Difference between revisions of "Old Regime"
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The Old Regime was characterized by a rigid class system that reflected a hierarchical [[feudal]] order, with a strong monarch, strong Catholic Church, and strong local nobility. The Church and the nobility owned nearly all the land and the peasant farmers had no say whatever. The upper middle class (called the [[bourgeoisie]]) compsising intellectuals, lawyers and wealthy businessmen had little political power. | The Old Regime was characterized by a rigid class system that reflected a hierarchical [[feudal]] order, with a strong monarch, strong Catholic Church, and strong local nobility. The Church and the nobility owned nearly all the land and the peasant farmers had no say whatever. The upper middle class (called the [[bourgeoisie]]) compsising intellectuals, lawyers and wealthy businessmen had little political power. | ||
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| + | The term "old regime" is often applied to other countries for the period before a great revolution. | ||
==Society and Population== | ==Society and Population== | ||
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France had the second largest population in Europe around 1700. Britain had five or six million, Spain had eight million, and the Austrian Habsburgs had around eight million. Russia was the most populated European country at the time. France's lead slowly faded after 1700, as other counbtries grew faster. | France had the second largest population in Europe around 1700. Britain had five or six million, Spain had eight million, and the Austrian Habsburgs had around eight million. Russia was the most populated European country at the time. France's lead slowly faded after 1700, as other counbtries grew faster. | ||
===Women=== | ===Women=== | ||
| − | 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. | + | Very few women held an power--some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents. |
| + | ====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. | ||
| + | ===Stepmothers=== | ||
| + | The experience of stepmotherhood was surrounded by negative stereotypes; the [[Cinderella]] story and many other jokes and stories made the second wife an object of ridicule. Language, theater, popular sayings, the position of the Church, and the writings of jurists all made stepmother a difficult identity to take up. However, the importance of male remarriage suggests that reconstitution of family units was a necessity and that individuals resisted negative perceptions circulating through their communities. Widowers did not hesitate to take a second wife, and they usually found quite soon a partner willing to become a stepmother. For these women, being a stepmother was not necessarily the experience of a lifetime or what defined their identity. Their experience depended greatly on factors such as the length of the union, changing family configuration, and financial dispositions taken by their husbands.<ref>Sylvie Perrier, "La Maratre Dans La France D'ancien Regime: Integration Ou Marginalite?" ["The Stepmother in Ancien Régime France: Integration or Marginality?] ''Annales De Demographie Historique'' 2006 (2): 171-188 in French</ref> | ||
| + | ==Church== | ||
| + | ===Monestaries=== | ||
| + | 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 seignorial 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. | ||
==Military== | ==Military== | ||
The proud French army was controlled by the aristocracy, and most soldiers were peasant volunteers. There was no draft until the Revolution in 1798. | The proud French army was controlled by the aristocracy, and most soldiers were peasant volunteers. There was no draft until the Revolution in 1798. | ||
Revision as of 18:33, December 12, 2008
The Old Regime or Ancien Régime refers to the aristocratic social and political order of France between the 14th and 18th centuries under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. It is the prevailing political and social model in place in France prior to the French Revolution, and which was deliberately destroyed by the Revolution.
The Old Regime was characterized by a rigid class system that reflected a hierarchical feudal order, with a strong monarch, strong Catholic Church, and strong local nobility. The Church and the nobility owned nearly all the land and the peasant farmers had no say whatever. The upper middle class (called the bourgeoisie) compsising intellectuals, lawyers and wealthy businessmen had little political power.
The term "old regime" is often applied to other countries for the period before a great revolution.
Society and Population
France in the Ancien Régime covered a territory of around 200,000 square miles, and supported 20 million people in 1700. At least 80% of the population were peasants.[1]
France had the second largest population in Europe around 1700. Britain had five or six million, Spain had eight million, and the Austrian Habsburgs had around eight million. Russia was the most populated European country at the time. France's lead slowly faded after 1700, as other counbtries grew faster.
Women
Very few women held an power--some queens did, as did the heads of Catholic convents.
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.
Stepmothers
The experience of stepmotherhood was surrounded by negative stereotypes; the Cinderella story and many other jokes and stories made the second wife an object of ridicule. Language, theater, popular sayings, the position of the Church, and the writings of jurists all made stepmother a difficult identity to take up. However, the importance of male remarriage suggests that reconstitution of family units was a necessity and that individuals resisted negative perceptions circulating through their communities. Widowers did not hesitate to take a second wife, and they usually found quite soon a partner willing to become a stepmother. For these women, being a stepmother was not necessarily the experience of a lifetime or what defined their identity. Their experience depended greatly on factors such as the length of the union, changing family configuration, and financial dispositions taken by their husbands.[2]
Church
Monestaries
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 seignorial 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.
Military
The proud French army was controlled by the aristocracy, and most soldiers were peasant volunteers. There was no draft until the Revolution in 1798.
See also
Bibliography
- Doyle, William. Old Regime France: 1648-1788 (2001) excerpt and text search
- Goubert, Pierre. Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen (1972), social history from Annales School
- Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002) excerpt and text search
- Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Ancien Regime: A History of France 1610 - 1774 (1999), survey by leader of the Annales School excerpt and text search
- Lynn, John A. The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714 (1999) excerpt and text search
- Wolf, John B. Louis XIV (1968), the standard scholarly biography online edition
Notes
- ↑ Pierre Goubert, The Ancien Regime (1973) pp. 2-9. There was no nationwide census before 1789 and therefore these figures are estimates. France lagged behind most of Europe in this regard; Spain and Sweden held censuses in 1717 and 1720 respectively.
- ↑ Sylvie Perrier, "La Maratre Dans La France D'ancien Regime: Integration Ou Marginalite?" ["The Stepmother in Ancien Régime France: Integration or Marginality?] Annales De Demographie Historique 2006 (2): 171-188 in French