Ancien Régime Flashcards
1
Q
Population of France in 1780s
A
27 million (three times Britain)
2
Q
Increase in French trade
A
1715-1771, trade x 8
3
Q
Trading ports
A
Marseilles with Levant
Nantes and Le Havre with the French West Indies
Bordeaux with Spain
(trade with the colonies x 4)
4
Q
Journey from Paris to Toulouse
A
Decreased from 15 - 8 days from 1760s - 80s
5
Q
Increase in industrial production
A
1715-1771, industrial production x 2
Mining, metallurgy, textile (some mechanisation and factories)
6
Q
Caisse d’Escompte
A
Founded 1776
Offered a cash bill which helped traders as they did not have to wait for payment (streamlined trading system)
7
Q
Turgot’s successes (4)
A
Detailed budget
Decreased royal expenditure and number/size of royal pensions
Reports from government departments on expenditure and ways to reduce it
Made tax-farming somewhat more efficient
8
Q
Turgot’s low interest loan
A
1776 with Dutch bankers (4%)
9
Q
Turgot tried to introduced free grain trade
A
1774
Influenced by Quesnay’s ideas - questioning mercantilism
10
Q
Flour Wars
A
Early Spring 1775 (poor harvest 1774 forced up bread prices leading to riots and so Turgot was forced to abandon free grain trade)
11
Q
Average amount of bread eaten per day
A
900g
12
Q
Turgot’s Six Edicts
A
1776 - end privilege with a general land tax and abolish the corvée
13
Q
Turgot forced to resign
A
May 1776 - his reforms were too radical as they suggested the total devolution of the social hierarchy (particularly angered MA)
14
Q
Necker’s general successes (3)
A
Continued to cut royal expenditure and pensions
Appointed officials rather than nobles to run royal estates
Removed the vingtième on industry
15
Q
Necker’s changes to the taxation system
A
Reduced the number of caisses (collecting bodies)
Tax farmers = 60 to 40
48 ‘receiver-generals’ of direct taxes were replaced with 12 paid officials (reducing corruption)
16
Q
Compte Rendu au Roi (Necker)
A
1781 - first ever published budget of royal finances (many felt it was a lapse of protocol)
17
Q
Problems with the Compte Rendu
A
Suggested 10 million livres spare (whereas in reality the French royal family was in severe debt)
18
Q
Necker forced to resign
A
1781 (hated by many, esp. MA)
19
Q
Paris Parlement had to be called to Versailles so that Louis XVI could persuade them to agree to a loan
A
December 1785
20
Q
Royal deficit in 1786
A
112 million
21
Q
Calonne’s reform package
A
Proposed 1786 with Louis’ approval
Abolition of vingtième, corvée, grain trade control and internal customs barriers
General land tax (no privilege)
22
Q
Assembly of Notables
A
Met 22 February 1787
144 hand-picked members - attempt to bypass the Paris Parlement
23
Q
Reaction of the Assembly of Notables
A
Rejected the reforms
Asserted the need for the EG to reform the taxation system and fix the economy
24
Q
Louis dismissed Calonne
A
April 1787
25
Brienne’s failure
Reforms he proposed (general land tax, abolition of venal offices and creating a new treasury) were refused by the Parlements - he even tried to register them using a lit de justice in 1787
26
How much would be needed to start paying off France’s debts in 1787?
420 million livres would be needed to start paying off France’s debts
27
Hail storm leads to a poor harvest
1788
28
Royal deficit in 1788
126 million livres (20% of total expenses)
29
Brienne suspended payments from the royal treasury
July 1788
30
France was bankrupt
16 August 1788
31
Louis was forced to accept the EG and summoned it for...
1 May 1789 (rather than 1792 as he had originally planned)
32
Louis’ words upon his ascension to the throne (1774)
‘Protect us, Lord, for we are too young to reign’
33
Louis’ support for the American War of Independence cost France
1066 million livres
| By 1777, 5 million livres of aid had been sent (before the French had officially entered into the war)
34
Number of First Estate (Church) members
150,000 men
35
Percentage of land owned by the First Estate
10%
36
Number of Second Estate (nobility) members
200,000 - 400,000
37
Percentage of land owned by the Second Estate
1% of the population yet owned 25% of the land
38
Two types of nobility
Noblesse d’épée (nobles of the sword) - hereditary
| Noblesse de robe (nobles of the robe) - venal offices
39
Number of venal offices in 1789
70,000
40
Direct taxes (3)
taille (on property and income)
capitation (poll tax)
vingtième (5% tax on income)
41
Indirect taxes (7)
```
gabelle (salt)
tabac (tobacco)
octrois (local cuctsoms duties)
aides (consumption tax on consumer goods like wine, soap and wood)
domaine (taxes on Crown lands)
traite (customs duty)
timbre (stamp tax)
```
42
Unpaid compulsory public labour (another form of taxation effectively)
Corvée royale
43
Hobereaux
Nobles with little land/money who clung onto their titles for power
44
Rousseau’s ‘Emile’ on the Church
Argued that the Church had lost the true message of Christ and if you follow what is in your heart then you are being truly religious
45
Voltaire’s cry against the Church
‘écrasez l’infame’ (crush the infamous) - wanted to destroy the clergy who he felt stood in the way of reason
Questioning the Church led to a questioning of the Divine Right of Kings which led to a questioning of absolute monarchy
46
Diderot on popular sovereignty
Argued that sovereignty lies with the people who authorise the government to rule on their behalf
47
Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’
Representatives of France should meet to discuss laws as a ‘sovereign body’
Proposed ideas of the ‘general will’ - right to rule is derived from the people
48
Voltaire’s ‘Letters on England’
Published 1733
| Banned in France - but was still the most widely read book in France during the Enlightenment
49
Voltaire’s grievances with France
Criticised the arbitrary laws
| Opposed tax exemptions
50
Montesquieu (a noble!)
