THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE ROMANTICISM

UNIT 5

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION

• The Renaissance and Humanism bring with them the spread of new ideas. In the late 1700s in France, Enlightenment ideas (Humanism) about civil rights and religion tolerance, urged in thinkers and philosophers the believed in justice and freedom.

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION

• In England, John Locke, an empiricist philosopher argued that people are born with natural and inalienable rights and that they have the right to get rid of any government that takes way these rights. This thought was well received and influential in three philosophers of France: Voltaire (François Marie Arouet), Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu (Charles Louis de Secondat).

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION• Voltaire was the wittiest and most popular of the

philosophers, we was a great advocate of freedom and used satire and humor during social meetings to make his points against the Church and Monarchy. Rosseau was radical, instead, he claimed and complained in streets, meetings and plazas that people are born free and the rulers were taking that freedom off them. Montesquieu was noble but had a great critique towards the governement saying that there most be a balance of its power and be limited by a Parlament that represented the people.

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION

• These 3 philosophers and other intellectual people from France found the ideas on Enlightenment very appealing. They like the idea of having a voice in government, something that had never been with the absolute monarchy in ruled. Books were printed outdoors and smuggled back to France secretly from censor officials. In 1780s people believed that the best way to ensure their right was either to create reforms or limit the king’s power.

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION

• Voltaire was influenced by English Rights when he visited England in 1726. He found promising how a Parliament had passed a Bill of Rights where the king had to share power with it. This was possible due to a bloody civil war and a Glorious Revolution in the 1600s which limited the monarchy. Voltaire, Montesquieu and other Frenchmen believed France should go through the same to have a better system as English.

ROOTS OF THE REVOLUTION• The ideas of Enlightenment also reached

America. The colonies conquered by England were influenced by the English civil war and Glorious Revolution, allowing to go to battle without delay and therefore going through an Independence Revolution in 1776. the Marquis of Lafayette was an aristocrat who was in favor of the ideas of liberty set by the Enlightenment, and volunteered with French troops to help America’s struggle for freedom from England. With this he became hero in America, and well-known in France as a promoter of liberty.

THE THREE ESTATES

• There were three social classes in France. Peasants were poor and mostly starving. They occupied the bottom of a social ladder that came since the Middle Ages, called as the ancient regime. Even if there were lots of changes as the Middles Ages finished, in France the division of society in three groups still existed. There were the Churchman or Clergy, the Nobleman and the Peasant.

THE THREE ESTATES• These 3 social classes were known as the THREE

ESTATES. The first estate was the clergy, which remained almost the same as in Middle Ages but there was a big gap between the rich and poor clergymen. Poor clergymen lived almost in misery, while rich clergymen lived like princes in extravagance. As the Catholic Church was the official and only allowed church in France and had great power, and as the people had to pay tithe all the wealth of the clergy came from this 10th % of people income. So, by the 1700s the clergy was less than 1% of population but owned about 10% of the land in France.

THE THREE ESTATES

• The second estate was the nobility or aristocracy, and they did changed. Before this class used to be warrior, so army officers were nobles but there were no longer armored knights. Nobles owned 20% of the land. Some of them were poor, but most of them were wealthy, but few were rich. They had the privilege of having Church, government and military offices. They didn’t need to pay taxes unless during war.

THE THREE ESTATES• Both first and second estates had a common

interest of holding up the power and wealth for them. But expected the king to granted them more political power, but they wanted the Three States to remain the same.

• On the other hand, the third estate had the most change since Feudalism. They were peasants and any other that didn’t belong to the other two estates: doctors, lawyers, business people, merchants and so on. They were the 98% of the people in France. They had to pay taxes and some of them work for the other Three States.

THE THREE ESTATES• Of all the estates, they had all the reasons to

need a change in the ancient regime. They believed they had enough with the absolute monarchy so they needed to change it.

• Among the wealthiest group in the third estate there were the bourgeoisies. They were “aristocrats” inside the Third Estate, because some were rich as nobles. But no matter how much they own they were not to claim any privilege as nobility. This brought a big resentment towards aristocracy, monarchy and monarchy.

THE THREE ESTATES• The urban working class of the third state

were as poor as peasants: butchers, weavers, servants, blacksmiths, and others; were poorly paid living in misery.

• So with too much differences in the social classes, the intellectual from the 3rd estate, and some aristocrats of the 2nd estates, started pressing on the Monarchy of Louis XIV for changes and reforms to be made in order to avoid the start of a revolution.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• A courtier was an attendant at the court,

usually aristocrat. They would normally live in the palace at Versailles, which contained more than 200 guest rooms, but most mere small and uncomfortable. You have too keep in mind that the king was the center of everything and lived in comfort and plentiful. Courtiers must please the king or queen if they wanted their favor. They must be seen at court, must be able to spent lots of money.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• Louis XIV was the most powerful monarch in

Europe and the perfect model of an absolute monarch. He was king since 4, and learn not to trust in nobles, as he grew up he determined himself to avoid the consent of anyone naming himself as “I am the State”. He hated Paris so he ordered a palace to be built outside the city in Versailles. The fabulous palace of Versailles was the center of culture in France and the envy for all others monarchs in Europe.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• During 72 years of reign, Louis XIV, France

became on of the most prosperous European nations and the center of European nations and a center of European culture. That’s way he was known as the Sun Knig. However, the same way the nation prosper culturally, the expenses were great, France was involved in several costly wars as well as extravagant and expensive acquisitions. The country was starting to gain debts, which the people must pay by taxes.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• Louis XV was the Sun King’s great-grandson. He

also live in Versailles, but didn’t have the same qualities of his great-grandfather. Instead he expend too much in extravagancies, costly wars and having fun, leaving the governing to his noble ministers. He continue the policies of Louis XIV of taxing the Third Estate, but he added additional taxes to keep spending more himself and his courtiers. He knew that he was leaving France in a terrible financial crisis and problems to come. He died after 60 years of monarchy.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• In 1754, King Louis XV’s grandson was born,

Louis Augustus (Louis XVI). He was kind and generous, but had trouble in making decisions. He was interested in other issues than in learning how to rule a country. He married when 15 with the daughter of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa. She was Marie Antoniette. Louis adored her and so he indulged (pleased) her in everything. The dauphin and his wife isolated in Versailles and barely visited the capital city.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• Few years later, after her marriage, King Louis XV

was dead, so Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were to be the new monarchs. They were 20 and 19 respectively.

• As monarch, Louis XVI had several problems. He indulged his wife in all she wanted. The queen spent lots of money in extravagancies, jewelry, dresses, gambling and more; she dedicated few time to her duties as queen in the palace at Paris and spent must of her time at Versailles in Le Petit Trianon, a small mansion that simulated the life at a peasant village.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• On the other hand, Louis decided to fire his

grandfather’s ministers. These ministers at least understood the need for reforms in taxing nobility to pay the debts of a nearly bankrupt and broken nation. By firing the ministers, no reforms were made so the takes held on the Third Estate were increased and the Second Estate were gladly not paying any taxes. The nation was definitely falling onto a financial disaster. And France was put back on the road to revolution.

THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY• Marie Antoinette is believed to had promoted

the revolution to happen, due to her actions. She has hated by must of the people because she was Austrian, and this country was a traditional enemy of France. In addition, she spent too much and had an unfeeling attitude towards the financial crisis in the country and people starving. People back then, believed she was cruel and cold-hearted, and so the loyalty to the king and queen weaken down.