OLD REGIME: CHARACTERISTICS, SOCIETY, POLITICS, ECONOMY - HISTORY - 2024

The Old Regime is the name given to the type of society that prevailed from the late 15th century until the French Revolution. In this way, it refers to all aspects that made up society: from the political structure to the economy, through social relations.

Despite the fact that, historiographically, the aforementioned dates are usually indicated, the process of change of society was not homogeneous. For this reason, the start and end dates are variable depending on the circumstances of each area. The term was coined by the French revolutionaries.

The intention of the term was to pejoratively refer to the system of government prior to 1789, under the mandate of Louis XVI. Later, some historians used it to name the rest of the monarchies with similar characteristics that existed in Europe.

Alexis de Tocqueville was responsible for popularizing the concept in his essay The Old Regime and the Revolution, while Ernest Labrousse applied it to historical economic studies. Today it has practically been assimilated to the historical period called Modern Age.

Its general characteristics were the old demographic type, the eminently agrarian economy, the class society and the absolutist or, in a few cases, authoritarian monarchy.

General characteristics

The Old Regime, when defining an entire social structure, had characteristics that affected each area of ​​it. It was not only about the way of government - the absolute monarchy - but also about the economy and even the type of demographic development of the moment.

Ancient demographic cycle

World demographics in the seventeenth century had nothing to do with today. It is estimated that in the year 1780 the population was less than 1 billion on the entire planet.

The characteristics in this aspect during that period are called the old demographic cycle and they presented very little vegetative growth. A high birth rate coexisted with high mortality rates. The latter was especially striking among children.

This panorama was aggravated by the type of economy typical of the era. Famines were very frequent, decimating part of the population with fewer resources.

Likewise, lack of food and poor hygiene caused numerous illnesses. Only the already mentioned high birth rate was capable of minimally balancing the number of deaths that occurred.

Apart from this circumstance, most of the population was illiterate, with a total ignorance of what was happening beyond their place of residence. In short, it was a very static and rural society.

Estate society

The Old Regime had a strongly compartmentalized social structure. Its structure was known as estate society, a mode of organization originating from feudalism. Each person was born into a social stratum from which it was almost impossible to get out, with differentiated rights and exclusive jobs for each class.

In general terms, there were two large groups, with great inequality between them. The first, the privileged, had all the rights and no obligation to pay taxes. The other group, the underprivileged, had no prerogatives and only obligations.

Among the privileged were the clergy, exempt from paying direct taxes. In addition, they collected so-called tithes from the peasants and petty bourgeoisie. The nobility were also among the most favored of society; they owned most of the land.

Above them was the king. This, many times legitimized by religion, was the only real authority, with absolute powers.

As for the underprivileged, what in France was known as the third estate, they were the vast majority of the inhabitants, more than 90%.

Traditionally, this group had been made up of peasants, who could be free or serf. In the last decades of the Middle Ages, a new class had begun to appear among the underprivileged: the bourgeoisie.

An agrarian economy

As mentioned above, the base of the economy of the Old Regime was agriculture, accompanied by livestock. It was an activity intended for self-consumption, worked with very primitive techniques.

This not only did not allow surpluses to be traded, but was sometimes insufficient even to feed the entire population.

In addition to these production problems, the peasants had to face the payment of tithes to the Church: it was a kind of tax of 10% of what was grown. After giving that amount, they still had to pay the noble owner of the land and the state Treasury.

Absolute monarchy

The kings during the Old Regime legitimized their power with religion, pointing out that it was God who placed them in their position.

Its powers were absolute, concentrating the Legislative, the Judicial and the Executive. Apart from certain commitments to the Church and the nobility, his authority had no limits.

This type of monarchy was common throughout Europe. Only Great Britain, after the revolution of 1688, had developed a more parliamentary model.

Society

The main characteristic of society during the Old Regime was its division between different classes. These were given by birth and mobility among them was reduced to sporadic marriages or entry into the clergy by an individual.

The different states, names that were given to the estates in France, were basically divided into two: the most privileged and those that were not.

Among the former were the nobility and clergy. It must be taken into account that a good part of the clergy was made up of nobles, especially the second sons of the families.

The nobles and ecclesiastics were the custodians of all rights, both legal and economic.

For its part, the third state (the underprivileged) reached up to 90% of the population. It was made up mainly of peasants, although a bourgeoisie was beginning to flourish that could compete economically with the nobles.

The rights of this class were very limited and they had to pay various taxes to the Church, nobles and the State.

Differences within the estates

Within each of the estates there were several subdivisions with different characteristics. The most pronounced differences were in the economic sphere, although there were also in social matters.

In this way, the nobility was divided between high and low. The first was very close to the court, while the other was composed of gentlemen or gentle men. Something similar happened with the clergy, with bishops, cardinals and other positions at the top, and parish priests and priests at the bottom.

More diversity was in the third state. The traditional peasants had been joined at the end of the High Middle Ages by a bourgeoisie that was grabbing a lot of economic power.

