Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
At the time of the revolution, the First Estate comprised 100,000 Catholic clergy and owned 5–10% of the lands in France—the highest per capita of any estate. All property of the First Estate was tax exempt. The Second Estate comprised the nobility, which consisted of 400,000 people, including women and children.
In England, a two-estate system evolved that combined nobility and clergy into one lordly estate with "commons" as the second estate. This system produced the two houses of parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In southern Germany, a three-estate system of nobility (princes and high clergy), knights, and burghers was used ...
The French Revolution of 1789 and Its Impact. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-29339-9. Soboul, Albert (1975). The French Revolution, 1787-1799: From the Storming of the Bastille to Napoleon. Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-47392-5. von Guttner, Darius (2015). The French Revolution. Nelson Modern History. Melbourne: Nelson Cengage. ISBN 9780170243995.
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) was a period of political and societal change in France which began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799.
One of the central events of the French Revolution was the abolition of feudalism, and the old rules, taxes, and privileges left over from the ancien régime. The National Constituent Assembly , after deliberating on the night of 4 August 1789, announced, "The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely."
Prior to the revolution, France was a de jure absolute monarchy, a system that became known as the Ancien Régime.In practice, the power of the monarchy was typically checked by the nobility, the Roman Catholic Church, institutions such as the judicial parlements, national and local customs and, above all, the threat of insurrection.
Representation through estates was the norm in Europe until the advent of popular representation beginning with the French Revolution. [2] The Estates General of France were convoked only twice between 1614 and 1789, both times during the Fronde (1648–53), and in neither case did they actually meet.
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale), which existed from 17 June 1789 to 9 July 1789, [1] was a revolutionary assembly of the Kingdom of France formed by the representatives of the Third Estate (commoners) of the Estates-General and eventually joined by some members of the First and Second Estates.