HIS109Y1 Lecture : Part I
Document Summary
The enlightenment driving the critique of the ancient regime, not consonant with the laws of nature. Lead to the physical violence and the over throw of regimes. The dream of reason brings about the monsters. What france looked like on the eve of the revolution: as in the middle ages, people were divided legally into three estates. the clergy was the least numerous, rationalism and anti-clericalism made www. notesolution. com the church an extremely unattractive choice of career (100-150 thousand clerics out of 25 million) the few church men controlled 10% of the land, the land was free from taxation and was poorly cultivated, serfdom was still practiced on those lands. variations of wealth and status among the clergy. the greater office: aristocratic families dumping ground for extra children and local control. the aristocratic bishops lived in the court, treated as nobles, and regular cleric life did not appeal to them.
