Ancien Régime France: Demography, Taxation, and Reform

Demography

the science of population changes

- Age and gender pyramids

-Demographic transition

Marseilles Plague (1720)

The final major bubonic plague outbreak in western europe

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

Populations have the potential to increase at a faster rate than resources. As a result, there is intense competition among individuals: population ceiling

Eugenicist

Annales School

a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history.

Basic facts of Life

Family, social class, education, religion, sex, and race.

Manse

a house with a courtyard, small garden, and a shed

Saltus

woods, pasture, scrub

Taxes

o Dime - 10% for Church (taken by "decimator")

o Champart - up to 20% for the local Lord

o Taille - up to 20% for the central state

The Fronde

A series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation

Nobles of the Sword

FRENCH aristocracy whose nobility came from MILITARY SERVICE

Nobles of the Robe

FRENCH aristocracy whose nobility came from serving in the BUREAUCRACY or BUYING their title

Jesuits vs Jansenists

The conflict between the Jesuits and the Jansenists was a major 17th- and 18th-century theological and political battle within the Roman Catholic Church, centered largely in France, over human free will, divine grace, and moral strictness

Edmond Richer

a French theologian known for several works advocating the Gallican theory, that the pope's power was limited by authority of bishops, and by temporal governments.

John Law

Tried to create a national bank for France and paper currency. People went overboard and drove stock extremely high, and the bank went bankrupt.

Intendants and Subdelegates

Intendants and subdelegates were the primary administrative tool to centralize royal authority, maximize tax collection, and bypass entrenched local elites.

The relationship between the two roles was hierarchical: the intendant was a powerful provincial governor appointed directly by the crown, while subdelegates acted as their local agents or deputy administrators on the ground to manage smaller sub-districts

Parlements of France

French noble councils that regulated the legislation of the king and were controlled by the nobles. They greatly reduced the absolute power of the king, and the king was constantly at odds with them and even replaced the parlements with Maupeaou parlements that ultimately failed in an attempt to gain more power over the nobles.

Pays d'etats

Regions where representative assemblies had retained the right to negotiate on the raising of taxes with the royal intendants: the assembly kept part of the taxes raised to fund public spending in the region

Pays d'election

lands which had long been part of France which had greater royal control and fewer particular privileges

remonstrance

a forcefully reproachful protest

Jacques Necker

financial expert of Louis XVI, he advised Louis to reduce court spending, reform his government, and abolish tariffs on internal trade, but the First and Second Estates got him fired

Calonne

Briefly replaced Necker as minister of FINANCE. Wanted new land tax, lower taxes, internal trade, grain/salt trade, etc. Needed approval of Estates General

Lomenie de Brienne

Succeeded Calonne. He was Archbishop of Toulouse. Very worldly. Tried to push Calonne's program through the Parlement of Paris but Parlement said only the Estates General could consent to new taxes. Brienne and L XVI tried to replace the Parlements but they resisted. In 1788 Brienne and LXVI promised to call the Estates General.

Maupeou Reforms

The Maupeou Reforms were a radical 1771 judicial and political overhaul in Ancien Régime France led by Chancellor René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou under King Louis XV.

vizille principle

the radical political demands and structural reforms born out of the Assembly of Vizille on July 21, 1788. Organized by reformist lawyer Jean-Joseph Mounier at the Château de Vizille, they called for

-Double Representation for the Third Estate

-Voting by Head, Not by Order

-National Tax Solidarity

Assembly of Notables (1787)

This assembly mainly consisted of important noblemen and high-ranking clergy of France and insisted on a general tax on all landed property as well as on forming provincial assemblies to help administer the tax. This assembly was called after France was bankrupt after the American Revolution but needed the approval of the Estates General.

territorial subvention

a direct tax levied on all landowners, without exception, to be assessed and levied by representative provincial assemblies, instituted by Calonne

Damiens Affair

Failed assassination of King Louis XV of France, which contributed to his unwillingness to enforce policies against Protestant and Jansenist worship

Jesuits

Also known as the Society of Jesus; founded by Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) as a teaching and missionary order to resist the spread of Protestantism.

Jansenists

Catholics whose doctrines and practices resembled some aspects of Protestantism, stressed the need for God's grace in achieving salvation, Louis XIV closed them down