Old Regime
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.
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
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.
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.