1. Europe in the Old Regime
HH World Studies
Goggins 2014

2. "The Rustic Hours," by Henry Gillbank,
What was the Old Regime?
a term coined during the French Revolution, to describe the pattern of life that existed in Europe before 1789.
16th to mid-18th century
Before the Industrial or French Revolutions
Old Regime: a term coined during the French Revolution, to describe the pattern of life (social, political, and economic relationships) that existed in Europe before 1789.
16th century to mid-18th century (1500s-mid1700s)
Period prior to the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution
Rapid Population growth
Less frequency of war New food sources (ex: potato, corn)
"The Rustic Hours," by Henry Gillbank,

3. Characteristics of the Old Regime:
Politically
Absolute Rule
Bureaucratic Government
Economically
Mostly Agricultural
Growing Cities
Overseas Competition for Colonies
Socially
Rigid hierarchy
Privileges based on group/class
Characteristics of the Old Regime:
Politically –system of government known as political absolutism, with a growing bureaucracy as well as aristocratically led armies.
Economically – predominately agricultural, unsophisticated financial institutions and overseas competition for colonies and resources.
Socially – men and women did not see themselves as individuals, but as members of distinct corporate bodies that possessed certain privileges or rights as a group
Bureaucracy – a system of state officials carrying out orders according to a regular and routine line of authority
Comes from the French word bureau for “desk”, which came to mean “office”

4. Social Hierarchy Society was divided into three general ranks
Aristocracy
Clergy
Everybody Else
Hierarchy
Sense of rank and degree was very rigid in the 18th century (Example: in some cities there were laws regulating the styles of dress for different classes; dressing outside your class carried penalties.)
People were not granted “individual rights”, rather rights and privileges were guaranteed based on the group or community – the “community” could include the village, the class (ex: nobility), guild, university
Society was divided into three general ranks
Aristocracy (nobles who maintained the most power and great wealth)
Clergy (includes bishops and cardinals, as well as parish priests, and monks)
Everybody Else (that includes merchants, artisans, craftsman, peasants, and serfs)

5. The Aristocracy 1-5% of the population Wealthy (based on land)
Legal privileges
Aristocracy
The aristocracy, those with nobles titles, retained privileges from feudal times and sought to maintain that status and privileges
1-5% of the population
Wealthiest (especially in Great Britain)
Main source of wealth was land; also interested in economic growth
Enjoyed legal privileges
Entered this class by birth

6. Aristocracy : Great Britain
Wealthiest in Europe
primogeniture (priority to eldest son)
Smallest (only 400 families)
Serve in House of Lords
Few privileges extensive power
Great Britain
Smallest but wealthiest due to primogeniture (the eldest son inherited the father’s land and title)
Only 400 families, eldest member serving in House of Lords
Owned ¼ of fertile land in England and invested in mines, canals, real estate, etc.
Few privileges but far-reaching control of local government gave them power and influence

7. Aristocracy: France
Nobles of the Sword – traced titles to feudal times
Nobles of the Robe – acquired titles from government service
Not all were wealthy
Extensive privileges – did not pay taxes
Nobles of the Sword – those whose nobility derived from military service; usually traced back to feudal times
Nobles of the Robe – those who acquired their titles more recently by serving in bureaucracy or purchased them.
Some were wealthy, but many were no better off than wealthy peasants (hobereaux)
Privileges; exempt from taxes

8. Aristocracy: Eastern Europe
Extensive power over serfs
Political privileges and exempt from paying taxes
Prussia
Nobles known as junkers
Generals recruited exclusively from Junker class
Given extensive power over serfs
Russia
Table of Ranks – created a Russian nobility based on state service
Exempt from personal taxes
Extensive power over serfs

9. Aristocratic resurgence
Nobles across Europe reacted to the growing power of monarchs by trying to preserve their privilege and status
Limit access
High-ranking appointments
Maintain wealth
Use political power
Aristocratic Resurgence: Nobles across Europe reacted to the growing power of monarchs by trying to preserve their privileges.
Tried to make it harder to enter aristocracy
Pushed to keep exclusive access to high-ranking appointments (military, church, govern)
Sought to exert their power within existing institutions (diets, Parliament, parlements)
Tried to shore up wealth through new exemptions and raising rents

10. Clergy
made up of cardinals, bishops, priests, and monks of the Catholic Church
Did not pay taxes
The clergy was made up of cardinals, bishops, priests, and monks of the Catholic Church
Did not pay taxes
Divided loyalty – loyal to the pope in addition to the state

11. Everybody Else What type of careers and people did this group include?
Middle Class
Lower Class (urban and rural)
Everyone Else
During feudal times most Europeans had been peasants, but the Commercial Revolution and growth of town had resulted in great difference is wealth and education among the middle and lower classes.

