Ancien regime i

THE ANCIEN REGIME

What is the Ancien Regime?

The Ancient Regime is the social, political and economic system that existed in Europe before the French Revolution during the Early Modern Age (16th-18th centuries).

Elements

Low growth of the

population

Agrarian-based

economy

The estates of the realm

Absolute monarchy of divine origin

Low growth of the populationDuring the Early Modern Age there was a low natural growth because

high birth rates were counteracted by high death rates. It depended on human and natural disasters which caused famines and epidemics.

Agrarian-based economy● The 75% of the population belonged to the Primary sector.● There was a closed or subsistence economy:

○ the population depended on resources, goods and services that were provided by its own members.

○ There was little or no trade with other regions.

Agrarian-based economy

Agrarian-based economy

Survival of the Feudal system○ Lords owned the biggest lands or large estates. ○ Landowners rented plots of lands to the peasants. ○ Lords received a significant amount of incomes from the rent of lands

.

Landowners

Nobility Clergy

Craft-industry● Craftsmen made their products by hand

.● They worked in small workshops, which

were located in the owner´s house.

● They products were sold there too.

● They controlled the whole production process, from the beginning to the end.

● They used very little machinery.

● The sources of energy were: human, animal or the one given by water or wind.

Trade● Long-distance trade

● The triangular trade:○ capture slaves in Africa and

take them to America in order to work in mines and plantations,

○ export the raw materials produced by slaves to Europe, make manufactured products in Europe,

○ exchange those products in Africa for slaves, repiting the cicle.

● Controlled by the bourgeoise, who became very rich.

Economic systemAfter the discovery of America, two economic systems developed:

Commercial capitalism Mercantilism

16th-century Parisian fair, showing how trade facilitated great economic expansion (John James Chalon, 1822)

Economic System

THE 16TH CENTURY: COMMERCIAL CAPITALISM

● Thanks to the discovery of the New World there was a significant economic growth in Europe.

● The New World became an important new market for European exports.

● Commercial capitalism developed:○ A new system that enabled private businesses to accumulate profits,

especially through trade.○ Factors:

■ The emergence of new forms of craft production in workshops and through the domestic system.

■ The establishment of banks (commercial operations)■ New commercial and financial practices (bills of exchange,

loans)

Economic System

THE 17TH CENTURY: MERCANTILISM

● There was a serious economic crisis, caused mostly by the enormous amounts of gold and silver that arrived in Europe from America.

● An excess of these precious metals caused their value to fall, while prices increased.

● Mercantilism○ imposed by Europe´s absolute monarchs○ Based on the idea that a country´s wealth depended on how much

gold and silver it possessed.○ In order to accumulate more of these precious metals, monarchs

implemented protectionist policies to limit imports and encourage exports.

The estates of the realm● In the Early Modern Age, there was still a closed society:

○ There was a rigid social system which didn´t allow people to change groups easily.

● The estates of the realm continued to be the dominant form of social organisation in Europe.




The estates of the realmTHE BOURGEOISIE

● Upper middle class or bourgeoisie○ was composed of prominent merchants and business owners,

bankers, investors, functionaries, lawyers…○ They become richer and more powerful as the European economy

prospered.

● The lower middle class, or petite bourgeoisie○ composed mostly of small merchants and

craftsmen


THE PEASANTRY

● It was the most numerous group in society.

● It was composed of poor farmers and labourers

● They suffered during the 17th century because of:○ poor harvests, ○ rising prices ○ and the higher taxes which they

had to pay to the crown, nobility and clergy.

Political system

Three types of monarchyduring the Early Modern Age

16th century

Authoritarian monarchy

17th century

Absolute monarchy

17th century

Parliamentary monarchy

Political systemAuthoritatian monarchy

Authoritarian monarchy

It existed in the 16th century.

But they had to respect

institutions that were able to

limit their power.

Monarchs were described as

«authoritarian» because they had forced the

nobility to accept their authority.

The Cortes in Spain


• Authoritarian monarchs´ measures in order to govern their kingdoms more effectively:

Mea

sure

s They unified all the territories that were under their control.

They established administrative unity for the entire kingdom.

They created royal armies to end their dependence on the nobility for military support.


• They unified all the territories that were under their control.

Before uniting the kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula. After uniting the kingdoms in the

Iberian Peninsula.


• They established administrative unity for the entire kingdom.

