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France: Ancien Régime to Napoleon c.1715-1815

Absolutism, Versailles and the machinery of the state

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 3

Overview

Absolute monarchy in the French context, lit de justice and purpose of the court at Versailles.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What was the Estates General, and when had it last met before 1789?

Key term

What were the parlements?

Key term

What was a lit de justice?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by absolute monarchy in the French context?

    Model answer

    Rule by a king who claimed authority from God alone, made law by his own will, and was bound by custom but by no representative body.

  2. 2

    What was the Estates General, and when had it last met before 1789?

    Model answer

    The assembly of the three estates; it had not met since 1614.

  3. 3

    What were the parlements?

    Model answer

    The thirteen sovereign law courts, of which the Parlement of Paris was the greatest, which registered royal edicts and could remonstrate against them.

  4. 4

    What was a lit de justice?

    Model answer

    A formal session at which the King attended a parlement in person and compelled registration of an edict.

  5. 5

    Why did the parlements matter politically?

    Model answer

    Their right of remonstrance gave the only institutional check on the Crown, and they used it to defend privilege while claiming to speak for the nation.

  6. 6

    What was an intendant?

    Model answer

    A royal official governing a généralité on behalf of the Crown, responsible for taxation, justice and public order.

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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
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