Defunct
68-650: Generality may be: A generality or generalty is a word used during the Ancien Régime in France and other Western European countries to indicate a specific territory under direct rule of central government (as opposed to a "particularity", which was the government of established provinces or principalities). These include: Ancien R%C3%A9gime Defunct The ancien régime ( / ˌ ɒ̃ s j æ̃ r eɪ ˈ ʒ iː m / ; French: [ɑ̃sjɛ̃ ʁeʒim] ; lit. ' old rule ' )
136-686: A Papal fief 36. Imperial Free City of Mulhouse 37. Savoy , a Sardinian fief (parl. in Chambéry 1537–59) 38. Nice , a Sardinian fief 39. Montbéliard , a fief of Württemberg 40. (not indicated) Trois-Évêchés ( Metz , Toul and Verdun ) 41. (not indicated) Dombes ( Trévoux ) 42. (not indicated) Navarre ( Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ) 43. (not indicated) Soule ( Mauléon ) 44. (not indicated) Bigorre ( Tarbes ) 45. (not indicated) Beaujolais ( Beaujeu ) 46. (not indicated) Bresse ( Bourg ) 47. (not indicated) Perche ( Mortagne-au-Perche ) In an attempt to reform
204-579: A combination of aggression, annexation and quasilegal means, he set about extending his gains to stabilize and strengthen France's frontiers, culminating in the brief War of the Reunions (1683–1684). The resulting Truce of Ratisbon guaranteed France's new borders for 20 years, but Louis XIV's subsequent actions, notably his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, led to the deterioration of his military and political dominance. Louis XIV's decision to cross
272-568: A few smaller German princes and dukes in Italy. Extensive back-and-forth fighting took place in the Netherlands, but the dimensions of the war once again changed when both Emperor Leopold and his son and successor, Joseph, died. That left Archduke Charles, the second son of Leopold, younger brother to Joseph , as the Alliance candidate for both king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Since such
340-593: A new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established. Under this system, France was led by a bicameral Parliament, consisting of an upper chamber called the Council of Elders (with 250 members) and a lower chamber called the Council of Five Hundred (with, accordingly, 500 members), and a collective Executive of five members called the Directory (from which the historical period gets its name). Due to internal instability, caused by hyperinflation of
408-526: A new tax based on the dixième , the vingtième , was enacted to reduce the royal deficit and continued for the rest of the ancien régime . Another key source of state financing was through charging fees for state positions (such as most members of parlements, magistrates, maître des requêtes and financial officers). Many of the fees were quite high, but some of the offices conferred nobility and could be financially advantageous. The use of offices to seek profit had become standard practice as early as
476-469: A peace program that was agreed to by Fleury, and the two powers formed an alliance. The Dutch Republic was much reduced in power and so agreed with Britain's idea of peace. In Vienna, the Holy Roman Empire's Habsburg emperors bickered with the new Bourbon king of Spain, Philip V, over Habsburg control of most of Italy, but relations with France were undramatic. In the mid-15th century, France
544-566: A sixtieth of the official charge, which permitted the titleholder to be free of the forty-day rule. The paulette and the venality of offices became key concerns in the parliamentarian revolts of the 1640s called the Fronde . The state also demanded a "free gift", which the church collected from holders of ecclesiastic offices through taxes called the décime (roughly a twentieth of the official charge, created under Francis I). State finances also relied heavily on borrowing, both private (from
612-515: A union between Spain and the Holy Roman Empire would be too powerful in the eyes of Charles VI's allies, most of the allies quickly concluded a separate peace with France. After another year of fruitless campaigning, Charles VI did the same and abandoned his desire to become the king of Spain. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht resolved all these issues. France gave up Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Louis XIV's grandson became King Philip V of Spain and kept all of his overseas colonies but renounced any rights to
680-451: The fermiers généraux ('farmers-general"). The taille was only one of a number of taxes. There also existed the taillon (a tax for military purposes), a national salt tax (the gabelle ), national tariffs (the aides ) on various products (wine, beer, oil and other goods), local tariffs on speciality products (the douane ) or levied on products entering the city (the octroi ) or sold at fairs and local taxes. Finally,
748-465: The généralités of the Renaissance went through a variety of reforms. In 1577, Henry III established 5 treasurers ( trésoriers généraux ) in each généralité who formed a bureau of finances. In the 17th century, oversight of the généralités was subsumed by the intendants of finance, justice and police. The expression généralité and intendance became roughly synonymous. Until
