The Old Regime : Class Structure and Characteristics

1. The Old Regime : Class Structure and Characteristics

2. Major Features • Pre-revolutionary Europe can be described by four distinct features: • Aristocratic elites possessing a wide variety of inherited legal privileges • Established churches intimately linked with the state and aristocracy • An urban labor force usually organized in guilds • A rural peasantry subject to high taxes and feudal dues

3. Maintenance of Tradition • Social Traditions • Few people considered change or innovation desirable in Europe during 18th century • Nobles demanded restoration of legal privileges that believed were being taken away by growing monarchy • Peasants called for restoration of their customary rights whether through petitions or revolts to access certain lands, courts, or grievance procedures

4. Maintenance of Tradition cont. • Economic Traditions • Economy aside from Industrial Britain was primarily based on agriculture

5. Hierarchy and Privilege • Medieval sense of rank and degree became more rigid in the 18th century • Each state or society was considered a community composed of several smaller communities • People did not enjoy “individual rights” but instead were given rights and privileges guaranteed to particular community they were apart of

6. Aristocratic Privileges • British Nobility • The smallest, wealthiest, best defined, and most socially responsible resided in Great Britain • Eldest male member sat in the House of Lords (Corruption led to control of House of Commons) • Usually had direct or indirect control over government • French Nobility • Nobility in France was less refined because 400,000 nobles consisted of two groups • Nobles of the sword-nobility attained through military service • Nobles of the robe-nobility who purchased the rights or served in government • Exempt from taxes like other nobles in Europe

7. Aristocratic Privileges cont. • East of the Elbe River, the characters of the nobility became more complicated and repressive • Poland • Military traditions of the aristocracy remained significant • Polish nobles were called szlachta and they were entirely exempt from taxes after 1741 • Until 1768, the Polish nobility had the right of life and death over their serfs • Most of the Polish nobles were poor and the few who had wealth exercised political power in the fragile Polish state • Austria and Hungary • Nobility possessed broad judicial authority over the peasantry through manorial courts.

8. Aristocratic Privileges cont. • Prussia • Prussian nobles were given extensive judicial authority over the serfs • Nobles increasingly made up the Prussian bureaucracy • Russia • 18th century saw the creation of the Russian nobility which was based on state service • Other privileges included: • The ability to transmit noble status to a nobleman’s wife and children • Judicial protection of noble rights and property

9. Aristocratic Resurgence • Aristocratic Resurgence is a term applied to the European-wide reaction by the nobility to maintain their status amidst the threat of expanding power of the monarchs • Nobles did four major things to protect their privileges: • Tried to protect exclusiveness by making it difficult to become a noble • Reserve positions in the military, government posts, and ranks in clergy • Used influence in government to prevent the spread of absolutism • Tried to get further tax exemptions to preserve wealth

10. The Land and it’s Tillers • Land was economic basis of 18th century Europe and status and power of nobility • ¾ (75%) of all Europeans lived in the country • Most people besides nobility were poor

11. Peasants and Serfs • Rural social dependency related directly to the land • Large difference in dependency between peasants and nobility • Peasants were usually legally bound to certain land and a particular lord • Class that owned most land controlled local governments and courts • Taxation fell on the “tillers of the soil’’ (Peasants)

12. Obligations of Peasants • France • Almost all French peasants were subject to certain feudal duels • French peasants would rent land in exchange for their labor • Russia • Russian nobles based their wealth by number of male serfs • Russian nobles like Prussian and Austrian nobles enjoyed punishing their serfs • Ottoman Empire • Peasants were free but nonetheless landlords tried to exert their authority as much as they could • There wasn’t much need for labor in southeastern Europe • Sometimes a peasant will switch landlords • Landlords owned all the tools for farming causing the peasants to become dependent

13. Peasant Rebellion • Russia • Russian monarchy itself contributed to further degradation of the serfs • Whole villages were given to nobles • 50 peasant revolts between 1762-1769 • Leader Emelyan Pugachev promised serfs land of their own and freedom from their lords • Government brutally suppress rebellion • Peasants and serfs normally directed to property then people • Peasants/Rebels sought to reassert traditional or customary rights against practices perceived as innovated

14. Aristocratic Domination : English Game Laws • Aristocrats manipulated English legislation by making certain animals exclusive for nobles to hunt • Only persons possessing a particular amount of property could hunt there animals • City merchants were excluded to preserve exclusiveness • Many rural poor people ignored such laws Many poachers sold their hunting making themselves into a business