and “each rank distinguished itself through conventions, dress, duties, and etiquette”. The Third Estate, for example, included the artisans, doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers, the urban poor and peasants. Under this Old Regime, those in the First and Second “Estates” had more economic and social power than
Recommendations, such as those of the first estate that priorities the roman catholic church, the economic problem that the first estate feels should be “share some of the burden of the taxation with all citizens, but their land, titles and rights be preserved”, and that the government should have the “letters de cahet abolished.” While other recommendations such as those from the second estate focus more on the government and the states “vote by order”, and not by individual member”; furthermore, that economically the “tithe paid to the church be abolished and replaced.” Meanwhile, recommendations from the third estate were more directed towards things like government and that “court decisions be based on the stated law and that punishments be applied equally to all, regardless of their rank”; however economically the third estate recommended everyone be “taxed equally and as for the education of the French people, schools would be opened to all no matter their
The French had three different estates and each one was used for different things.The first one was made up of clergymen(A Male Priest,Prime Minister,or A
Throughout the history of France, the Second Estate has primarily included the nobility of society. This encompassed all of those who were treated as royalty, other than the reigning monarch, who stood outside of the estates system. The Second Estate was considered to be an exclusive class within the confines of legal society. Those who were apart of this exclusivity were differentiated by their concern for the traditional social values, the traditional landownership, fiscal privilege, and ancient
The social classes of the Elizabethan era were divided into three broad categories and subdivided into smaller specified groups. The broader categories became known as estates (“Elizabethan Era”). There was the first, second and third estate. The first estate consisted of clergy (“Social Order” 58). Although they were all Roman Catholic clergy these people were broken up into smaller sections. The smaller sections divided the ordained from the unordained (Social Status and Community”). The Ordained were known as seculars an example of someone who would fall under this division was the pope. The second estate, was of the nobility. The nobility included anyone who worked for or was a part of the royal family. Besides the church this estate held all the judicial and political power (“Social Order” 60). They were many subdivisions in this estate the main one was the monarch, which was composed of, kings, queens, dukes, counts, and different ranks of knights (Ferraro 44). The third and
Toward the end of educational impact time, the force of Church was unlimited. Subsequently, it is normally that it took the first. With respect to relating advantages, the Estate was out of expense obligation. Additionally, the Church was approved for money tithe asserting. Inquisitively enough, this minority possessed more than 15% percent of France grounds. The second Estate was respectability. And additionally Church, this class was free from expenses. At the period of medieval relations, the force of it was assembled around terrains winning. The principle wellsprings of salaries was area rent and installments for area misuse. As the area was the premise of creating relations, it is actually that its proprietors were the wealthiest individuals of that times. Whatever is left of populace was the third Estate, alleged bourgeoisie. Coherently that this class needed to take whole taxation rate and its status was unimaginably complexity to two past Estates. Hence, it is not shocking that discouraged dominant part took activities for fairness foundation.
Before the revolution, French society was divided into three estates or orders. The Third Estate was by far the largest of these, containing around 27 million people or 98 per cent of the nation. The Third Estate included every French citizen who did not possess a noble title and was not ordained by the church. As might be expected within such a large group, the Third Estate was marked by considerable diversity. It housed many different classes and levels of wealth; many different professions and ideas; rural, urban and provincial people alike. Members of the Third Estate ranged from lowly beggars and struggling peasants to urban artisans and labourers; from the shopkeepers and commercial middle classes to the nation’s wealthiest merchants