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#1732764786213816-486: The pays d'élection , the pays d'état and the pays d'imposition . In the pays d'élection (the longest-held possessions of the French crown; some of the provinces had held the equivalent autonomy of a pays d'état but had lost it through the effects of royal reforms) the assessment and collection of taxes were trusted to elected officials (at least originally, since later on those positions were bought), and
884-609: The gabelle or salt tax. Southern France was governed by written law adapted from the Roman legal system , but northern France used common law , codified in 1453 into a written form. The representative of the king in his provinces and cities was the gouverneur . Royal officers chosen from the highest nobility, provincial and city governors (oversight of provinces and cities was frequently combined) were predominantly military positions in charge of defense and policing. Provincial governors, also called lieutenants généraux , also had
952-645: The French Republic (French: République française ), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution . The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire on 18 May 1804 under Napoléon Bonaparte , although the form of government changed several times. This period was characterised by the downfall and abolition of the French monarchy , the establishment of
1020-468: The Habsburgs ' internal family conflict, and the territorial expansion of France in the 17th century all demanded great sums, which needed to be raised by taxes, such as the land tax ( taille ) and the tax on salt ( gabelle ), and by contributions of men and service from the nobility. One key to the centralization was the replacing of personal patronage systems, which had been organised around
1088-638: The Kingdom of Navarra ; there were also foreign enclaves like the Comtat Venaissin . In addition, certain provinces within France were ostensibly the personal fiefs of noble families. Notably the Bourbonnais , Forez and Auvergne were held by the House of Bourbon until the provinces were forcibly integrated into the royal domain in 1527 after the fall of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon . From
1156-877: The National Convention and the Reign of Terror , the Thermidorian Reaction and the founding of the Directory , and, finally, the creation of the Consulate and Napoleon's rise to power. Under the Legislative Assembly , which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria . In July 1792, Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick , commanding general of
1224-847: The Rhine in September 1688 was designed to extend his influence and to pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims, but Leopold I and the German princes resolved to resist, and the States General and William III brought the Dutch and the English into the war against France. Louis XIV faced a powerful coalition aimed at curtailing his ambitions. The main fighting took place around France's borders in
1292-473: The September Massacres . As a result of the spike in public violence and the political instability of the constitutional monarchy, a party of six members of France's Legislative Assembly was assigned the task of overseeing elections. The resulting Convention was founded with the dual purpose of abolishing the monarchy and drafting a new constitution. The convention's first act was to establish
1360-740: The Spanish Netherlands , the Rhineland , the Duchy of Savoy , and Catalonia . The fighting generally favoured Louis XIV's armies, but by 1696, France was in the grip of an economic crisis. The maritime powers (England and the Dutch Republic) were also financially exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the alliance, all of the parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), Louis XIV retained
1428-708: The ancien régime in France evolved across years of state-building, legislative acts (like the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts ), and internal conflicts. The attempts of the Valois Dynasty to reform and re-establish control over the scattered political centres of the country were hindered by the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598. During the Bourbon Dynasty , much of the reigns of Henry IV ( r. 1589–1610 ) and Louis XIII ( r. 1610–1643 ) and
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#17327647862131496-444: The 12th and the 13th centuries. A law in 1467 made these offices irrevocable except through the death, resignation or forfeiture of the title holder, and the offices, once bought, tended to become hereditary charges that were passed on within families with a fee for transfer of title. In an effort to increase revenue, the state often turned to the creation of new offices. Before it was made illegal in 1521, it had been possible to leave
1564-614: The Austro–Prussian Army, issued his Brunswick Manifesto , threatening the destruction of Paris should any harm come to King Louis XVI of France . This foreign threat exacerbated France's political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion and sense of urgency among the various factions. In the insurrection of 10 August 1792 , citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace , killing six hundred of
1632-724: The Committee of Public Safety instated a policy of terror, and perceived enemies of the republic began to be executed by guillotine at an ever-increasing rate. This began a period which is known today as the Reign of Terror . Despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793 , which was ratified by popular vote in early August. However,
