Changes

Very few women held power - some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. In the [[Enlightenment]] the writings of philosopher [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]] gave political program for reform of the ancien régime, founded on a reform of domestic mores. Rousseau's conception of the relations between private and public spheres is more unified than that found in modern sociology. Rousseau argued that the domestic role of women is a structural precondition for a "modern" society.<ref>Jennifer J. Popiel, "Making Mothers: The Advice Genre And The Domestic Ideal, 1760-1830," ''Journal of Family History'' 2004 29(4): 339-350</ref>  

Very few women held power - some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. In the [[Enlightenment]] the writings of philosopher [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]] gave political program for reform of the ancien régime, founded on a reform of domestic mores. Rousseau's conception of the relations between private and public spheres is more unified than that found in modern sociology. Rousseau argued that the domestic role of women is a structural precondition for a "modern" society.<ref>Jennifer J. Popiel, "Making Mothers: The Advice Genre And The Domestic Ideal, 1760-1830," ''Journal of Family History'' 2004 29(4): 339-350</ref>  

====Queens====

====Queens====

[[Salic law]] prohibited women from rule; however, the laws for the case of a regency, when the king was too young to govern by himself, brought the queen into the center of power. The queen could assure the passage of power from one king to another--from her late husband to her young son--while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty.

[[Salic law]] prohibited women from rule; however, the laws for the case of a regency, when the king was too young to govern by himself, brought the queen into the center of power. The queen could assure the passage of power from one king to another—from her late husband to her young son—while simultaneously assuring the continuity of the dynasty.

====Education for girls====

====Education for girls====

Educational aspirations were on the rise and were becoming increasingly institutionalized in order to supply the church and state with the functionaries to serve as their future administrators.  Girls were schooled too, but not to assume political responsibility. Girls were ineligible for leadership positions and were generally considered to have an inferior intellect to their brothers. France had many small local schools where working-class children - both boys and girls - learned to read, the better "to know, love, and serve God." The sons and daughters of the noble and bourgeois elites, however, were given quite distinct educations: boys were sent to upper school, perhaps a university, while their sisters - if they were lucky enough to leave the house - would be sent to board at a convent with a vague curriculum. The [[Enlightenment]] challenged this model, but no real alternative presented itself for female education. Only through education at home were knowledgeable women formed, usually to the sole end of dazzling their salons.<ref> Carolyn C. Lougee, "'Noblesse,' Domesticity, and Social Reform: The Education of Girls by Fenelon and Saint-Cyr," ''History of Education Quarterly'' 1974 14(1): 87-113</ref>

Educational aspirations were on the rise and were becoming increasingly institutionalized in order to supply the church and state with the functionaries to serve as their future administrators.  Girls were schooled too, but not to assume political responsibility. Girls were ineligible for leadership positions and were generally considered to have an inferior intellect to their brothers. France had many small local schools where working-class children - both boys and girls - learned to read, the better "to know, love, and serve God." The sons and daughters of the noble and bourgeois elites, however, were given quite distinct educations: boys were sent to upper school, perhaps a university, while their sisters - if they were lucky enough to leave the house - would be sent to board at a convent with a vague curriculum. The [[Enlightenment]] challenged this model, but no real alternative presented itself for female education. Only through education at home were knowledgeable women formed, usually to the sole end of dazzling their salons.<ref>Carolyn C. Lougee, "'Noblesse,' Domesticity, and Social Reform: The Education of Girls by Fenelon and Saint-Cyr," ''History of Education Quarterly'' 1974 14(1): 87-113</ref>

===Stepfamilies===

===Stepfamilies===

By 1620 the Huguenots were on the defensive, and the government increasingly applied pressure.  A series of small civil wars that broke out in southern France between 1610 and 1635 were long considered by historians to be regional squabbles between rival noble families. New analysis shows that these civil wars were in fact religious in nature, remnants of the French Wars of Religion that largely ended with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Small wars in the provinces of Languedoc and Guyenne show Catholic and Calvinist groups using destruction of churches, iconoclasm, forced conversions, and the execution of heretics as weapons of choice.

By 1620 the Huguenots were on the defensive, and the government increasingly applied pressure.  A series of small civil wars that broke out in southern France between 1610 and 1635 were long considered by historians to be regional squabbles between rival noble families. New analysis shows that these civil wars were in fact religious in nature, remnants of the French Wars of Religion that largely ended with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Small wars in the provinces of Languedoc and Guyenne show Catholic and Calvinist groups using destruction of churches, iconoclasm, forced conversions, and the execution of heretics as weapons of choice.