Wanted political bodies to administer the laws
| Proposed the separation of powers - in his ‘The Spirit of the Laws’ (1748)
51
Voltaire’s proposed changes
Proposed a system of bicameral legislature and representative government
52
Pays d’états privileges
Allowed to negotiate on tax - had powerful assemblies who presented a challenge to intendants
53
Different laws across France
Southern third had clearly written law (adapted from Roman law)
Rest of France = common law (based on precedent)
54
Everyone lived in small communities
Only 15% of France lived in communities of over 2000 people
55
Number of different units of measure
25,000 (made fraud in trade very easy)
56
Louis XVI’s grandfather abolished the parlements
1771
57
What was Louis referred to as once he restored the parlements in 1774?
‘Restorer of Liberties’
58
Royal session of November 1787 - Louis quotation
‘It is legal because I wish it’ (Louis)
59
Awarded the Third Estate double representation at the EG
27 December 1788
60
First day of EG meetings
5 May 1789 - voting procedure had still not been clarified which undermined the EG from the start
61
Louis withdrew from EG following son’s death
4 June 1789
| Meant that the Third Estate began to campaign more forcefully for the First and Second Estates to join the Commons
62
Tennis Court Oath
20 June 1789
63
Séance Royale
23 June 1789 - Louis condemned the NA
64
Bailly quotation at the séance royale
‘the assembled nation cannot be given orders’
65
Louis recognised the NA
27 June 1789
| He also permitted voting by head
66
% of Parisian workers’ wages being spent on bread
Spring 1789, 88%
67
Last EG
1614
68
Number of pamphlets produced 1788-89
1500 pamphlets
69
Abbé Sieyès’ pamphlet
Qu’est-ce que le Tiers État?
| C’est TOUT!
70
Literacy rates
50% men, 25% women
71
Political coffee shops
Café de Foy, the Régence, the Caveau and the Procope
72
Political salons
Madame Necker
Madame de Tessé
Madame de Genlis
73
Day of Tiles
June 1788 (sparked by May Edicts attempt to abolish the parlements) - in Grenoble
74
Réveillon Riots
April 1789 - sparked by fear of reduced wages
75
Customs posts destroyed
July 1789 - 40 out of 54 were destroyed
76
Fears of a royal assault, mobs raiding sword smiths and gun shops
12-13 July 1789
77
Storming of the Bastille
14 July 1789
| Highest bread prices on this day since 1715
78
Increase in ‘royal’ troops in Paris - raised tensions
4 July 1789 - 30,000 troops in and around Paris
| Most were hired mercenaries (Louis could no longer trust French troops)
79
Dismissal of Necker
11 July 1789
80
The Paris Commune established
15 July 1789
Declared themselves responsible for tax collection and public works
Set up the National Guard
Dominated by urban bourgeoisie and liberal-moderates
81
Lafayette becomes commander of the NG
15 July 1789
82
Storming of the Bastille forced Louis to accept the NA, Paris Commune and NG on...