1700-514: The Committee of Public Safety was seen as an "emergency" government, and the rights guaranteed by the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the new constitution were suspended under its control. The constitution of the republic did not provide for a formal head of state or a head of government. It could be discussed whether the head of state would have been the president of
1768-606: The Dutchman Piet Hein . English mariners nevertheless seriously pursued the opportunities for privateering and trade in Spain's colonies. As he neared his death, Charles II bequeathed his throne to the Bourbon candidate, the future Philip V of Spain. Philip's grandfather, Louis XIV, eagerly endorsed the choice and made unilateral aggressive moves to safeguard the viability of his family's new possessions, such as moving
1836-583: The French First Republic and officially strip the king of all political powers. Louis XVI , by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet , was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, he was executed. Throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy
1904-543: The French army into the Spanish Netherlands and securing exclusive trading rights for the French in Spanish America . However, a coalition of enemies opposed to that rapid expansion of French power quickly formed, and a major European war broke out from 1701 to 1714. To France's enemies, the notion of France gaining enormous strength by taking over Spain and all its European and overseas possessions
1972-470: The French nobility struggled to maintain their influence in local judiciary and state branches while the Fronde and other major internal conflicts violently contested additional centralization. The drive for centralization related directly to questions of royal finances and the ability to wage war. The internal conflicts and dynastic crises of the 16th and the 17th centuries between Catholics and Protestants,
2040-464: The French throne. Spain lost its European holdings outside the homeland itself. The former members of the alliance also profited from the war. The Dutch maintained their independence in the face of French aggression. The Habsburgs picked up territory north of Austria and in Italy, including the Spanish Netherlands and Naples. However, the greatest beneficiary of the war was Great Britain , since in addition to extensive extra-European territorial gains at
2108-549: The King's Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of counterrevolutionary action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the city's prisons. They killed over half of the prisoners, including nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves. Many victims were murdered in their cells: raped, stabbed, and/or slashed to death. This became known as
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2176-651: The National Assembly under international law. However, this changed every two weeks and was therefore not formative. After the arrest and execution of Robespierre on 28 July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III . They reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for
2244-424: The ability to convoke provincial parlements , provincial estates and municipal bodies. The title gouverneur first appeared under Charles VI . The Ordinance of Blois in 1579 reduced their number to 12, and an ordinance of 1779 increased their number to 39 (18 first-class governors and 21 second-class governors). Although in principle, they were the king's representatives, and their charges could be revoked at
2312-409: The assessment of the tax was established by local councils and the tax was generally " real " and so was attached to non-noble lands (nobles with such lands were required to pay taxes on them). Pays d'imposition were recently conquered lands that had their own local historical institutions (they were similar to the pays d'état under which they are sometimes grouped), but taxation was overseen by
2380-456: The church benefited from a mandatory tax or tithe , the dîme . Louis XIV created several additional tax systems, including the capitation , which began in 1695 and touched every person, including nobles and the clergy although exemption could be bought for a large one-time sum and the "dixième" (1710–1717, restarted in 1733), which enacted to support the military and was a true tax on income and on property value. In 1749, under Louis XV ,
2448-408: The date that the transfer of title was to take effect open-ended. In 1534, a rule adapted from church practice made the successor's right void if the preceding office holder died within forty days of the transfer, and the office returned to the state. However, a new fee, the survivance jouissante protected against that rule. In 1604, Sully created a new tax, the paulette or "annual tax" of
2516-418: The double board, which was accused of poor oversight, made numerous administrative reforms, including the restructuring of the financial administration and increasing the number of généralités . In 1542, France was divided into 16 généralités . The number increased to 21 at the end of the 16th century and to 36 at the time of the French Revolution; the last two were created in 1784. The administration of
