French Rev Notes PDF

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First 4 weeks of lecture notes for The French Revolution....

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The French Revolution Lecture 1 Introduction to the French Revolution King Louis XVI - Ruled 1774 -1793 - Prior to 1789, Louis had to confront a financial crisis in his kingdom o Financial crisis = disparity b/w revenue and expenditure - He convened a meeting of the Estates General at Versailles to offer him advice to resolve the financial crisis o The French estates of his realm: the clergy, the nobility and the commoners o An advisory meeting that amounted huge expectations from the French people to improve their crisis - There was a standoff: o Louis wanted meetings to be separate (separate meetings for different estates) o But the commoner deputies refused to consent to the separate meetings Tennis Court Oath - June 1789 - Commonly seen as the first act of the French Revolution - commoner deputies took an oath not to separate until they had given France a constitution o called the National Assembly - an oath taken by members of the third estate (commoners) - The King and advisors were prepared to expel these commoner deputies Intervention of Working People in Paris - Second act of the French Revolution - Saved the commoner deputies from being expelled by the monarchy - Paris was 20km away from Versailles - The working people were anxious, hungry and suspicious of the troops moving through the streets - Working people seized weapons from armouries in the city 14th of July 1789 = Bastille Day - The working people besieged the Bastille - Compelled Louis XVI to recognise that the "National Assembly" would have a concrete existence - And so, the deputies of the first and second estate were ordered to joint with the 3rd estate in a National Assembly In the countryside - Where most French people resided - When news reached the countryside→ people were anxious that the nobility that owned the lands would exact revenge - So, they began arming themselves against a potential attack they thought was going to happen - Peasants instead turned their weapons on the system itself→ the system of Feudalism Feudalism: - Nobility held lands from the crown - Peasants obliged to live on their lord's land and give them homage, labour and a share of the produce - In exchange for military protection La Grande Peur (July-Aug 1789) - Peasants turned their weapons on the system - Confronted nobles/stewards in their Chateau - Insisting that they be given food, wine and lists of the feudal dues they had been paying - Very FEW attacks on castles during La Grande Peur 4 August 1789 - Response of the National Assembly at Versailles was significant - Once the representatives received news of the peasant disobedience and rebellion - Members of the National Assembly (commoners, priests, nobles) took a series of decisions to try and meet the grievances of the peasants The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Blueprint for a new France An element of this new regime was that Louis XVI would play a role as a constitutional monarch o Rule France in conjunction WITH a National Assembly (parliament-like) Jean Paul Marat (1793) - Assassinated in his bath painted by Jacques Louis David -

3 Key Questions we need to answer about the French Revolution - How may we explain the origin of the French Revolution? - Why did the French Revolution take a particular course - What were the outcomes and whose revolution was it? 18th Century France - Paris was very different in the 18th century o It was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century - It was more congested and medieval city in the 18th century - And was much smaller - Now 1/7 people live in Paris, but before 1/40 people lived in Paris o And wasn't the capital - The vast majority of French people lived in small towns and villages (rural) o 85% lived in farms/rural areas - Had less than half of the population it has today - Communication was slow and difficult and therefore the country was difficult to govern o Took 8-10 days for news/info to travel from Paris and outwards Massif Central- Nant, Aveyron - An example of a small rural community where most people lived - Included peasant famers, laborers, clergy and nobility - Had a subsistence orientation o They tried to produce as much of everything as they were going to need - They were polycultural o Producing all sorts of crops and being involved in all sorts of agriculture - Household production was the norm o Every member of the household would be involved in helping the peasant family produce something - Small towns had small markets o Where farmers came in with small amounts of excess produce to exchange for things they couldn’t produce on the farm - Towns were pre-industrial/artisanal o People worked in SMALL workplaces (e.g. clockmakers had small workplaces with not many people → 4 workers to one employer) o While in Britain→ people were starting to industrialise manufacturing Kingdom of Orders (ancient form of social organisation) - The three estates: clergy, nobility, commons - Every community in France was characterised by the presence of the clergy o The parish church was the dominant feature in the village - Ancient France is a society of orders in which the two privileged orders of clergy and nobility have special roles to play - Imposing statements of the power of the privileged orders o Chateau and church/parish Versailles - Royal capital - The palace was an awe-some statement of the power of the kings of France Change in French Society were occurring though - 1st type of change o Growth of the great sea-ports o Bordeaux represents a new form of commercial wealth o Increasing importance of commerce/trade was a source of change in 18th century France - 2nd type of change