17 July 1789
83
People who died in the Storming of the Bastille
Governor of the Bastille (Marquis de Launay)
| 70 others
84
Louis’ May Edicts
May 1788 - attempted to reduce the power of the parlements
Created new plenary courts which would be in charge of the registering of new laws
Reduce the number of judges
Legal work would be given to lower courts
85
Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom
3 May 1788 - asserted the judicial independence of the parlements and denied the King’s authority to use the lit de justice
86
Exile of the Duc d’Orléans
Had spoken against the King in November 1787 (in that royal session)
87
Church’s don gratuit was half of what Brienne had asked for
June 1788
88
Revolt of the Nobles
Mid-1788 (refers to all of their responses to the May Edicts) - series of risings led by nobles, attacked intendants
89
Société des Trentes
Formed November 1788
Noble liberal reformers - contributed to the politicisation of the people through pamphlets and example cahiers de doléances
90
Influential members of the Société des Trentes
Abbe Sieyes
Bishop of Autun (from January 1789)
Lafayette
91
Seven Years War (global conflict)
1756-63, cost 1.3 billion livres, lost all of their Northern American colonies
92
American War of Independence
1778-1783, cost 1066 million livres
93
France was 3.3 billion livres in debt (as a result of the American War of Independence and other factors)
1783
94
Municipal Revolt
Started 16-19 July 1789 (depending on when the news of the Storming of the Bastille reached different cities)
NGs were set up in most towns to counter violence and counter-revolutionaries
Authority of the King collapsed and orders were only obeyed if they had been approved by the NA
95
Municipal Revolt in Bordeaux
Third Estate electors seized control
96
Municipal Revolt in Lille, Lyons and Rouen
Old systems were overthrown by force
97
Rural Revolt
Chateaux attacked or burnt
Grain stores looted
‘titres de ventres et devoirs’ destroyed (records of sales and peasants’ obligations)
98
La Grande Peur
20 July - 6 August (further violence but little actual bloodshed, anger and fear at grain hoarding caused the peasants to turn on the nobles)
99
Words from the Tennis Court Oath
Vowed ‘not to separate…until the constitution of the kingdom is established’
100
Louis exiled the Paris Parlement (first time)
August 1787
101
Louis was forced to reinstate the Paris Parlement (first time)
September 1787
102
How many Yumbles does it take to change a lightbulb?
No Yumbles because they have a Yawing as a sister
103
Phrase used to reject reforms at the Assembly of Notables and assert the need for the EG
‘no taxation, without representation’
104
Louis exiled the Paris Parlement (second time)
May 1788
105
Louis was forced to reinstate the Paris Parlement (second time)
August 1788 - due to the beginning of a breakdown of law and order and of the inability of officials to collect taxes
106
Meeting of the Three Estates in Vizille
21 July 1788 - demanded an EG and refused to pay taxes not approved by the EG
107
% of government expenditure in 1780s in the war department
In the 1780s, 25% of government expenditure was on the war department
108
How did Calonne actually worsen France’s economic status?
Encouraged expenditure in order to increase confidence which merely made a bad situation worse
109
How did Necker actually worsen French debt?
Decided to fund the American War of Independence using loans, rather than raising taxes
This led to problems of mounting debt, made worse by the high interest he offered
110
Cahiers de doléances being drawn up
March-April 1789
111
The clergy joined the NA
19 June 1789
112
Three councils who met in the presence of the King
Conseil d’État - major issues of state and foreign affairs
Conseil des Dépêches - dealt with dispatches from the provinces and Church affairs
Conseil Royal des Finances - state finances and household costs (and economic policies from 1787)
113
How was governing actually conducted? (i.e. not really through the conseils)
In private meetings between the King and his chief ministers who included the Secretaries of State for War, Foreign Affairs, Navy, Royal Household and the Controller-General (economy)
114
What were the intendants?
The King’s representative in the provinces
115
What was the role of the intendants?
```
Justice, policing and finance
Ensured taxes were paid
Ensured King’s edicts were adhered to
Presided over local courts
Raised troops
Coordinated the prévôts (police force)
```
116
Why was the intendants’ jobs difficult?
Only given a small staff
| Could not make their own decisions - had to wait for approval from central government which slowed everything down
117
Provincial governors under Louis
Posed a threat to the power of the intendants
Nobles
Maintaining law and order
Sometimes had the right to call a provincial parlement or preside over a municipal body
118
Number of provincial governors in 1779
39 provincial governors
119
Pays d’états
Six areas in France - had powerful assemblies who posed a challenge to the intendants and could negotiate their taxes
120
How did the seigneurs (land-owning nobles) pose a threat to the intendants?
They had their own courts and thought they were superior to the intendants
121
Hierarchy of courts in France
Lowest courts = prévôtés
Middle courts = 430 bailliage
Highest court = 13 parlements
122
What was the purpose of the parlements?
Sovereign courts
Heard civil and criminal cases that local courts could not solve
Controlled guilds, corporations and markets
Controlled local government finances and law and order
Registered the King’s edicts for them to become laws
123
Problems with divisions of France (by area)
Administrative divisions rarely overlapped with ecclesiastical ones
124
When did Necker become Director-General of Finances for the second time?
August 1788-July 1789
125
Brienne resigned (not fired!!)
August 1788
126
Voltaire on free speech
‘I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to the death to say it’
127
François Quesnay
Enlightened thinker - asserted the need to end tariffs, monopolies, guilds and privilege (economic philosophe)
128
Places where Enlightenment thinking was spread
1. Salons
2. Coffee Houses
3. Academies - club/library/reading room for intellectuals (lectures and debates)
4. Freemasonry lodges (over 40 in France)
129
How was Robespierre involved in an enlightened academy?
Directory of the academy in Arras from 1786
130
How were taxes originally collected under Louis XVI?
Direct taxes - collected by royal officers who bought their positions
Indirect taxes - either collected by a general tax farm (took their income from what they collected) or a syndicate (who received a fixed salary)
131
Louis dismissed the Assembly of Notables
May 1787 - shows how he clearly accepted that this would not be a successful method of reform
