The Crisis of the Old Regime and the Age of Enlightenment

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Old Regime society, economy, political systems, Enlightenment thinkers, and enlightened despotism.

Society of estates

A social structure in the Old Regime based on privileges, divided into three estates: the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners or Third Estate.

High nobility

The top segment of noble society (aristocracy) that occupied high positions in government and the military, owned large amounts of property, levied taxes, and held rights over land workers.

Low nobility

Nobles who had less wealth and often aimed to marry into wealthy bourgeois families.

High clergy

Religious leaders including bishops, archbishops, and cardinals, who were often the younger sons of noble families.

Low clergy

Priests, friars, nuns, and other religious figures made up of people from poorer families.

Third Estate

The unprivileged social estate consisting of commoners, including the peasantry and the bourgeoisie.

Bourgeoisie

A class within the Third Estate made up of merchants, doctors, and workshop owners whose political power was limited to city government.

Tithe

A tax paid by peasants to the Church under the Old Regime.

Subsistence farming

An agricultural practice using basic tools to grow grains where crop yields depended heavily on climate, leading to famine during drought or flooding.

Mayorazgo

A system and law requiring an entire plot of noble land to be inherited undivided by the eldest son.

Mortmain (manos muertas)

The legal situation prohibiting clergy land from being sold.

Guilds

Associations of craftspeople working in the same trade that regulated all phases of production.

Domestic system

A system developed outside guild control where a merchant bought raw materials (like wool) and peasants spun and wove fabrics in their own homes.

Royal factories (reales fábricas)

Monarchy-promoted facilities, such as those in Spain, that functioned like large craft workshops producing weapons and luxury goods like tapestries.

Triangular trade

A trade route in which European ships traded low-value items in Africa for slaves, sold the slaves in America, and used the profits to buy cotton and sugar to sell in Europe.

Absolutism

A political system in which the monarch held all powers of the state—writing laws, governing, and appointing judges—believing their authority came directly from God.

Mercantilism

An economic theory stating that a country's wealth was based on its gold and silver reserves, promoting national industries, export expansion, and import restrictions.

Catherine the Great

Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, recognized as a cultured absolute monarch who corresponded with Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire.

English Civil Wars

Conflicts lasting from 1642 to 1651 between the Stuart monarchy seeking absolute rule and Parliament.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 revolution in England that resulted in the deposition of the Stuart dynasty and established a parliamentary monarchy.

English Bill of Rights

A document signed in 1689 guaranteeing rights and liberties, preventing the monarch from passing laws or taxes without Parliament's approval.

Republic of the United Provinces

A non-absolutist republic of seven provinces formed after independence from Spain, where the bourgeoisie held political power and made decisions through the States General.

The Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual movement that questioned the Old Regime, emphasizing reason, tolerance, natural individual rights, and experimental sciences.

Encyclopaedia

A vital publication in France, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean d'Alembert, that helped spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe and America.

John Locke

A forerunner of the Enlightenment (1632–1704) and author of A Letter Concerning Toleration, who argued that government was based on a social contract with the people.

Voltaire

Enlightenment thinker (1694–1778) and author of Treatise on Tolerance, who strongly opposed fanaticism and defended freedom of expression.

Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker (1689–1755) and author of The Spirit of Laws, who proposed separating state power into legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment thinker (1712–1778) and author of The Social Contract, who asserted that people are naturally good and that sovereignty resides in the people.

Enlightened despotism

A form of absolutism influenced by Enlightenment ideas, where 18th-century monarchs introduced educational, governmental, and economic reforms while preserving the Old Regime.

Joseph II

An 18th-century monarch of Austria who practiced enlightened despotism to modernise his kingdom.

Frederick the Great

An 18th-century monarch of Prussia who applied enlightened despotism reforms to modernise his kingdom.

Carlos III

An 18th-century monarch of Spain who modernised his kingdom through enlightened despotism reforms.