EUROPE OF THE 18TH CENTURY

SOCIETY OF THE 18TH CENTURY

ANCIEN REGIME France before 1789 Hierarchical society characterized by:Aristocratic elites with inherited legal privilegesEstablished churches closely associated with the state

Urban labor force usually organized into guildsRural peasantry subject to high taxes and feudal dues

Emphasis on group over individual rights

ARISTOCRACY 1-5% of population British: political power through the Parliament French: “nobles of the sword” v. “nobles of the robe” Eastern European: military Resurgence Privileges High-ranking jobs just for nobles Government institutions (Parliament, parlements, diets)

Tax exemptions

PEASANTS AND SERFS Worse off in the east France: banalities (feudal dues) & corvee (annual forced labor) Habsburg: robot (mandatory service to lord) Russia: noble wealth = number of serfs (worst)

FAMILY LIFE Family economy: the family was the basic unit of both production and consumption in preindustrial Europe NW Europe v. E Europe Nuclear v. extended Married later v. earlier Servants

Women Worth establish and maintain household Marriage economic necessity Birth control control food supply

URBAN LIFE Urbanization 1500: 156 cities with more than 10,000 people; 4 with more than 100,000

1800: 363 with more than 10,000; 17 with more than 100,000

Greatest growth among capitals and ports, due to monarchical state-building and expansion of overseas trade

Class System Upper: nobles, church, government (ran city) Middle: merchants, professional (bourgeoisie) Enlightenment

Artisans: skilled laborers (guilds)

POPULATION INCREASE BeforeFamine 1600 population growth outstripped food supply

Disease typhus, smallpox, recurring plagueWar 30 Years’ War (Germany)

18th CenturyDoubled in size between 1700-1835Fewer deaths disappearance of the plague, better public health, better food supply (absolutism)

ECONOMY OF THE 18TH CENTURY

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION Goal: create a stable food supply Innovations Dutch: drain land, soil restoration England: seed drill, crop rotation Enclosure replaced open-fields, small land plots consolidated, commercialization

Population increase more access to food created a wider gap between rich and poor movement of poor to cities for work

COTTAGE INDUSTRY Rural workers used hand tools in their homes to manufacture food on a large scale for sale in a market Putting-out system Merchant capitalist and rural worker Raw materials finished products

Textiles Women Spinsters Wages lower than men

INDUSTRIOUS REVOLUTION Shift (NWE) from self production to earning wages Women Menial low paying jobs Great role in household decisions

Undermining Guilds Groups that held monopolies over trade, training apprentices and hiring workers

Protected urban artisans Membership men, Christians, fees and masterpiece Competition with rural workers led to slow decline of power