2584-432: The early years of Louis XIV ( r. 1643–1715 ) focused on administrative centralization. Despite the notion of " absolute monarchy " (typified by the king's right to issue orders through lettres de cachet ) and efforts to create a centralized state, ancien régime France remained a country of systemic irregularities: administrative, legal, judicial, and ecclesiastic divisions and prerogatives frequently overlapped,
2652-619: The expense of Spain and France, it established further checks to French expansion within the continent by moderately strengthening its European allies. The quarter-century after the Treaty of Utrecht was peaceful, with no major wars. The main powers exhausted themselves in warfare, and suffered many deaths, disabled veterans, ruined navies, high pension costs, heavy loans and high taxes. In 1683, indirect taxes had brought in 118,000,000 livres, but by 1714, these revenues had plunged to only 46,000,000 livres. Louis XIV, with his eagerness for warfare,
2720-506: The four Généraux des finances (also called général conseiller or receveur général ) oversaw the collection of taxes ( taille , aides , etc.) by tax-collecting agents ( receveurs ) and the four Trésoriers de France (Treasurers) oversaw revenues from royal lands (the " domaine royal "). Together, they were the Messieurs des finances . The four members of each board were divided by geographical districts (although
2788-530: The grandson of the powerful Louis XIV. That was a confrontation between two different styles of ancien régime : the French and Spanish style versus the Habsburg style. Spain's silver and its inability to protect its assets made it a highly-visible target for ambitious Europeans. For generations, Englishmen contemplated capturing the Spanish treasure fleet, a feat that had been accomplished only once: in 1628 by
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2856-610: The great banking families in Europe) and public. The most important public source for borrowing was through the system of rentes sur l'Hôtel de Ville of Paris, a kind of government bond system offering investors annual interest. The system first came to use in 1522 under Francis I. First French Republic In the history of France , the First Republic ( French : Première République ), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France , and officially
2924-567: The inauguration of the First French Republic ) and was originally pejorative. Simon Schama has observed that "virtually as soon as the term was coined, 'old regime' was automatically freighted with associations of both traditionalism and senescence. It conjured up a society so encrusted with anachronisms that only a shock of great violence could free the living organism within. Institutionally torpid, economically immobile, culturally atrophied and socially stratified, this 'old regime'
2992-849: The inheritance of the Spanish Empire would soon embroil Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance in a final war: the War of the Spanish Succession . Spain had a number of major assets apart from its homeland. It controlled important territory in Europe and the New World. Spain's American colonies produced enormous quantities of silver, brought to Spain every few years in convoys. Spain also had many weaknesses. Its domestic economy had little business, industry or advanced craftsmanship and
3060-423: The king and other nobles, by institutional systems that were constructed around the state. The appointments of intendants , representatives of royal power in the provinces, greatly undermined the local control by regional nobles. The same was true of the greater reliance that was shown by the royal court on the noblesse de robe as judges and royal counselors. The creation of regional parlements had
3128-418: The king's will, some governors had installed themselves and their heirs as a provincial dynasty. The governors reached the height of their power from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. Their role in provincial unrest during the civil wars led Cardinal Richelieu to create the more tractable positions of intendants of finance, policing and justice, and in the 18th century, the role of provincial governors
3196-725: The late 15th century to the late 17th century and again in the 1760s, French territory greatly expanded and it attempted to better integrate its provinces into an administrative whole. Despite centralization efforts of the kings, France remained a patchwork of local privileges and historical differences. The arbitrary power of the absolute monarchy was much limited by historic and regional particularities. Administrative (including taxation), legal ( parlement ), judicial and ecclesiastic divisions and prerogatives frequently overlapped (for example, French bishoprics and dioceses rarely coincided with administrative divisions). Certain provinces and cities had won special privileges, such as lower rates for
3264-495: The late 17th century, tax collectors were called receveurs . In 1680, the system of the Ferme générale was established, a franchised customs and excise operation in which individuals bought the right to collect the taille on behalf of the king, through six-year adjudications (certain taxes like the aides and the gabelle had been farmed out in this way as early as 1604). The major tax collectors in that system were known as
