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| 249004347 | Old Regime | L'Ancien Regime - name given to pre-revolutionary society after it no longer existed. It supported the system of government in France and much of Europe. This "regime" was still dominated by the aristocracy and retained many elements of the feudal system. | |
| 249004348 | First, Second, and Third Estates | These were the social divisions within L'Ancien Regime. First - Clergy; Second - aristocracy; Third - merchant class,professionals, manufacturers, urban workers and peasants(i.e. everyone who wasn't in First or Second Estate). A person's individual, legal rights and personal prestige depended on category to which one belonged. By 1780s this structure in France was becoming politically and socially obsolete because of the changing structure of society and the economy. | |
| 249004349 | Estates General | Dating back to the Middle Ages this was a body representing the three estates which could be called into session by the king. It had not met since Marie de Medici called it in 1614. It had first met in 1302 when Philip IV (the Fair) had called it during the struggle against Pope Boniface VIII. | |
| 249004350 | Taille | Property tax - a direct tax on French owners of property. Probably the most important revenue earner. However, the nobility (which, along with the church, owned a large proportion of French property) were exempt from paying this tax on principle. | |
| 249004351 | Tithe | These were dues paid to the Gallicanized Catholic Church. Generally considered to be set at 10% of one's income. | |
| 249004352 | Metayer | These were peasant sharecroppers in France. They did not own land but were tenant farmers often on lands belonging to the aristocracy. They were provided with the material for farming and were allowed to keep a percentage of the crop. The rest went to the landowners. | |
| 249004353 | "Hunting Rights" | Dating back to feudal times, the nobility had the privilege of hunting on their own AND peasants' lands. Peasants generally did not have these rights and therefore were limited in their ability to provide for themselves - particularly in years of poor harvests. | |
| 249004354 | Banalites | These were fees collected by the nobility from the villagers for the use of the village shop, mill and winepress. Since the nobility generally owned these and held the monopoly over these necessary services - peasants were forced to pay these fees. | |
| 249004355 | "Eminent Property" Rights | Right to certain rents - annual - that went with property considered to be within the manorial area. The rights were transferred with the property even if it were sold or inherited. The rights stayed with the nobility. | |
| 249004356 | Calonne | One in a series of responsble persons who saw the need for financial reform in France(e.g. LXIV, John Law, Maupeou, Turgot and Swiss banker called Necker). He was the successor to Necker as finance minister to Louis XVI. He proposed, 1786, a general tax to replace the taille, a lightening of indirect taxes, the abolition of internal tariff barriers, confiscation of church properties, and establishment of provincial assemblies in which propertied elements should be represented without regard to estate. An Assembly of Notables was called for support in these plans in 1787 but resulted in deadlock and Calonne was dismissed. | |
| 249004357 | Lomenie de Brienne | Succeeded Calonne. He was Archbishop of Toulouse. Very worldly-wise. Tried to push Calonne's program through the Parlement of Paris but Parlement said only the Estates General could consent to new taxes. Brienne and L XVI tried to replace the Parlements but they resisted. In 1788 Brienne and LXVI promised to call the Estates General. | |
| 249004358 | What is the Third Estate? | Pamphlet written by Abbe Sieyes in January 1789. It declared the nobility to be a useless caste that should be abolished. Only the Third Estate was necessary and was identical with the nation - should therefore be sovereign. Through these writings of Sieyes the ideas of Rousseau 's Social Contract entered the revolution. They also added to the fear between the classes even before the meeting of the Estates General. | |
| 249004359 | National Assembly | The Estates General met in May of 1789. The three estates were made to vote separately and the first and second would obviously outvote the third. However, some priests from the First Estate came and sat with the Third Estate. The Third estate declared itself to be a National Assembly on June 17, 1789 and when Louis had the meeting hall closed to them, they moved to the Tennis Court. | |
| 249004360 | Oath of the Tennis Court | June 20, 1789: After being shut out of their meeting room in Versailles, the self-declared National Assembly moved to the nearest large room that would accomodate them - indoor Tennis Court - and took an oath that they would remain in session until a new constitution had been written for France. | |
| 249004361 | Capture of the Bastille | July 14, 1789 - medieval prison/fortress and much hated symbol of the Old Regime in Paris. Poor harvests and shortage of bread plus fact that King seen as assembling troops outside of Paris led to urban unrest. Bastille stormed by angry crowd of Parisians - not just by rabble but many merchants, soldiers and women involved(French banker, Laborde funded the attack). A few prisoners released and some weapons taken. Several soldiers in the garrison killed and warden summarily executed and head displayed on pike. It was not intended to do so but resulted in saving of National Assembly at Versailles. King flustered by event and decided to accept the situation in Paris. | |
| 249004362 | Great Fear of 1789/La Grande Peur | After Bastille the situation in rural France went from bad to worse. There was a "fear"/rumour that bands of "brigands" sponsored by the nobility/king were coming - led to panic in August. Angry/fearful peasants stormed country homes of the nobility/manorial symbols. There was a general agrarian insurrection as peasants destroyed manorial records and burned property of propertied nobility. In some instances members of the nobility or their staff were killed. Led to many leaving not just the countryside but also the country. | |
| 249004363 | "Night of August 4th" | Small group of bourgeois in National Assembly met in attempt to settle the agrarian problems that were on-going. They chose an evening session when they knew many of the nobility would not be present. A few liberal nobility were there to support them in renouncing the banalites, hunting rights and other feudal holdovers. They virtually ended, in one night, serfdom and the feudal system and reached a compromise on eminent property rights - giving compensation to formers owners . It was an important step in the demands of the people. | |
| 249004364 | Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen | Issued on August 26, 1789. It affirmed the principles of the new state: rule of law; equal individual citizenship, collective sovereignty of the people. "Men born and remain free and equal in rights" (LIBERTY, PROPERTY, SECURITY AND RESISTANCE TO OPPRESSION). Became catechism of the revolution. Printed and disseminated in large numbers. Translated into many other languages. | |
| 249004365 | The Rights of Man | Written in 1791 by Thomas Paine, Englishman, to defend the French Revolution. Gave the phrase, "rights of man", a powerful impact in English. | |
| 249004366 | Olympes de Gouges | French woman of some prominence as a writer for the theater and one of several who argued for equality of rights for women too. Wrote the Rights of Women. | |
| 249004367 | The Rights of Women | Published in 1791 as commentary on omission from Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen. Applied those principles in that document specifically to women. Also advocated women's right to divorce, property, education, careers, etc. |