Louis XIV acted more and more aggressively to force the Huguenots to convert. At first he sent missionaries to convert them, backed by a fund to financially reward converts to Catholicism. Then he imposed penalties and closed their schools and excluded them from favorite professions. Escalating the attack, he tried to forcibly re-Catholicize the Huguenots by the employment of armed [[dragonnades]] (soldiers) to occupy and loot their houses, and finally by the revocation (Oct. 18, 1685) of the liberal [[Edict of Nantes]] of 1598. The revocation forbade Protestant services, the children were to be educated as Catholics, and emigration was prohibited. It proved disastrous to the Huguenots and costly for France. It precipitated civil bloodshed, ruined commerce, and resulted in the illegal flight from the country of about 180,000 Protestants, many of whom became intellectuals, doctors and business leaders in Britain as well as Holland, Prussia and South Africa.  4000 went to the American colonies. The English welcomed the French refugees, providing money from both government and private agencies to aid their relocation. Those Huguenots who stayed in France became Catholics and were called "new converts."  Only a few Protestant villages remained in isolated areas.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'', ch 24; Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, "Escape from Babylon." ''Christian History'' 2001 20(3): 38-42. Issn: 0891-9666 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]] </ref>

Louis XIV acted more and more aggressively to force the Huguenots to convert. At first he sent missionaries to convert them, backed by a fund to financially reward converts to Catholicism. Then he imposed penalties and closed their schools and excluded them from favorite professions. Escalating the attack, he tried to forcibly re-Catholicize the Huguenots by the employment of armed [[dragonnades]] (soldiers) to occupy and loot their houses, and finally by the revocation (Oct. 18, 1685) of the liberal [[Edict of Nantes]] of 1598. The revocation forbade Protestant services, the children were to be educated as Catholics, and emigration was prohibited. It proved disastrous to the Huguenots and costly for France. It precipitated civil bloodshed, ruined commerce, and resulted in the illegal flight from the country of about 180,000 Protestants, many of whom became intellectuals, doctors and business leaders in Britain as well as Holland, Prussia and South Africa.  4000 went to the American colonies. The English welcomed the French refugees, providing money from both government and private agencies to aid their relocation. Those Huguenots who stayed in France became Catholics and were called "new converts."  Only a few Protestant villages remained in isolated areas.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'', ch 24; Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, "Escape from Babylon." ''Christian History'' 2001 20(3): 38-42. Issn: 0891-9666 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]</ref>

===Gallicanism===

===Gallicanism===

Louis XIV supported the [[Gallican]] cause that gave the government a greater role than the pope in choosing bishops, and gave the government the revenues when a bishopric was vacant.  There would be no inquisition in France, and papal decrees could operate only after the government approved them.  Louis avoided schism--he wanted more royal power over the French Church but did not want to break free of Rome.  The pope likewise recognized the "most Christian king" was a powerful ally who could not be alienated.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'', 388-92</ref>

Louis XIV supported the [[Gallican]] cause that gave the government a greater role than the pope in choosing bishops, and gave the government the revenues when a bishopric was vacant.  There would be no inquisition in France, and papal decrees could operate only after the government approved them.  Louis avoided schism—he wanted more royal power over the French Church but did not want to break free of Rome.  The pope likewise recognized the "most Christian king" was a powerful ally who could not be alienated.<ref>John Wolf, ''Louis XIV'', 388-92</ref>

===Monasteries===

===Monasteries===

From the end of the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution, Menat, a Cluniac abbey dating back to 1107, ruled over the Sioule Valley in the northwest region of the Clermont diocese. The monks were large landholders and developed a diversified and complex set of links with their neighbors; they received seigniorial rights, provided work to the rural poor, and were in daily contact with notaries public, merchants, and surgeons. While they did not directly manage the religious life of the faithful (parish priests did that), monks did constitute a motivating force in it through their setting up of a parish clergy, providing alms and social services, and playing the role of intercessors. Until the French Revolution, the monastic community constituted a key element of the economic, social, and religious life of a local French territory under the Old Regime.

From the end of the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution, Menat, a Cluniac abbey dating back to 1107, ruled over the Sioule Valley in the northwest region of the Clermont diocese. The monks were large landholders and developed a diversified and complex set of links with their neighbors; they received seigniorial rights, provided work to the rural poor, and were in daily contact with notaries public, merchants, and surgeons. While they did not directly manage the religious life of the faithful (parish priests did that), monks did constitute a motivating force in it through their setting up of a parish clergy, providing alms and social services, and playing the role of intercessors. Until the French Revolution, the monastic community constituted a key element of the economic, social, and religious life of a local French territory under the Old Regime.

