The legacy of the past: Le Ancien Regime, 1650 - 1789

The legacy of the past: Le Ancien Regime, 1650 - 1789

In many ways, 18th century Europe still looked much like medieval Europe

• Economic structure traditional (overwhelmingly agrarian)

• Social structure traditional (division of legal classes)

• Political structure traditional (monarchies dominated)

• Culture and world outlook traditional (parochial and narrow)

European society by the 18th century

• A pyramid with a very broad base

• 3-5% was the landed aristocracy

• 10% was the middle class

• 80 – 90% were peasants

the aristocracy

The middling orders

Note: This graphic is a bit misleading. Think of the “farmers” more as wealthy gentry. Also, it should be obvious that serfdom has been abolished in Western Europe by 1700. Also, with the advent of the Protestant Reformation, the pope and Catholic Church had long since been at the apex of Western society.

Aristocracy divided in two groupsUpper aristocracy ( the Great Titled nobility)

• Dukes• Marquises• Margraves• Counts (earls in Britain)• Viscounts• Barons

Lower aristocracy• Without titles they included

knights (in Britain), seigniors (in France), and hidalgos (in Spain)

• Some were more wealthy than titled nobility, some were relatively impoverishedThese titles were hereditary and

honorific. They involved no real duties; just status and privilege.

Theoretically, these are the oldest families in the country. In reality , they die out and are replaced from below.

Aristocratic wealth• Based on land• The nature of

their wealth was changing around 1700.

• Some aristocrats diversified, holding office in the government or investing in overseas trade and finance

Aristocratic wealth made possible a life of elegant and opulent display

Blenheim was the palace for the Duke of Marlborough

Chatsworth was the palace for the Duke of Devonshire

The owners believed The architecture and landscaping reflected reason, proportion, and a man’s achievement

Chenoceaux in France was owned by the Dupin family

Esterhazy Palace in Austria was for the noble of that name

Clearly, the greatest of these houses were palaces, rivaling the royal court itself.

The Vienna Opera House

Throughout most of the year, aristocrats spent their time in the great capitals of Europe where they lived a dizzy life of entertainment and social obligation. Attending

The theatre and opera were mainstays of their social calendar.

Ned Ward, The Coffee House Mob (London, 1710). Seated around long trestle tables, a variety of men have assembled in the candle-lit room of a genteel coffee-house, hung with landscape paintings. They are variously occupied: some are busy with reading the little diurnals or newspapers of the day, while some are or have been smoking long clay pipes of tobacco. But two activities dominate: conversation (or debate) and coffee-drinking.

In the Salon of Madame Geoffrin in 1755, Château de Malmaison (Paris, 1812). a salon is a gathering of intellectuals who engage in thought provoking discussion with each other and with their social and political peers. Salons were common in 17th and 18th century France, and the ideas and philosophies exchanged then have been credited with spurring the Enlightenment.

The Middling Orders

• A broad middle class is a hallmark of modern society.

• This time period saw the growing numbers and influence of the middle class

• The term bourgeoisie refers to urban middle class

The top of the middling orders

• merchants and financiers

• Made money in overseas and internal trade and investment

• Many would imitate the aristocracy

• Some would buy titles

The Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild (1662) by Rembrandt illustrate the wealth of the rising urban merchant class toward the end of the Ancien Regime.

The professionals

• Below the merchant-class was the professional class

• Made up of lawyers, doctors, military officers, clergy, and estate stewards

The tradesmen• These are the

small businessmen

• They sell the things they make in their shops

• They are master-craftsmen who take on apprentices

The servant class

• European society was full of servants at every rank and status

Literacy and the Middle Class

• Due to the Protestant emphasis on education, literacy was on the rise

• Even in France, by the 1780s, 50% of all men and 20% of women could read

• The middling orders joined clubs that promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment

The Peasantry

• Life for peasants varied from country to country

• Peasants were small farmers who generally did not own land; similar to share-cropping

• western European peasants generally fared better; peasants in the east were mostly serfs

• In England and France peasants could own land; in England landowning peasants could vote

The Peasantry were generally poor rural folk

Cornelis Dusart, Country inn, 1690

• The vast majority of the population

• Their work was physical

• Holidays were frequent

• Fairs and festivals were sources of entertainment

David Teniers the Younger’s The Chaff Cutter, 1610-1630 (right), portrays 17th century peasant life

Class differences in child rearing

Aristocrats• Children were conceived

early and often• Children raised by wet

nurses and tutors

Middle and lower classes• Fewer children, usually

beginning in the parents’ 20s

• Raised their own children, often giving them chores to help the family or business

Class differences in education

Aristocrats• Boys were given a tutor

early, then sent to private school, followed by university, then Grand Tour of Europe

• Girls were given an education on how to run an aristocratic household

Middle and lower classes• Sons of wealthy merchants

might have same education pattern as aristocrats

• Apprenticeship was common for those becoming tradesmen

• Middle class girls were sent to other houses to learn how to run a household

• Peasants received virtually no education

Class differences in marriage

Aristocrats• Marriages were arranged by

parents, with the children holding veto power

• If children happened to make their own match, parents also had veto power

• Broken marriages were uncommon

Middle and lower classes • Children could not marry

exactly whoever they wanted, but they had more freedom of choice than aristocrats

• Their marriage break up rates were about the same as ours today

Health and medicine in 1700

• Europeans were great on diagnosis, still poor with cures

• However, hygiene and nutrition were improving

• Population increased from 100 million to 200 million in the 1700s

Bleeding a patient was commonly done to cure patients of their ailments.