The French Revolution
The Three Estates
The First Estate
The First Estate was made up of members of the church (the clergy). In 1789 the
French Church was very important. It owned about one tenth of the land in France
and some of its leaders played an important part in government.
Yet of the 130,000 clergy in France, most were parish priests who were quite
poor.
The Church was very important in an age when most people believed in heaven and
hell. In the countryside the local church was the centre of life in the community.
The tolling of the bell organised the daily work and acted as the modern fire
alarm and police siren.
In return for praying for the king and the people, the First Estate was allowed
privileges. Its members did not have to pay the taille (the main tax). They could
not be called up for military service. If they broke the law they were tried in
their own courts.
The Second Estate
The Second Estate was made up of the nobles of France. In 1789 there were
about 400,000 nobles in France. They owned about one third of the land. Nearly
all the top jobs in government and the armed forces went to the nobility. If a
dispute between a peasant and his lord ended up in court, the judge would always
be a noble.
Some noble families had fallen on hard times. At least sixty percent of the
nobility (around 16,000 families) lived in poor conditions. Some were too poor to
possess a sword, dog or horse. They had been left behind by the newer noble
families who had done well in business and bought their way into the nobility.
Rich or poor, the nobility were expected to serve the King in war. In return they
were granted privileges. For example, they did not have to pay many taxes to the
government.
The Third Estate
The Third Estate comprised most (nineteen-twentieths) of the population ranging
from rich businessmen and professionals to poor peasants. The members of this
estate had no privileges and played no part in running the country.
The middle classes (shopkeepers, bankers, ship-owners, merchants) had enough
money to live comfortably and buy luxuries, such as silks from India.
Most of the people in the Third Estate were peasants, who made up 80% of the
population of France. They had a hard life. Most of them did not own the land
they farmed. They dressed in rags and ate poor fruits, a few vegetables, and
bread. The majority were often starving. As well as paying rent, they had to work
free of charge for the local landowner on certain days of the year.
Those who worked in towns were often poor and hungry. They had insecure jobs in
factories or worked from home. Many working class districts were dirty and
unhealthy - “stinking little streets, ugly black houses full of hungry people
crowded into tiny rooms.”
The Third Estate had to pay taxes to the government, like the taille and the
gabelle (salt tax) and tithes to the Church. Sometimes they paid three-quarters
of their yearly income in taxes. They were also expected to fight whenever
France went to war.