French Revolution Overview
The Structure of the Ancien Régime:
The First Estate- less than 0.5% of the population, church own about 1/10th of land,
power of censorship
The Second Estate- less than 1% of population, 120,000 nobles, owned between ¼ to
1/3rd of land, three levels noblesse d’epée noblesse de robe those that lived on their
country estates
The Third Estate- 28 million people, 98% of population, bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie 2.3 mill by 1780
The church made a voluntary annual grant of 16 million livres, and this was only 5%
of its income
Nobility exempts from taille and corvées royales
Nobility exempts from military conscription
Royal councils
o Conseil d’etat (council of state) dealt with major issues of state and foreign
affairs
o Conseil de Depeches received dispatches from the king’s officials in provinces
and dealt with church affairs
o Conseil royal des finances managed state finances and household costs
o There were other lesser councils, but they did not meet with the kings
presence
Intendants
o 36 royal agents appointed by the king to maintain his rule in the provences and
feedback information
o Responsible for ensuring taxes were paid, ensuring kings edicts were carried
out, presiding over local courts, raising troops
Venality
o Custom of selling administrative offices
o Way of generating royal income
o All posts of public responsibility were bought (except intendants)
o 70,000 venal offices
Qualities of Louis XVI:
Ruled 1774-92
Absolutism
Louis was indecisive and appointed family and friends
All royal legislation had to be ratified by one of the thirteen parlements
Intendants appointed but hindered by local law courts
Wide variations in law and customs
No single representative body
Financial Problems and Reform Attempts:
Seven years’ war 1756-63 cost approximately 1.8 billion livres
Unemployment 80,000 in Paris
1789 88% workers wage spent on bread
Inefficient tax system- nobles exempt, tax collection chaotic, tax farming reduces
crown income
, Farmers General paid an agreed sum in advance for the right to collect taxes, anything
above this was profit
Feudal rights and dues e.g. feudal right, the right of the oven peasants had to bake
bread in landlord oven and may fee for its use, feudal due, the corvée had to do
unpaid labour for landlord a few days each year
Turgot
o 1774 appointed controller general
o Removed price controls and abolished guilds
o Proposed a new property tax
o Louis dismissed him in 1776
Necker
o Appointed 1777
o Tried to cut venal offices
o Advised Louis that he could afford to enter American war of independence
o AWofI cost 1.3 billion livres increasing debt
o 1781 first public report on royal finances called compte de rendu
o Within a week 100,000 copies of the compte de rendu had been sold
Calonne
o 1783 chief minister
o Sold offices
o Calonne unsuccessful in raising loans in 1785
o In Aug 1786 told Louis they were close to bankruptcy
By 1789 deficit of 126 million livres
Interest on debt took 51% of total spending
France joins American war of independence in 1778
Englishman Arthur Young noted a great deal of rural poverty
Poor harvest between 1770 and 1789
Dramatic growth in towns
Bread riots and attacks on employers common e.g. riots against wallpaper
manufacturer Réveillon in Paris in April 1789
Bad harvest 1788
1789 early months harshly cold
Food prices reached a peak on 14 July 1789
Paris parlement had refused new taxes in 1785
The Assembly of Notables
o Comprised of 144 notable men selected by the King
o Met in Feb 1787 and louis expected them to agree with Calonne’s proposals
o He proposed a new land tax no exemptions, new assemblies, removing trade
restrictions
o The assembly rejected all of these
o Louis appointed Brienne after Calonne
o Brienne’s reforms were also rejected by the assembly
o The assembly stated that the reforms needed the approval of the whole French
nation and that the estates general needed to be called
After being refused by the assembly Louis dissolved them and showed the reforms to
the Paris Parlement, who also refused to approve them
Louis exiled the Paris Parlement to Troyes and forced through the new taxes
This exile prompted an aristocratic revolt in 1788
The Structure of the Ancien Régime:
The First Estate- less than 0.5% of the population, church own about 1/10th of land,
power of censorship
The Second Estate- less than 1% of population, 120,000 nobles, owned between ¼ to
1/3rd of land, three levels noblesse d’epée noblesse de robe those that lived on their
country estates
The Third Estate- 28 million people, 98% of population, bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie 2.3 mill by 1780
The church made a voluntary annual grant of 16 million livres, and this was only 5%
of its income
Nobility exempts from taille and corvées royales
Nobility exempts from military conscription
Royal councils
o Conseil d’etat (council of state) dealt with major issues of state and foreign
affairs
o Conseil de Depeches received dispatches from the king’s officials in provinces
and dealt with church affairs
o Conseil royal des finances managed state finances and household costs
o There were other lesser councils, but they did not meet with the kings
presence
Intendants
o 36 royal agents appointed by the king to maintain his rule in the provences and
feedback information
o Responsible for ensuring taxes were paid, ensuring kings edicts were carried
out, presiding over local courts, raising troops
Venality
o Custom of selling administrative offices
o Way of generating royal income
o All posts of public responsibility were bought (except intendants)
o 70,000 venal offices
Qualities of Louis XVI:
Ruled 1774-92
Absolutism
Louis was indecisive and appointed family and friends
All royal legislation had to be ratified by one of the thirteen parlements
Intendants appointed but hindered by local law courts
Wide variations in law and customs
No single representative body
Financial Problems and Reform Attempts:
Seven years’ war 1756-63 cost approximately 1.8 billion livres
Unemployment 80,000 in Paris
1789 88% workers wage spent on bread
Inefficient tax system- nobles exempt, tax collection chaotic, tax farming reduces
crown income
, Farmers General paid an agreed sum in advance for the right to collect taxes, anything
above this was profit
Feudal rights and dues e.g. feudal right, the right of the oven peasants had to bake
bread in landlord oven and may fee for its use, feudal due, the corvée had to do
unpaid labour for landlord a few days each year
Turgot
o 1774 appointed controller general
o Removed price controls and abolished guilds
o Proposed a new property tax
o Louis dismissed him in 1776
Necker
o Appointed 1777
o Tried to cut venal offices
o Advised Louis that he could afford to enter American war of independence
o AWofI cost 1.3 billion livres increasing debt
o 1781 first public report on royal finances called compte de rendu
o Within a week 100,000 copies of the compte de rendu had been sold
Calonne
o 1783 chief minister
o Sold offices
o Calonne unsuccessful in raising loans in 1785
o In Aug 1786 told Louis they were close to bankruptcy
By 1789 deficit of 126 million livres
Interest on debt took 51% of total spending
France joins American war of independence in 1778
Englishman Arthur Young noted a great deal of rural poverty
Poor harvest between 1770 and 1789
Dramatic growth in towns
Bread riots and attacks on employers common e.g. riots against wallpaper
manufacturer Réveillon in Paris in April 1789
Bad harvest 1788
1789 early months harshly cold
Food prices reached a peak on 14 July 1789
Paris parlement had refused new taxes in 1785
The Assembly of Notables
o Comprised of 144 notable men selected by the King
o Met in Feb 1787 and louis expected them to agree with Calonne’s proposals
o He proposed a new land tax no exemptions, new assemblies, removing trade
restrictions
o The assembly rejected all of these
o Louis appointed Brienne after Calonne
o Brienne’s reforms were also rejected by the assembly
o The assembly stated that the reforms needed the approval of the whole French
nation and that the estates general needed to be called
After being refused by the assembly Louis dissolved them and showed the reforms to
the Paris Parlement, who also refused to approve them
Louis exiled the Paris Parlement to Troyes and forced through the new taxes
This exile prompted an aristocratic revolt in 1788