3332-663: The money, and the treasury was always short. The banking system in Paris was undeveloped, and the treasury was forced to borrow at very high interest rates. London's financial system proved strikingly competent in funding not only the British Army but also those of its allies. Queen Anne was dead, and her successor, King George I, was a Hanoverian who moved his court to London but never became fluent in English and surrounded himself with German advisors. They spent much of their time and most of their attention on Hanoverian affairs. He too
3400-407: The paper monies (" Assignats "), and French military disasters in 1798 and 1799, the Directory lasted only four years, until overthrown in 1799. The French Consulate era began with the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory. Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup and became head of
3468-629: The problem until late spring of 1793, occupied instead with matters of war. Finally, on 6 April 1793, the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety , and was given a monumental task: "To deal with the radical movements of the Enragés , food shortages and riots, the revolt in the Vendée and in Brittany , recent defeats of its armies, and the desertion of its commanding general." Most notably,
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#17327647862133536-1875: The revolution, there were 36 généralités , the last two being created in 1784. 1. Généralité of Bordeaux , ( Agen , Guyenne ) 2. Généralité of Provence , or Aix-en-Provence ( Provence ) 3. Généralité of Amiens ( Picardy ) 4. Généralité of Bourges ( Berry ) 5. Généralité of Caen ( Normandy ) 6. Généralité of Châlons ( Champagne ) 7. Généralité of Burgundy , Dijon (Burgundy) 8. Généralité of Grenoble ( Dauphiné ) 9. Généralité of Issoire , later of Riom ( Auvergne ) 10. Généralité of Lyon ( Lyonnais , Beaujolais and Forez ) 11. Généralité of Montpellier ( Languedoc ) 12. Généralité of Paris ( Île-de-France ) 13. Généralité of Poitiers ( Poitou ) 14. Généralité of Rouen ( Normandy ) 15. Généralité of Toulouse ( Languedoc ) 16. Généralité of Tours ( Touraine , Maine and Anjou ) 17. Généralité of Metz ( Trois-Évêchés ) 18. Généralité of Nantes ( Brittany ) 19. Généralité of Limoges (divided in two parts: Angoumois & Limousin – Marche ) 20. Généralité of Orléans ( Orléanais ) 21. Généralité of Moulins ( Bourbonnais ) 22. Généralité of Soissons ( Picardy ) 23. Généralité of Montauban ( Gascony ) 24. Généralité of Alençon ( Perche ) 25. Généralité of Perpignan ( Roussillon ) 26. Généralité of Besançon ( Franche-Comté ) 27. Généralité of Valenciennes ( Hainaut ) 28. Généralité of Strasbourg ( Alsace ) 29. (see 18) 30. Généralité of Lille ( Flanders ) 31. Généralité of La Rochelle ( Aunis and Saintonge ) 32. Généralité of Nancy ( Lorraine ) 33. Généralité of Trévoux ( Dombes ) 34. Généralité of Corsica , or Bastia ( Corsica ) 35. Généralité of Auch ( Gascony ) 36. Généralité of Bayonne ( Labourd ) 37. Généralité of Pau ( Béarn and Soule ) The desire for more efficient tax collection
3604-416: The royal intendant . Taxation districts had gone through a variety of mutations since the 14th century. Before the 14th century, oversight of the collection of royal taxes had fallen generally to the baillis and sénéchaux in their circumscriptions. Reforms in the 14th and the 15th centuries saw France's royal financial administration run by two financial boards, which worked in a collegial manner:
3672-501: The same initial goal of facilitating the introduction of royal power into the newly assimilated territories, but as the parlements gained in self-assurance, they started to become sources of disunity. By the end of 1789 the term Ancien Régime was commonly used in France by journalists and legislators to refer to the institutions of French life before the Revolution. It first appeared in print in English in 1794 (two years after
3740-463: The system, new divisions were created. The recettes générales , commonly known as généralités , were initially only taxation districts (see "state finances" below). The first 16 were created in 1542 by edict of Henry II . Their role steadily increased, and by the mid-17th century, the généralités were under the authority of an intendant and were a vehicle for the expansion of royal power in matters of justice, taxation and policing. By
3808-477: The tax was generally "personal" and so was attached to non-noble individuals. In the pays d'état ("provinces with provincial estates"), Brittany , Languedoc , Burgundy , Auvergne , Béarn , Dauphiné , Provence and portions of Gascony , such as Bigorre , Comminges and the Quatre-Vallées , recently acquired provinces that had been able to maintain a certain local autonomy in terms of taxation,
3876-470: The term généralité appears only in the late 15th century). The areas were named Languedoïl, Languedoc, Outre-Seine-and-Yonne, and Nomandy (the last was created in 1449, the other three earlier), with the directors of the "Languedoïl" region typically having an honorific preeminence. By 1484, the number of généralités had increased to six. In the 16th century, the kings of France, in an effort to exert more direct control over royal finances and to circumvent
