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Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715

Social developments and opposition: the social order, noble conspiracies and peasant revolts

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the orders of society, sword and robe nobility, ennoblement, clergy, merchants and peasants, the conspiracies against Richelieu, duelling, the Fronde, the peasant risings and the nobility by 1715.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Who and when

What burdens did the French peasantry carry?

Numbers

What was the Day of Dupes?

Key term

Outline the Cinq-Mars plot of 1642.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Outline the formal division of French society.

    Model answer

    Into three orders: the clergy as the first estate, the nobility as the second, and everyone else from wealthy merchants to landless labourers as the third, each with its own legal standing and obligations.

  2. 2

    Distinguish the noblesse d'épée from the noblesse de robe.

    Model answer

    The nobility of the sword claimed descent from the medieval warrior class and looked to army service, while the nobility of the robe had gained rank through judicial and administrative office and dominated the parlements.

  3. 3

    How could a wealthy commoner become noble?

    Model answer

    By purchasing an office that carried nobility, by buying a seigneurial estate and living nobly for several generations, or by receiving letters of ennoblement from the king; a noble who then took up retail trade risked derogation, the loss of his status.

  4. 4

    Describe the position of the clergy as a social group.

    Model answer

    The first estate was immensely wealthy and tax-exempt, but it was sharply divided between bishops and abbots drawn from noble families and a poor parish clergy living on a modest portion of the tithe.

  5. 5

    What ambitions did successful merchants and financiers typically have?

    Model answer

    They sought to convert commercial profit into land, venal office and eventually noble status, which drew talent and money away from trade and industry.

  6. 6

    What burdens did the French peasantry carry?

    Model answer

    Peasants formed the great majority of the population and paid the taille, the gabelle and other royal taxes, the church tithe, seigneurial dues and labour services, as well as rent where they did not own their land.

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