12. Bourgeoisie Upper/Middle Class
Merchants, doctors, lawyers, professors and other professionals
Educated
Wealthy
Little-to-no political power
Paid taxes
Supported reform and economic growth
Bourgeoisie.
The city-dwelling middle class made up of merchants, manufacturers, and professions (doctors, lawyers, professors)
Some were as much if not more wealthy than some aristocrats
Educated
Had little to no political power
Supported reform and economic growth
Paid taxes

13. Artisans City-dwelling Butchers, carpenters, tailors, etc
Belonged to Guilds
Politically conservative and economically vulnerable
Artisans.
The city-dwelling craftsman such as butchers, carpenters, tailors, and cabinetmakers.
Largest urban group
Politically conservative and economically vulnerable – change was too risky
Belonged to guild to protect and regulate their business

14. Peasants Lived and worked on the land Largest portion of population
Paid taxes, rents, and feudal dues
In Eastern Europe serfs were peasants who were legally bound to a particular plot of land and lord
Peasants/Serfs
If land was the basis of the nobility’s power, most people outside of the nobility and clergy lived and worked on the land.
Largest portion of the population
Required to pay taxes, rents, and feudal dues to lords
Great Britain
Free peasantry – all farmers and tenants had legal rights of citizens
France
Mostly free peasantry
Required to pay a variety of taxes and fees
Banalties: feudal dues
Corvee: required peasants to labor a certain number of days each year for the lord
Taille: heaviest government tax
Tithe: Paid a tenth of their income to the Catholic Church
Eastern Europe
Mostly serfs who were legally bound to a particular plot of land and lord
Lords often had power of life and death over their serfs; could not move or marry freely
Subjected to high taxation
Peasant Rebellions.
Peasants and serfs in Eastern Europe did occasionally rebel against their oppressors, although few were successful. In Russia there were over 50 peasant revolts between 1762 and Revolts in Western Europe were very rare.

15. Family Life in North-Western Europe
Nuclear Family = small households with 5-6 people
Young people married late
Young people worked to save money for marriage
Northwestern European Households
Nuclear Family: families were small; approximately 5-6 people in a household (married couple, children through their early teen years, and servants)
Young people married late due to the need to leave home and work before saving up enough money to start a household
Men = approx. 26
Women = approx. 23
Many young people worked as servants in exchange for room, board, and wages – they were not necessarily social inferiors and normally ate with the family.

16. Family life in eastern europe
Extended Family = anywhere from 9 to 20 members per household
Married young and stayed in household
Landlord had authority over where serfs lived and worked
Eastern European Households
Extended Family: usually 3-4 generations share a home, with anywhere from 9 to 20 members per household
Married earlier, around 20, because they did not need to be financial independent – stayed in the household
Sometimes arranged
Often could not marry anyone from outside the lord’s domain
Family members all worked for landlord

17. Family Economy
Economic system in which the family provides the basic unit of production and consumption
pre-industrial Europe.
Family makes everything it needs to survive.
All worked for the good of the family
Socially unacceptable not to live in a family household
Family Economy
The Family Economy refers to the economic system in which the family provides the basic unit of production and consumption, in pre-industrial Europe. Basically, everything the family needs to survive, it produces. All members of the household participate equally.
It was socially unacceptable to not live in a family; loners were viewed with suspicion
All household members worked for the good of the family rather than the individual
Most farmed; some family members may work outside the home for additional wages
In artisan families, the wife often worked in the shop or kept the books, and children were apprenticed to learn a trade

18. Women and Children Women must marry
Economically essential to the family
Women maintain stability of household
Unwanted children may be killed or abandoned
Women in the Family Economy were most concerned with maintaining the household and the economic stability of the family by making sure there was enough food and not too many children. For a women, marriage was an economic necessity.
Childbirth was very dangerous; high infant mortality
Because women worked, wet nurses were hired to nurse children so mother could return to her duties.
Children in the Family Economy were expected to contribute to the household. Young adults may work outside the home and in nearby towns to earn wages to start their own household.
Unwanted children (due to poverty or illegitimacy) risked infanticide, or were left at Foundling Hospitals for abandoned children.

