The Ancien Regime_4ºESO

The crisis of the Ancien Regime

And the beginning of the Age of Revolutions

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Class-based society

Societies divided into social estates: privileged classes and non privileged.The differences were not economic but based on blood or birth.

Intervened economy

Controlledy by the State, the economy was mainly rural, being subsistence agriculture and livestock breeding the principal activities.

The Ancien Regime

Principal characteristics

Absolute monarchy

The king had absolute power that came from God himself. This was called "divine right".He hadn't any other powers over him.

Monarchs had absolute power...

Absolute monarchy

• Most European countries were absolute monarchies.
• This form of monarchy was hereditary and the monarch ruled by divine right: his authority came from God and he exercised power in God's name.

• The monarch held all power (legislative, executive and judicial) and was the head of all state institutions.
• His or her power was unlimited and the inhabitants of the kingdom were subjects with no rights.
• The prototypical absolute monarch was Louis XIV (1643-1715) of France, the Sun King. Advised by a council, he governed with ministers and civil servants appointed by him. Powerful nobles and clergy held court positions.

• Estates of the realm
• First estate: high nobility
• Second estate: clergy
• Third estate: rest of the population

Class-based society

• Non-privileged classes

The Third Estate included most of the population: peasants, servants, artisans, traders and also rich members of the bourgeoisie. All of these groups had no privileges and even lacked many basic rights. The majority were peasants, who worked as tenant farmers or day labourers for privileged landowners, to whom they paid rents and feudal dues. In cities, artisans had to comply with the rules of their guild, which made innovation difficult. Rich traders and bankers looked for higher positions and power.

• Privileged classes

The nobility and clergy were privileged estates. The nobles owned the land and properties linked to their title or family. They did not pay taxes and had special laws and courts. The Church received tithes (taxes worth 10% of the harvest) from the peasants and had large properties linked to the diocese, parish, etc. The high clergy came from the nobility and held most of the important ecclesiastical positions

Social inequality

Interviened economy

• The economy was mainly rural.
• Over the 80% of the population worked in agriculture.
• Land was entailed, which meant it could not be bought or sold, and it was concentrated in the hands of the nobility and the Church.
• Manorialism remained in the countryside. The lords received manorial rents and taxes.
• The state controlled all the economic processes, all the activites were regulated and every proposed change needed permission from authorities in the name of the king.

• It depended completely on the weather and the fertility of the land.
• A severe drought or a specially cold year could mean the loss of most of the harvest, a series of lost harvests led to a subsistence crisis -a great famine- that could lead to a social and political crisis, wars, or even plagues.

• The land was owned by nobility and clergy. Most of the population was peasants who worked for nobles and clergy in their large estates. They also had to pay high taxes and tithes.

Agriculture

• Farmland was divided into three or four open fields
• Crops were grown in two fields and one was left fallow
• Every year the fields were rotated
• Livestock grazed on the fallow land and fertilise it

• Traditional methods and techniques
• Low yields
• Products consumed by the farmers and their families
• Trade was uncommon

Subsistence agriculture

• Due to the population growth in the 18th century demand for goods grew too.
• The domestic system increased its importance in rural areas, mostly with the textile industry.
• Craftsmen could not increase their production due to the restrictions that were still imposedby the guilds.

• Some monarchs promoted industry by opening Royal Manufactories as Louis XIV of France in the 17th century.

• They mostly produced luxury goods such as crystal lamps, cloth, tapestries, silk, china, or clocks. Their products mostly adorned the European royal palaces and were bought by some bourgeois and noble people too.
• Concerning internal trade, there was a huge development due to the bigger agricultural and artisan production. New roads and canals were built to enhance internal trade.

Industry and trade

• The very beggining of the international trade.
• Related to metropolis and its colonies.

Mercantilism

• Europe imported raw materials (sugar, cotton, etc.) from the colonies and sold manufactured products (weapons, fabrics, etc.). Trade also included slaves, who were bought from African traders for weapons, alcohol, etc. and sold to American plantations.
• This created a triangular trade route between Europe, Africa and the Americas and forced millions of Africans to leave their homes and work in inhuman conditions in their new destinations. Triangular trade enriched European traders and investors.

Triangular trade

... and the bourgeoisie gained power and influence

Greater trade enriched the bourgeoisie (traders, bankers, etc.), unlike the nobles and clergy, whose wealth was in agricultural land. Their social power and influence also grew. As a result, they did not accept their inequality before the law as members of the Third Estate.