o Outskirts of large towns o Rural people start to concentrate more and more on specialised produce for an urban market o E.g. in Champagne region → farmers starting to produce only wine - 3rd type of change (before 1789) o Declaration of Independence in United States of America o Colonial war b/w England and American Colonies (1776-1783) o Where France supported the American Colonists o The repercussions of France's involvement in this colonial war of liberation The FIRST AND SECOND ESTATES: Clergy and Nobility Clergy = first estate - Duty was to pray/worship - Approx. 140,000 (0.5% of total population) o Total population = 28 million - 'regular' clergy of 26,000 monks, 55,000 nuns o In religious orders: convents, monasteries, etc. - 'secular' clergy of 40,000 priests and 19,000 curates o In parishes o Role to meet the needs of secular society - Privilege o The church was privileged o Was self-governing and dealt with infractions of its members within the church itself - Was a wealthy estate - Taxation Exemptions and don gratuit o Don gratuit = a regular voluntary gift to the realm from the clergy - Tithe o Peasants were expected to contribute 8-12% of harvest towards the upkeep of the church - Land approx. 8% o They rented out this land o In Paris: 40% of real estate was in the hands of the church Social Divisions in the Church - 'upper clergy' of approx. 3,000 bishops (139, all nobles), canons, abbots o Were almost exclusively from the nobility Strasbourg - The Cardinal de Rohan (archbishop of Strasbourg) had a salary of 400,000 livres o More than 1000x what a peasant would have earned o He was related to the royal family and had political power o He spent most of his time at Versailles rather than administering the spiritual needs of his people - The monastic orders (i.e. clergy) incurred the criticism from 18th century philosophers (e.g. Voltaire) o Because church was divided by a hierarchy of wealth and birth o And so many upper clergy were more concerned with their worldly achievements rather than the spiritual needs of their people Corbières - Where villages were small and poor, so parish priests would have only earnt 700 livres - The great abbeys were often landholders/feudal lords o Had feudal rights over 20 villages o And extracted harvests and payments from those villages - The first estate therefore has a privileged way of running its own affaires and has social and economic power Education - If ordinary people received an education, it was from the church - Parish priests gave them an education (reciprocity?) - So, was there a reciprocal arrangement b/w the church and secular society? o Church extracts the Tithe (+ exemptions) because it delivers education and spiritual advice? A Tridentine Church (1545) - In the 1780s, Yves-Michel Marchais, the priest of a devout western parish, insisted to his congregation:

The joys, the pleasures, the happiness of life are always dangerous and almost always fatal; the games, laughter, and amusements of the world are like the mark of damnation and are gifts given to us by God in his anger. Whereas tears and suffering are the signs of God's pity and a certain promise of salvation. - The messages priests were giving their congregations were of an angry god - Priests were taught to be suspicious and be aware of the dangers of sin - Hell was a terrifying prospect that was placed in the forefront of the minds of the faithful Father Bridaine, a veteran of 256 missions: - Cruel famine, bloody war, flood, fire ... raging toothache, the stabbing pain of gout, the convulsions of epilepsy, burning fever, broken bones ... all the tortures undergone by the martyrs: sharp swords, iron combs, the teeth of lions and tigers, the rack, the wheel, the cross, red-hot grills, burning oil, melted lead ... - FEAR OF HELL/PERGATORY Ecclesiastical Edifices - Buildings related to the church - The power of the church came from the threat of hell/damnation AND these ecclesiastical edifices - They dominated so many towns and villages across France - E.g. Albi o The cathedral dominates the townscape o Once the faithful went inside, the message of the Tridentine church was there, not only in the words the parish priests/bishops said, but also in the way the church was decorated Church decoration - Also communicated the message of the Tridentine Church - A painting on the fresco of the Albi church reminds people of the glories of the happiness that awaits them in the afterlife if they are good Christians - But also of the terrible horror that will befall them as sinners - These paintings were powerful statements Clergy Contrasts - There were differences in the clergy due to wealth/social status - But there were also regional contrasts Regional Contrasts: North-Western region vs South-Eastern Region - Brittany/Vendee vs Provence o Two different types of ecclesiastical culture North-Western France - Characterised by a form of landscape called the Bocage - Small fields separated by hedge rows - And small rural communities that form a scattered population - Most people lived outside of the village centre and came into the centre to hear the word of god - So, the church was the social/spiritual hub of these communities - And the priests were local and present in significant numbers South-East France - Vast majority of population lived in concentrated villages/small towns - The church wasn't the SOCIAL hub (wasn't the centre of communication) - It does seem that in clustered communities like this, the church was losing some of its social authority - E.g. in these communities, many more women were pregnant at marriage o And people were starting to use contraception o Showing that the social authority of the church was decreasing Nobility = the second estate - Duty to fight/protect the realm - Approx. 125,000 (0.5%) - Land: approx. 30% o Great land-holding estate - Taxation exemptions o Avoids the most onerous of the taxes - Seigneurial/feudal dues o Nobility have rights over the commoners o Paid feudal dues (particularly at harvest time) - Nobility exercises its power in physical demonstrations of ostentation and authority/intimidation o Large imposing castles - Nobility is a presence in every community -

Noblesse d'épée - Nobility of the sword - Those whose origins lay in a medieval function as warriors Noblesse de robe - In 18th century France this is the other form of nobility - Newer nobility - Have won their noble status through buying it or because of their diligence has lead the crown to make them nobles Role of nobilities in communities - There wasn't a reciprocal arrangement Polignac - Rural community in Massif central - The chateau of the Polignac family was partially destroyed by angry peasants after the French Revolution - Polignac families like most noble families spend most of the year at court - So, what do small rural communities get in return for the feudal dues they pay? - The nobility are less a personal presence, but more a presence that extracts from the peasantry - Noblesse oblige = nobility has obligations Alsace - Has fortresses that were built in the 17th/18th centuries - Nobility in theory had the obligation to fight for the realm o But this is no longer the case in 17th and 18th centuries o Responsibility for protecting the King's subjects rests with the kings - So, what is the justification for the privileges that the nobility enjoy Increased centralisation of power in 17th century France - Central authority in the capital of Versailles Commons = third estate - Duty to obey/work Lecture 2...