19. Growing Population Population of Europe 1700 = 100 to 200 million
Pressure to feed population created need for innovation in agriculture and industry
Population Growth in Europe
1700 = 100 to 200 million
1800 = 190 million
1850 = 260 million
A growing population also put pressure on food prices; created pressure for innovation in agriculture and industry
Pforzheim is a city in Southwest Germany

20. Growth of Cities
1500 = 4 cities with 100,000 or more (Milan, Venice, Naples, and Paris)
1800 = 17 cities with 100,000 or more (largest growth in Northern Europe, near Atlantic)
Growth of Cities
Between the 17th and end of the 18th centuries, the population of Europe more than doubled (due to Agricultural Revolution as well as other factors), and many people moved away from rural areas to new and growing cities
Population Growth in Europe
1700 = 100 to 200 million
1800 = 190 million
1850 = 260 million
A growing population also put pressure on food prices; created pressure for innovation in agriculture and industry
Urban Growth in Europe
1500 = 4 cities with 100,000 or more (Milan, Venice, Naples, and Paris)
156 with 10,000 or more
1800 = 17 cities with 100,000 or more (largest growth in Northern Europe, near Atlantic)
363 cities with 10,000 or more
The growth of cities was greatest in capital and port cities due to state-building and the expansion of overseas trade.

21. European State-building
17th century sought to extend state authority
Five states that came to dominate European politics from 17th to end of 19th century
Great Britain
France
Austria
Prussia
Russia
During the 17th century most monarchs and nations sought to extend state authority. Their authority had been threatened by religious wars and economic recession in the 16th century. Now rulers tried to create an aura of overwhelming and absolute power around themselves.
From the early 17th century to the mid-20th century, Europe became the driving force in world historical developments in a way no other part of the world did before or since. This era of European dominance coincided with a shift in power within Europe – from the Mediterranean to northwest and north-central Europe. States that organized themselves to politically dominate Europe soon found themselves with the power to dominate the much of the world through military and economic strength.
The five major states that came to dominate European politics until World War I: Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia – at the expense of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, as well as the weakness of the Holy Roman Empire after the Treaty of Westphalia.

22. European State-building
Monarchs aim to consolidate their power
New sources of wealth
Limit power of nobility
During the late 16th century European monarchs sought new sources of wealth to offset the rising cost of warfare. Not surprisingly, the only nations to achieve absolute rule were those who did not depend on the financial support of noble estates. In an absolute monarchy the power of the nobility was secondary to king, unlike the feudal system where vassals owed loyalty directly to their lords. Therefore if a king relied financially on his nobility, he could not also rely on their support for absolutism because it was not in their interest.

23. Model of State-Building
FRANCE – ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
Succeeded in bypassing the wealth and power of nobles
Louis XIV made the French nobility dependent on his goodwill and patronage
Two Models of European Political Development
During the late 16th century European monarchs sought new sources of wealth to offset the rising cost of warfare. Not surprisingly, the only nations to achieve absolute rule were those who did not depend on the financial support of noble estates. In an absolute monarchy the power of the nobility was secondary to king, unlike the feudal system where vassals owed loyalty directly to their lords. Therefore if a king relied financially on his nobility, he could not also rely on their support for absolutism because it was not in their interest.
France succeeded in bypassing the wealth of nobles and developed an absolute monarchy under Louis XIV
Louis XIV made the French nobility dependent on his goodwill and patronage
England could not silence its nobility and ended up with a parliamentary monarchy
The English monarchy’s search for sources of wealth led them compromise the needs of the elites who in turn demanded liberties in a display of resistance the monarchs
In Post-Reformation Europe, religion also played a major role in the political outcomes of both nations
Strong Protestant movements within England (Puritanism) opposed the monarchy
Louis XIV, in contrast, crushed Protestant communities in France and supported Catholicism

24. Model of State-Building
ENGLAND – PARLIAMENTARY MONARCHY
could not silence its nobility
Search for wealth led to compromise
Elites demanded liberties
Two Models of European Political Development
During the late 16th century European monarchs sought new sources of wealth to offset the rising cost of warfare. Not surprisingly, the only nations to achieve absolute rule were those who did not depend on the financial support of noble estates. In an absolute monarchy the power of the nobility was secondary to king, unlike the feudal system where vassals owed loyalty directly to their lords. Therefore if a king relied financially on his nobility, he could not also rely on their support for absolutism because it was not in their interest.
France succeeded in bypassing the wealth of nobles and developed an absolute monarchy under Louis XIV
Louis XIV made the French nobility dependent on his goodwill and patronage
England could not silence its nobility and ended up with a parliamentary monarchy
The English monarchy’s search for sources of wealth led them compromise the needs of the elites who in turn demanded liberties in a display of resistance the monarchs
In Post-Reformation Europe, religion also played a major role in the political outcomes of both nations
Strong Protestant movements within England (Puritanism) opposed the monarchy
Louis XIV, in contrast, crushed Protestant communities in France and supported Catholicism