===Convents===

===Convents===

Communities of nuns in France on the eve of Revolution had, on average, 25 members and a median age of 48 years. Nuns were both entering the profession later and living longer than before. In general, they had little wealth. Recruitment varied from region to region and by convent lifestyle (active or contemplative, austere or opulent, lower class or middle class). The nature of male and female monasticism differed greatly in France both before and during the revolution. Convents tended to be more isolated and less centrally controlled. This made for greater diversity among them than among male monasteries.<ref>Elizabeth Rapley and Robert Rapley, "An Image of Religious Women in the 'Ancien Regime:' the 'Etats Des Religieuses' of 1790-1791." ''French History'' 1997 11(4): 387-410 </ref>

Communities of nuns in France on the eve of Revolution had, on average, 25 members and a median age of 48 years. Nuns were both entering the profession later and living longer than before. In general, they had little wealth. Recruitment varied from region to region and by convent lifestyle (active or contemplative, austere or opulent, lower class or middle class). The nature of male and female monasticism differed greatly in France both before and during the revolution. Convents tended to be more isolated and less centrally controlled. This made for greater diversity among them than among male monasteries.<ref>Elizabeth Rapley and Robert Rapley, "An Image of Religious Women in the 'Ancien Regime:' the 'Etats Des Religieuses' of 1790-1791." ''French History'' 1997 11(4): 387-410</ref>

==Rural society==

==Rural society==

In the 17th century rich peasants who had ties to the market economy provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town). Geographic mobility, directly tied to the market and the need for investment capital, was the main path to social mobility. The "stable" core of French society, town guildspeople and village laboureurs, included cases of staggering social and geographic continuity, but even this core required regular renewal. Accepting the existence of these two societies, the constant tension between them, and extensive geographic and social mobility tied to a market economy holds the key to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the social structure, economy, and even political system of early modern France. Collins (1991) argues that the [[Annales School]] paradigm underestimated the role of the market economy; failed to explain the nature of capital investment in the rural economy; and grossly exaggerated social stability.<ref>James B. Collins, "Geographic and Social Mobility in Early-Modern France." ''Journal of Social History'' 1991 24(3): 563-577. Issn: 0022-4529 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]. For the ''Annales'' interpretation see Pierre Goubert, ''The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century'' (1986) [http://www.amazon.com/French-Peasantry-Seventeenth-Century/dp/0521312698/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197851902&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search] </ref>

In the 17th century rich peasants who had ties to the market economy provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town). Geographic mobility, directly tied to the market and the need for investment capital, was the main path to social mobility. The "stable" core of French society, town guildspeople and village laboureurs, included cases of staggering social and geographic continuity, but even this core required regular renewal. Accepting the existence of these two societies, the constant tension between them, and extensive geographic and social mobility tied to a market economy holds the key to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the social structure, economy, and even political system of early modern France. Collins (1991) argues that the [[Annales School]] paradigm underestimated the role of the market economy; failed to explain the nature of capital investment in the rural economy; and grossly exaggerated social stability.<ref>James B. Collins, "Geographic and Social Mobility in Early-Modern France." ''Journal of Social History'' 1991 24(3): 563-577. Issn: 0022-4529 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]]. For the ''Annales'' interpretation see Pierre Goubert, ''The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century'' (1986) [http://www.amazon.com/French-Peasantry-Seventeenth-Century/dp/0521312698/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197851902&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]</ref>

==Economy==

==Economy==

Two massive famines struck France between 1693 and 1710, killing over two million people. In both cases the impact of harvest failure was exacerbated by wartime demands on the food supply.<ref> Cormac Ó Gráda and Jean-Michel Chevet, "Famine and Market in 'Ancien Regime' France." ''Journal of Economic History'' 2002 62(3): 706-733 online</ref>

Two massive famines struck France between 1693 and 1710, killing over two million people. In both cases the impact of harvest failure was exacerbated by wartime demands on the food supply.<ref>Cormac Ó Gráda and Jean-Michel Chevet, "Famine and Market in 'Ancien Regime' France." ''Journal of Economic History'' 2002 62(3): 706-733 online</ref>

   

   

==Military==

==Military==

[[Category:French Revolution]]

[[Category:French Revolution]]

[[category:French History]]

[[Category:French History]]