Social disagreements

Emerged from rationalism

The 17th century's major scientific discoveries were admired and discussed throughout the 18th century. This Scientific Revolution gave rise to a new intellectual movement in Europe, particularly in France, called the Enlightenment.

• Enlightenment thinkers used reason and observation, the basis of the scientific method, to critically analyse reality.

• They no longer considered tradition, religious revelation and superstition to be sources of knowledge. They believed that reason and science would bring progress and happiness.

The Enlightenment

He was a British explorer and cartographer who was the first European to contact with the islands on the Pacific Ocean.

He was a Swedish naturalist who formalised binomian nomenclature and modernised the field of taxonomy.

He pioneered the concept of vaccines and created de smallpox vaccine (the first vaccine ever).

He formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation as well as mechanics

Scientific achievements

EDWARD JENNER

JAMES COOK

LINNEO

NEWTON

They compiled the very first enciclopedy with the help of many scientists of their time.

He advocated democratic ideas and childen education but, sadly didn't considered them for women as well.

He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers.

He rejected superstitions and churches but believed in the existence of a "Supreme Being".

Enlightenment thinkers

MONTESQUIEU

DIDEROT (Y D'ALEMBERT)

ROUSSEAU

VOLTAIRE

The Encyclopédie represented the desire of the enlightenment thinkers to educate people, as well as their confidence in reason. They believed that this would lead to a tolerant and prosperous society.

So they gathered all knowledge in the Encyclopédie

• It was directed by Diderot and D’Alembert and published between 1751 and 1772.
• It was popular throughout France and Europe.
• As well as Enlightenment philosophers, 140 experts in various fields also helped to write it.
• It was written in clear and direct language for the bourgeoisie to understand.
• The monarchy and Church strongly opposed its criticism of tradition and intolerance and censured it.
• Since then, any work that summarises the knowledge of an era is called an encyclopaedia.

Enlightenment thinking

Enlightenment thinkers also class-based society and the privileged estates. They were against people inheriting prestige or privileges and believed in social mobility, equality before the law and merit due to personal worth. Economically, instead of mercantilism (a country's prosperity based on trade and the accumulation of precious metals), François Quesnay proposed the physiocracy: agriculture as the main source of a country's wealth, and private property of the land. Adam Smith enunciated the economic liberalism: no State intervention in economic affairs and free initiative, private property and economic freedom .

Social and economic ideas

Some high society women contributed to the Enlightenment by organising gatherings in their homes for the political, intellectual and artistic elite. There they discussed new ideas and scientific discoveries, read works of literature, performed music, etc. Particularly famous were the literary salons hosted by intelligent and educated women such as Claudine Guérin de Tencin, the mother of D’Alembert, and Marie-Thérèse Rodet de Geoffrin. These salons helped exchange and spread Enlightenment ideas. Unfortunately, not all Enlightenment thinkers considered women equals, so in some aspects it was a lost opportunity for women.

Enlightenment and women

... just female!

She had one of the principal salons and promoted the Encyclopaedia to be published

A vindication of the right of women is her main work. She defended education for women,

Enlightenment thinkers...

MADAME POMPADOUR

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

According to English philosopher and scientist John Locke (1632-1704), the State is an agreement between the ruled and rulers. It is only legitimate if it respects the natural rights to life, liberty and property, and an elected parliament approves the laws. Locke's work and English parliamentarianism influenced French Enlightenment thinkers. The fathers of political liberalism were:

• Voltaire (1694-1778) criticised religion, privileges and absolutism and wanted parliament to limit the king's power and tax the privileged.
• Montesquieu (1689-1755) proposed the separation of powers: legislative, a representative parliament; executive, the king and his ministers; and judicial, independent judges.
• To Rousseau (1712-1778), the social contract was an agreement between all citizens to allow a higher power to govern in their name. Another of his ideas was national sovereignty: power derives from people's consent, reflected through voting.

Parliamentarianism

During the 17th century, the conflicts between the borgueoisie and the monarcs of the Stuart dynasty, who tried to rule the territories of Great Britain and Ireland as absolute monarchs, led to the English Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution (1668). This ended with the deposition of the Stuart dynasty and the triumph of the parliamentary monarchy.

• In this new political system, the law was supreme and the monarch was no longer above the law.
• In 1689, the monarch had to sign a Bill of Rights.
• This guaranteed a range of rights and liberties, and established that the monarch could not pass laws, create new taxes or collect them without the approval of Parliament.
• The foundations of the separation of powers were established.