3944-466: The whole of Alsace , but was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and to give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine. Also, Louis XIV accepted William III as the rightful King of England, and the Dutch acquired their barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their own borders. However, with the ailing and childless Charles II of Spain approaching his end, a new conflict over
4012-574: Was anathema. Furthermore, the prospect of capturing Spanish territories in the New World proved very attractive. France's enemies formed a Grand Alliance, led by the Holy Roman Empire's Leopold I , which included Prussia and most of the other German states, the Dutch Republic, Portugal , Savoy (in Italy ) and England . The opposing alliance was primarily France and Spain but also included
4080-407: Was gone and replaced by a small sickly child, the last Bourbon survivor. This death had the potential to throw France into another round of warfare. Louis XV lived until the 1770s. France's main foreign policy decisionmaker was Cardinal Fleury , who recognised that France's need to rebuild and so pursued a peaceful policy. France had a poorly-designed taxation system in which tax farmers kept much of
4148-1592: Was greatly curtailed. 1. Île-de-France ( Paris ) 2. Berry ( Bourges ) 3. Orléanais ( Orléans ) 4. Normandy ( Rouen ) 5. Languedoc ( Toulouse ) 6. Lyonnais ( Lyon ) 7. Dauphiné ( Grenoble ) 8. Champagne ( Troyes ) 9. Aunis ( La Rochelle ) 10. Saintonge ( Saintes ) 11. Poitou ( Poitiers ) 12. Guyenne and Gascony ( Bordeaux ) 13. Burgundy ( Dijon ) 14. Picardy ( Amiens ) 15. Anjou ( Angers ) 16. Provence ( Aix-en-Provence ) 17. Angoumois ( Angoulême ) 18. Bourbonnais ( Moulins ) 19. Marche ( Guéret ) 20. Brittany ( Rennes , parlement briefly at Nantes ) 21. Maine ( Le Mans ) 22. Touraine ( Tours ) 23. Limousin ( Limoges ) 24. Foix ( Foix ) 25. Auvergne ( Clermont-Ferrand ) 26. Béarn ( Pau ) 27. Alsace ( Strasbourg , cons. souv. in Colmar ) 28. Artois (cons provinc. in Arras ) 29. Roussillon (cons. souv. in Perpignan ) 30. Flanders and Hainaut ( Lille , parliament first in Tournai , then in Douai ) 31. Franche-Comté ( Besançon , formerly at Dole ) 32. Lorraine ( Nancy ) 33. Corsica (off map, Ajaccio , cons. souv. in Bastia ) 34. Nivernais ( Nevers ) 35. Comtat Venaissin ( Avignon ),
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#17327647862134216-428: Was in very poor physical and mental health. As King Charles II had no children, the question of who would succeed to the Spanish throne unleashed a major war. The Vienna-based Habsburg family, to which Charles II belonged, proposed its own candidate for the throne. However, the Bourbons, the ruling family of France, instinctively opposed expansions of Habsburg power within Europe and had their own candidate : Philip ,
4284-486: Was incapable of self-modernization". The Nine Years' War (1688–97), between France and a coalition of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Spain, England and Savoy, was fought in continental Europe and on the surrounding seas, and in Ireland, North America and India. It was the first truly global war . Louis XIV emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in Europe and an absolute ruler with numerous military victories. Using
4352-442: Was one of the major causes for French administrative and royal centralisation during the early modern period. The taille became a major source of royal income. Exempted were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble lands held in pays d'état , see below), officers of the crown, military personnel, magistrates, university professors and students, and certain cities ( villes franches ) such as Paris. The provinces were of three sorts,
4420-422: Was poor. Spain had to import practically all of its weapons and its large army was poorly trained and poorly equipped. Spain had a small navy since seamanship was a low priority for the elites. Local and regional governments and the local nobility, controlled most of the decisionmaking. The central government was quite weak, with a mediocre bureaucracy, and few able leaders. King Charles II reigned 1665 to 1700, but
4488-420: Was smaller than it is today, and numerous border provinces (such as Roussillon , Cerdagne , Conflent , Vallespir , Capcir , Calais , Béarn , Navarre , County of Foix , Flanders , Artois , Lorraine , Alsace , Trois-Évêchés , Franche-Comté , Savoy , Bresse , Bugey , Gex , Nice , Provence , Dauphiné and Brittany ) were autonomous or belonged to the Holy Roman Empire , the Crown of Aragon or
4556-401: Was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France that the French Revolution overturned through its abolition in 1790 of the feudal system of the French nobility and in 1792 through its execution of the king and declaration of a republic . "Ancien régime" is now a common metaphor for "a system or mode no longer prevailing". The administrative and social structures of
4624-409: Was threatened by an unstable throne, since the Stuart pretenders, long supported by Louis XIV, threatened repeatedly to invade through Ireland or Scotland and had significant internal support from the Tory faction. However, Sir Robert Walpole was the dominant decision-maker from 1722 to 1740, in a role that would later be called prime minister. Walpole strongly rejected militaristic options and promoted
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