Examen GyH. Tema 4.

1. The Ancien Regime.

The Ancien Regime was the political, economical and social system
adopted by most of the European Kingdoms at the end of the Middle
Ages.
Society was based in the medieval social system where people were
divided into estates based on your birth, not in your wealth or your
capacities.
Agriculture and livestock were the main economic activities.
Absolute Monarchy was its political system.
1.1 Aristocratic Farming System.
Farming was the main economic activity. It was subsistence farming and
they still used the three field system.
Farming depended completely on the weather and the fertility of the land.
A series of lost harvest led to a subsistence crisis, a great famine, that
could lead to a social and political crisis, wars, or even plagues.
The land was owned by nobility and clergy.
Most of the population were peasants who worked for nobles and clergy,
they also had to pay high taxes and tithes.
1.2 Absolute Monarchy.
The king had absolute power which came from God itself, that was called
divine right.
He had no powers above him and he unified the three powers: executive,
legislative and judiciary.
There were not citizens but subjects and they had no rights, unlike
nobility and clergy, that had some privileges.
The king had absolute power, however, he was helped by secretaries and
councils. He also had parliaments.
1.3 The Ancien Régime society.
Two different groups: privileged people and unprivileged people.
● Privileged people.
- Nobility or aristocracy:
·They lived on the rural income obtained from their states.
·They accumulated riches but some of them were not rich.
·They enjoyed honors, economic favors and tax exemptions.
 - Clergy:
·They lived on the benefits of their land, their possessions and the
tithe.
·The Church and priests played a main role supporting the
absolute monarchy and Ancien Regime.
·Clergy was not equal, it could be divided into two different
groups: High Clergy (aristocracy, same privileges as the nobility)
and Low Clergy (humble life without luxuries).
● Unprivileged people.
The commoners.
They paid taxes and had no political representation.
They were divided into economic groups:
- Bourgeoisie:
·They had economic power.
·Traders, bankers, manufacturers and professionals.
- Urban workers:
·Small traders, artisans, servants and workshop workers.
- Peasants:
·Main group.
·Farmers without land who worked for a noble or a bishop.
2. Economic Growth.
The 18th century was peaceful.
It was a period of economic wealth and population growth.
Demographic growth led to an increase in prices and production.
Monarchies supported this economic growth by creating royal
manufactures and trading companies. They also sponsored agricultural
reforms and infrastructures that made the trade have an outstanding rise.
There was a trading circuit called Triangular Trade and involved Africa,
America and Europe.

3. The Enlightenment.
It was an 18th century intellectual and cultural movement that questioned
the bases of the Ancien Regime.
The Enlightened defended that reason was the only way to understand the
world.
They said that tolerance must be the base of every human relation and
attacked religious intolerance.
They thought that education and progress will come the improvement of
life conditions.
● Precursors of the Enlightenment.
- John Locke.
- Isaac Newton.
 VOCABULARY

Absolute Monarchy: the system of government of the Ancien Regime

where the monarch has absolute control over all aspects of the government.
Ancien Regime: the political and social system before the French
Revolution.
Bourgeoisie: the urban middle class such as merchants, lawyers and
bankers.
Enlightenment: an intellectual movement that emphasized the use of
reasons to solve political, social and economic problems.
Enlightened despot: a monarch who introduced reform based on the
Enlightenment but maintained absolute power.
Triangular trade: a system of trade in the 18th century which included the
slave trade.