Estates of the realm

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In several different regions of medieval Europe, and continuing in some countries down to the present day, the Estates of the realm were broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners; this last group was, in some regions, further divided into burghers (also known as bourgeoisie) and peasants. Legislative bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch not belonging to any estate.

From these terms came the name of the medieval French national assembly: the Estates-General or States-General (Fr. Etats-Généraux), the analogue to the British Parliament but with no constitutional tradition of vested powers: the French monarchy remained absolute.

1 In France
2 Outside France
- 2.1 United Kingdom
- 2.2 Sweden and Finland
3 See also
4 References
5 External link

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In France

Template:Ancien Régime France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate or clergy; the Second Estate or nobility; and the Third Estate or commoners.

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First Estate

The First Estate (Fr. premier état) was the clergy.

In principle, the responsibilities of the First Estate included "the registration of births, marriages and deaths; they collected the tithe (called the "dîme", usually 10%); they censored books; served as moral police; operated schools and hospitals; and distributed relief to the poor. They also owned 10-15% of all the land in France. This land, of course, was all held tax-free." [1] The church did however pay the state a so-called "free gift", which was collected via the "décime", a tax on ecclesiastic offices.

The First Estate comprised the entire clergy, traditionally divided into "higher" and "lower" clergy. Although there was no formal demarcation between the two categories, the upper clergy were, effectively, clerical nobility, from the families of the Second Estate. At the other extreme, parish priests and many monks had more in common with the Third Estate than the Second, and, within the Third Estate, more in common with the peasants and wage-earners than with the bourgeoisie.

In 1789, the First Estate numbered somewhat over 100,000, with about 10% of these being "higher clergy." The lower clergy would have been about equally divided between parish priests on the one hand and monks and nuns on the other. Almost all of the 139 dioceses were controlled by the great nobles in France. [2]

The French inheritance system of primogeniture meant that nearly all French fortunes would pass largely in a single line, through the eldest son. Hence, it became very common for second sons to join the clergy. Although some great churchmen came out of this system, much of the higher clergy continued to live the lives of aristocrats, enjoying the wealth derived from church lands and tithes and, in some cases, paying little or no attention to their churchly duties. The ostentatious wealth of the higher clergy was, no doubt, partly responsible for the widespread anticlericalism in France, dating back as far as the Middle Ages, and was certainly responsible for the element of class resentment within the anticlericalism of many peasants and wage-earners.

Similar class resentments existed within the First Estate.

During the latter years of the Ancien Régime, the Catholic Church in France (the Gallican Church) was a separate entity within the realm of Papal control, both a State within a State and Church within a Church. The King had the right to make appointments to the bishoprics, abbeys, and priories and the right to regulate the clergy. [3]

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Second Estate

The Second Estate (Fr. second état) was the French nobility and (technically, though not in common use) royalty, other than the monarch himself, who stood outside the estates.

The Second Estate is traditionally divided into "noblesse d'épée" ("nobility of the sword") and "noblesse de robe" ("nobility of the gown"), the magisterial class that administered royal justice and civil government.

The French inheritance system of primogeniture meant that nearly all French fortunes would pass largely in a single line, through the eldest son.

Under the ancien régime, the Second Estate were exempt from most forms of taxation.

The French nobility was not a closed class, and many means were available to rich land owners or state office holders for gaining nobility for themselves or their descendants.

The second estate made up about 2% of France's population and paid little or no taxes.

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Third Estate

1st. What is the third estate? Everything.

2nd. What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing.

3rd. What does it demand? To become something therein.

—Abbé Sieyès, "What is the third estate?"("Qu'est-ce que le Tiers-Etat?"), January 1789 [4]

The Third Estate (Fr. tiers état) was the generality of people which were not part of the other estates.

The Third Estate comprised all those who were not members of the aristocracy or the clergy, including peasants, working people and the bourgeoisie. In 1789, the Third Estate made up 98% of the population in France. Due in part to a limited franchise, the representatives of the Third Estate actually came from the wealthy upper bourgeoisie; sometimes the term's meaning has been restricted to the middle class, as opposed to the working class.

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The French Estates-General

See main articles French States-General, Estates-General of 1789

The first Estates-General was called by Philip IV in 1302, in order to obtain national approval for his anticlerical policy. Philip organized the assembly into three divisions, and every following Estates-General down to 1789 maintained the division.

The Estates-General of France dwindled in importance, and after 1614 it was not called again for 175 years until 1789, when Louis XVI convoked the Estates-General to address the financial crisis of the kingdom, which was effectively bankrupt. This set off the series of events leading to the French Revolution: the representatives of the Third Estate demanded a greater role; the lower clergy (and some nobles and upper clergy) eventually sided with them; the king was forced to yield. The Estates-General was reconstituted first as the National Assembly (June 17, 1789) and then as the National Constituent Assembly (July 9, 1789), a unitary body composed of the former representatives of the three estates.

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End of Nobility in France

The formation of the National Constituent Assembly marked the end of the Estates-General, but not of the three estates. The momentum continued rapidly in that direction. On August 4, 1789, seigneurial dues were abolished, along with religious tithes. The nobility were subjected to the same taxation as their co-nationals, but for the moment they retained their titles.

Notions of equality and fraternity would soon triumph over official recognition of a noble class. Some nobles such as the Marquis de Lafayette supported the abolition of legal recognition of nobility, but even some other liberal nobles who had happily sacrificed their fiscal privileges saw this as an attack on the culture of honor. Nonetheless, the French Nobility was disbanded outright by the National Constituent Assembly on June 19, 1790, during the same period in which they were debating the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

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Outside France

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United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, an analogous division exists to this day, although with attenuated significance, between Lords Temporal, Lords Spiritual, and Commons.

Note one contrast between the French and British systems: the lower clergy in France were part of the First Estate, but in Britain they were commoners. Similarly, in Britain only titled peers are Lords Temporal. Other members of aristocratic families are also considered commoners.

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Sweden and Finland

The Estates in Sweden and Finland were nobility, clergy, burghers, and land-owning peasants. Each were free men, and had specific rights and responsibilities, and the right to send a representative to the governing assembly, the Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden and the Diet of Finland, respectively. A summary of this division is:

Nobility is exempt from tax, has an inherited rank and the right to keep a fief, and has a tradition of military service and government
Clergy is the priests, exempt from tax, governed by the Church
Burghers are city-dwellers, tradesmen and craftsmen, and have a monopoly in commerce; entry to this Estate is controlled by the government
Peasants are land-owners and their families, which represented the majority in medieval times
To no estate belonged propertyless farmers, farmhands, servants, travelling salesmen, vagrants, parasites

This legal division existed until the modern age in Finland. However, at the start of the 20th century, most of the population did not belong to any Estate and had no political representation. A particularly large class were the rent farmers, who did not own the land they cultivated, but had to work in the land-owner's farm to pay their rent. (Unlike Russia, there were no slaves or serfs.) The political system was reformed, and the last Diet was dissolved in 1905, to create the modern parliamentary system.

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