Administrative unity of the

Catholic Monarchs

Holy Brotherhood

Corregidores

Royal Council

Royal Treasure


• In Spain, the Catholic Monarchs established religious unity for the entire kingdom.

Religious unity of the Catholic Monarchs

Tribunal of the Inquisition

The expulsion on the Mudejars

Imposition of the Catholicism

The expulsion of

Jews


• They created royal armies to end their dependence on the nobility for military support.

Political systemat the beginning the 18th century

Political systems

Absolute

monarchy

In almost every European monarchy

Parliamentary monarchy

The exception in Europe

Political systemAbsolute monarchy

• The authoritarian monarchies evolved and became absolute monarchies.

Absolute monarch

head of a strong central government

Legislative power

Executive power

Judicial power Militar power

Centralised administration

Control over the Church and other

institutions


• It´s impossible for the Absolutism to separate monachy and State.

Monarch

y

State

I am the

State!

Louis XIV of France


• Absolutism was born in France in the 17th century.

• It was supported by the theories of some philosophers like Bossuet, who believed in the Divine Right of Kings.

o These theories believed that monarchs represented God on Earth and everyone should obey them.

o Neither laws nor institutions could be above the king.

Jaques-Bénigne Bossuet


• Louis XIV of France was the first absolut monarch.

• He took control of the government without a prime minister.

• He ruled according to his own wish without asking advice from his ministers or the General Estates (similar to a parliament).

• He created a system of centralised and efficient power.

• He controlled his people tightly, including the nobles.

• He defended the divine origin of his power.• He considered himself to be the incarnation of

the State: «Létat, cést moi» (I am the State).• He developed a complete programme of

propaganda and self-glorification.

Louis XIV

Political systemParliamentary monarchy

• English parliamentary monarchy was the exception in the absolutist Europe.

• English monarchs´ power was limited by the parliament.

• In 1215 the Magna Carta Libertatum (Great Charter of Freedoms) had begunto limit the power of the King.

• Over the following centuries, Parliament became increasingly important and more representative.

English Magna Carta Libertatum. 1215


• In the early 17th century, the kings of the House of Stuart wanted to govern as absolute monarchs.

• Charles I of England wanted to impose the Absolutism.

• The bourgeoise didn´t support the absolute monarchy.

• In 1642 there was a civil war between the supporters of absolute monarchy and the defenders of Parliament.


• The civil war was led by Oliver Cromwell.

• He was in favour of the trial and execution of Charles I.

• In 1649 Charles I was tried by Parliament, found guilty of treason and executed.

• The Republic was proclaimed and Oliver Cromwell became the ruler of England between 1653 and 1658.

Oliver Cromwell


• In 1660, Parliament re-established the monarchy and Charles II was named King.

• In 1679 the Habeas Corpus Act was passed by the Parliament:o It prevented the King from arbitrarily

imprisoning people.

Charles II of England


• In 1688, the «Glorious Revolution» took place:o Parliament overthrew James II.o They offered the throne to his daughter

and her husband: Mary II and Wlliam III (1689).

o They swore to respect the Bill of Rights. It limited the powers of the monarch. It submitted some of his decisions to

Parliament. The monarch could not impose taxes

without Parliament´s

consent.• In this way, in England the separation of the three powers were imposed.

James II of England


Political liberalism

Freedom

every person had rights

Equality before the law (the opposite to the privileges)

The property

as criteria for social differentiation.

Only those who owned properties contributed to the State. Consequently,

only these had the right to take part in the political system (restricted suffrage)

Political systemTHE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENGLISH MODEL OF PARLIAMENTARY MONARCHY

• In the late 17th century, the English philosopher John Locke:

o Criticised absolutism.o Defended the principles and values of the English

model of parliamentary monarchy.o He enunciated the doctrine of the political

liberalism:

John Locke, by Herman Verelst.

His reflections became the origin of the Enlightenment in France.

Political systemTHE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENGLISH MODEL OF PARLIAMENTARY MONARCHY

- In the 18th century, French philosophers such as Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau spread Locke´s political ideas, which brought into question the Ancient Regime.

- Many of these ideas formed the ideological basis of the French Revolution and the liberal revolutions in Europe and the rest of the world.

Revision

• Elaborated by Prof. Mª Isabel Aguña Aguerri Social Science bilingual teacher

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