English Parliamentarianism

As a monarchy and a republic, the two countries created a parliamentary system based on the separation of powers and a parliament elected by landowners and aristocrats that made laws and controlled the government. The State also agreed to respect citizens' rights.

When the United Provinces became independent from Spain in the 17th century, they established a non-absolutist system of government. They became a republic in which the bourgueoisie held political power where they increased their economic and political power. The Dutch Republic consisted of seven provinces, each with its own parliament. Representatives of all the provinces met in the Estates General to make decisions together.

Parliamentarianism in the United Provinces

In the second half of the century, some European monarchs such as Catherine of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia and Carlos III of Spain made Enlightenment-inspired reforms. However, these did not affect their absolute power. This was enlightened despotism: 'everything for the people, nothing by the people' (todo para el pueblo, pero sin el pueblo). The reforms included modernisation of agriculture, more trade and manufacturing, efficient taxes and administration, and promotion of science, the economy and education, etc. However, they clashed with a system of privileges and absolutism. The difficulties reforming society 'from above' triggered liberal revolutions.

Enlightened despotism

In 1700, Carlos II died childless. This triggered a conflict of succession between France's Felipe of Bourbon (grandson of Louis XIV) and Charles of Austria. Carlos II had named Felipe his successor, who was crowned Felipe V. But Carlos of Austria did not accept it, and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) began. This war was both:

• an international conflict: Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Austrian Empire were worried about the Bourbons' power in Europe. They supported Archduke Charles and declared war on Spain and France.
• a civil war: most territories in the Crown of Aragón were afraid of losing their laws and institutions. They therefore supported Carlos of Austria, while Castile supported Felipe V.

The conflict ended when Carlos was named Holy Roman Emperor. His allies did not want the Habsburgs gaining too much power and wanted to preserve the balance of power in Europe. The international powers signed the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which made Great Britain the most powerful nation and recognised Felipe V as King of Spain, in exchange for major concessions. In Spain, Felipe's troops occupied Valencia and Aragón after the Battle of Almansa (1707). In Catalonia, the war ended in 1714, and in Mallorca, a year later.

The War of Succession

The Teatry of Utrecht

Felipe V (1700-1746) took steps to implement the French absolutist model and revise the Treaty of Utrecht:

• Legal unification. The Nueva Planta Decrees (between 1701 and 1716) dismantled the Habsburg structure by suppressing the laws and institutions of the Crown of Aragon's former territories (Aragón, Valencia, Catalonia and Mallorca).
• Administrative reorganisation. All cortes, with the exception of the Cortes of Castile, were suppressed, and councils lost power to the ministries.
• Revision of the Treaty of Utrecht. The crown wanted to reclaim territories lost under the Treaty of Utrecht. Felipe signed two Family Compacts with France to regain the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and the Duchy of Parma.

The reign of Felipe V

• The next king, Fernando VI (1746-1759), was surrounded by political reformists such as the Marquis of Ensenada. He supported neutrality and peace; promoted reforms such as the Catastro of Ensenada property census; reformed the navy; began work on the Castile Canal; and signed a concordat with the Holy See.
• His successor, Carlos III (1759-1788), embodied enlightened despotism in Spain. While he carried out many reforms, he never relinquished power or changed the country's social structure.
• Counselled by Italian ministers such as Esquilache and Grimaldi, Carlos III wanted to stimulate economic growth through reforms such as the liberalisation of wheat prices.
• He encountered opposition from both commoners and the privileged classes. This led, in 1766, to the Esquilache Riots, an uprising against the rising cost of wheat and taxes. It was probably started by nobles and clergy, whose power had decreased.
• After the riots, politicians such as the Count of Floridablanca, Count of Aranda and Count of Campomanes expelled the Jesuits (1767), accused of starting the riots, and increased royal power over the Church.

Spanish Enlightenment Despotism

The democratisation of knowledge

The 18th century's Enlightenment was the first intellectual movement that claimed a universal right to knowledge. Although the Internet has radically changed how knowledge is transmitted, encyclopaedias still exist, particularly online. This makes them easy to consult and keep updated. The most famous example is Wikipedia, a free encyclopaedia with many volunteer writers.

The Lords and the members of the House of Commons declare:

• That the pretend power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws by regal authority without consnt of Parliament is illegal.
• That levying taxes for the use of the Crown without grant of Parliament is illegal.
• That election of members of Parliament ought to be free.
• That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.

English Bill of Rights