Bourgeoisie

This new social class, despite the fact that it was part of the third estate, was a revolution of its own. For the first time, a group appeared that accumulated wealth and did not belong to the privileged classes.

In addition, it is a class that also began to have a certain education, expanding its knowledge and sliding towards theories such as the Enlightenment.

As the years passed, the bourgeoisie began to disagree with the organization of power in society. They wanted their influence to be equivalent to the economic importance they were acquiring. In the end, this would be one of the causes of the outbreak of the revolutions that ended the Old Regime.

Politics

Most of the European states during the Old Regime were monarchies. In reality - except for a small republic, such as Venice or the Netherlands - the entire continent had this form of government.

The monarchies of these countries evolved from the feudal system to a more centralized and authoritarian one. The nobles, who exerted an important counterweight to feudalism, gradually lost power and this was fully assumed by the king.

Thus, while in the previous era the monarch was the primus inter pares (first among equals ”), in the Old Regime he concentrated all the powers.

For its part, the Church retained part of its power. In fact, kings needed it to affirm the main doctrine of absolutism: that the king's power came directly from God.

In the most practical aspect, the monarchy created fiscal, bureaucratic and military systems to entrench and strengthen its position.

Enlightened Despotism

The political system based on absolute monarchies did not remain unchanged throughout the Old Regime. From a certain moment, well into the 18th century, it was undergoing changes due to new philosophies that appeared on the continent.

The main one was the Enlightenment, a consequence of the development of the bourgeoisie, the Industrial Revolution and the access to education of more population. The Enlightenment, with its defense of reason against religion and its demands for equality, clearly attacked the principles of absolutism.

Faced with the threat of these ideas, shared by some nobles, and even kings, the monarchy reacted by adapting. The way to do it was through the so-called enlightened despotism, which tried to unite the authoritarian and estate system with some economic and cultural reforms.

The new system allowed for some small changes, but politically it remained the same as before. Aspects of the enlightened ideas - such as the division of powers, the sovereignty of the people and the end of the social classes - were not accepted by the power and, in this way, the king preserved all his prerogatives.

In Spain a phrase was coined that perfectly summed up what enlightened despotism and its reforms meant: "Everything for the people, but without the people."

Economy

The economy of the Old Regime is based in large part on agriculture. Experts point out that almost three-quarters of the population was engaged in agricultural work.

However, the production techniques were very primitive and therefore the harvests were very poor. In general, what was collected was only enough for self-consumption.

The cause of this shortage, which did not allow surpluses to appear that could be commercialized, is found in the little evolution of the tools.

For example, the old Roman plow was still in use and the land was often left fallow for recovery. The rotation of the fields meant that it could not be cultivated during part of the year.

Life in the countryside

The low productivity of the land was compounded by the precarious conditions of the peasants due to the payments they had to make. In many areas of Europe the structure typical of the Middle Ages remained, with noble owners of the properties.

As a novelty compared to the Middle Ages, there were many free peasants. However, they were obliged to pay the owners of the lands they worked; It could be in money, in part of the harvest, or in free workdays for the nobles in question.

Apart from this payment, the peasants were subject to the judicial authority of the lords, even going so far as to have to request permission to marry.

Despite the permanence of these structures, the absolute monarchies had partly limited the powers of the nobles, although this varied greatly depending on the areas.

For example, in eastern Europe the feudal regime was kept almost intact. Meanwhile, in Great Britain it had almost disappeared, which contributed to faster political and economic changes in those islands.

Industry

It was not until the Industrial Revolution that this economic sector appeared in a modern sense. During the Old Regime, the one that was given was of the artisan type, conserving many trade union characteristics.

The most common were small artisan workshops, with few workers and scarce and outdated machinery. Likewise, the sources of energy were human, animal or, as an advance, that provided by wind or water.

It was a very unspecialized industry, with a single person responsible for the entire production process from design to completion.

Commerce

The non-production of surpluses from agriculture or little industry, made the trade very poor. The one that existed used to be developed locally, since transport did not allow traveling much further.

When a trade based on precious metals began to appear, it was the State in charge of controlling it.

Colonies

If there was one aspect that contributed to diversifying the economy, enriching the States and starting commercial activities, that was the colonization of various territories.

When the 18th century was about to end, only the interior of Africa and the Poles remained to be explored. The European states involved in colonization created large overseas empires, extracting a great deal of wealth and raw materials.

Likewise, important trade routes were established through which precious metals, spices, tobacco and slaves circulated. Apart from the states, it was the growing mercantile bourgeoisie that made the most of this circumstance.

References

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2. IESMarcilla. The economy of the Old Regime. Obtained from iesmarcilla.educacion.navarra.es
3. EcuRed. Old Regime. Obtained from ecured.cu
4. Wilde, Robert. The Origins of the French Revolution in the Ancien Régime. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
5. Henshall, Nicholas. Power and Politics in Old Regime France & The Ancien Regime. Retrieved from historytoday.com
6. Blinklearning. The economy and society of the Ancien Régime. Recovered from blinklearning.com
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