French Revolution

privilege

Private Law

• In relevance to the Old Regime, there was several division within the regime. In which certain groups of people had privilege in which they had exceptions to certain laws.

  • ex: nobles had privilege of being exempt from the taille (tax) as well as other personal taxes

seigneurialism

The feudal regime in the countryside determined by the nobility

First Estate

the clergy—the body of all people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Roman Catholic Church

Second Estate

the social order of the French nobility and aristocracy before the French Revolution

Third Estate

included everyone who was not a member of the clergy or the nobility.

• 98% of the French Population

pays d’ election

regions that are taxed directly by the crown

pays d’ Etat

regions that had their own regional assembly that negotiated the tax bill with the crown

parlements

The court system in the kingdom (several regions of parlements across France)

• important job of the parlement is to register the laws put forth by the king and put them in the books to be used by the public

• note: Parlement de Paris tends to be the LEADING parlement

lit de justice

“bed of justice”

• king is carried in on a bed to speak/order his laws to be registered

intendant

the king’s representatives (in countryside) → attempt at unity/representation

Taille

the main income tax of the crown (basic direct tac of the Old Regime)

gabelle

the salt tax to the crown

• it was very divided as there were several different salt taxes for several different regions

vingtieme

1/20th attempt

• 1749, an attenpt to tax EVERYBODY (due to debt from involvement in wars,etc..)

corvee royale

Public Labor for the Crown (nobility and clergy excluded)

dime (tithe)

portion all people pay to the church

cens

a tax paid on land by tenants (to have the use of land)

champart

in king payment of a portion of the crop

• a tenant farmer paid a portion of their harvest to the local landowner.

banalites

little fees (basically forced to pay to use the Lord’s appliances & pay since they are not allowed to own these materials)

• forced peasants to use facilities owned by their local lord

Secular clergy

the clergy who are simply a part of the church without taking additional vows/positions. worked in the general public

• “diocesan priests and parish ministers who live and work in the ordinary world rather than a monastic rule”

Regular Clergy

the clergy that live according to a rule/extra set of vows

• “consisted of Catholic monks, etc, who lived in communities governed by a specific religious rule (regula), distinguishing them from the secular clergy who worked in the general public

note: regular clergy’s accumulated lots of wealth & will be targeted by revolutionaries

Cure

Priest

• a “parish priest who takes care of a local congregation”

• the most basic/lowest level of the church

note: they see themselves closer to the people compared to higher church positions

benefice

• an office within the church that comes with an income

• “a bénéfice refers to a church office or function (bénéfice ecclésiastique) that comes with a dedicated revenue or property, such as a parish cure, bishopric, or abbey”

note: seen as corruption with the catholic church]

Portion congrue

the piece of the tithe that is due to the Paris Priest (essentially the Priest income)

• “the minimum allowance or salary paid by high-ranking clergy to local parish priests out of the tithes collected”

note: the priest does not get a say on the allocation of the money, so the priest is not getting a lot of money despite their important work