The Tribes of France
'Who were the [pre-19th century] inhabitants of France?'
'A crazed, human landscape of tribes and clans'
"In political history, the answer seems quite simple. The people of Dieppe, Boulogne, Goust and Saint-Véran all belonged to the same nation. They were answerable to provincial parlements and ultimately to the King. Most of them paid taxes — in money, labour (maintaining roads and bridges) and eventually, when systematic conscriptions was introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. in human life. They had locally appointed officials — an agent to collect taxes and a guard to police the community. But laws, especially those relating to inheritance, were widely ignored and direct contact with the central power was extremely limited. The state was perceived as a dangerous nuissance: its emissaries were soldiers who had to be fed and housed, bailiffs who seized property and lawyers who settled property disputed and took most of the proceeds. Being French was not a source of personal pride, let alone the basis of a common identity. Before the mid-nineteenth century, few people had seen a map of France and few had heard of Charlemagne and Joan of Arc. France was effectively a land of foreigners (22-23)...
Many [pre-revolution] places turn out to be fully functioning jurisdictions with their own parliaments and unwritten constitutions. Nearly every village had a formal assembly of some kind...
Some of these town and villages were flourishing democracies when France was still an absolute monarchy. François Marlin ran into such a place on his journey through Picardy in 1789. The conspicuously clean and tidy village of Salency, he learned, was governed by an old priest. The children were never sent away to become servants, and they were not allowed to marry outside the parish. There were six hundred people with only threee surnames between them. All were considered equal, and everyone worked the land, using spades instead of ploughs. As a result, their harvests were abundant, their children — even the girls — were taught to read and write by a salaried schoolmaster and his wife, and everyone was healthy, peaceful and attractive...
If so many tiny places declared independence at the time of the Revolujtion, it was because they were already partly independent. Their aim was not to develop the local economy and become part of a larger society. Change of any kind generally meant disaster of the threat of starvation. The dream of most communities was to sever tied, to insulate the town or village, which is partly why measures varied from one village to the next: standardization would have made it easier for outsiders to compete with local producers. The wanted to refine and purify the group. The boast that no one ever married outside the tribe was as common in France as it is in most tribal societies..." (31-33)
"The Tribes of France, I," The Discovery of France by Graham Robb
Map: French Districts for Grievances
Identify the district from where your character comes.
Use the maps below to identify the district that your character represents at the National Assembly, and cross-reference the information in the map with the appropriate Grievance Notebooks.
The images above are from A guide to the general cahiers of 1789 : with the texts of unedited cahiers by Beatrice Fry Hyslop, which is on reserve for your class in the SCU Library. Ask for it at the Help Desk.
- A guide to the general cahiers of 1789 : with the texts of unedited cahiers byCall Number: DC141.3.A5 H9
Revolutionary Demands by Call Number: DC141.3.A4 S53 1998ISBN: 0804726698Publication Date: 1998-01-01This pathbreaking work reports on the methods, and some of the results, of a content analysis of the cahiers de doléances, the well-known lists of grievances in which, in 1789, the French people expressed their dissatisfactions with the state of their society and their hopes for a better future. The analysis is an outgrowth of a larger research project, "Quantitative Studies of the French Revolution," conducted by the authors and others over a thirty-year period. The central data of the research for this book are a coding of a national sample of documents representing the views of rural parishes, the Nobility, and the Third Estate. These codes, together with data on the economic, social, and political conditions of the regions of France under the Old Regime and data on political behavior during the revolutionary period, form a computerized data archive to be made available to researchers. The book is in four parts. Part I describes content analysis as a method and its varieties, controversies, and problems. Part II discusses the cahiers and their authenticity and usefulness as a historical source. Part III considers the coding procedures, information about the sample, and studies bearing on the evaluation of the coding process. Part IV, the largest part of the book, presents some of the authors' findings to date, including a summary of the concerns expressed by the nation in 1789, a study of the attitudes toward the monarchy, an analysis of consensus and conflict among the Estates, and the influence of social mobility upon political radicalism. Appendixes provide details of the coding, the national frequencies of many grievance categories, lists of sources of coded cahiers, and maps indicating the data's coverage of France.
Grievances / Grievance Notebooks / Cahier de Doléances
Selections of Cahiers from 1789 (English)
There are thousands of cahiers for the different regions of France, and from each region, cahiers from specific segments of society. Not all are known or trusted for their authenticity, but selections have been translated and made available online, some of which are linked below.
Digital Translations of the Cahiers
From Hanover Historical Texts:
Cahiers of 1789: The Clergy of Blois and Romorantin
Cahiers of 1789: The Nobility of Blois
Cahiers of 1789: The Third Estate of Versailles
Cahiers of 1789: The Third Estate of Carcassonne
The French Revolution and Napoleon : A Sourcebook
Cahiers de doléances, province of Berry, spring 1789
- The First Estate of Bourges
- The Second Estate of Berry
- The Third Estate of Berry
- The parish of Levet
- The parish of Marcilly
Cahier de doléances, Parisian flower sellers, spring 1789
Printed Translations of the Cahiers
The General Cahiers of 1789 - on reserve for your class; ask for this book at the SCU Library Help Desk
Unedited Texts of General Cahiers . 202
- Arches and Charleville, united orders.............................. 203
- Aval, third estate, with supplement................................. 207
- Beziers, clergy.......................................................... 221
- Bourmont, clergy........................................................ 226
- Bourmont, nobles........................................................ 231
- Bruyeres, nobles ......................................................... 236
- Carhaix, third estate..................................................... 241
- Chatel-sur-Moselle, nobles.............................................. 245
- Chatel-sur-Moselle, third estate...................................... 248
- Corsica, nobles............................................................... 252
- Dix Villes Imperiales d’Alsace; third estate...................... 266
- Draguignan, clergy ...................................................... 283
- Etain, clergy .............................................................. 292
- Etain, third estate......................................................... 297
- Langres, supplement of third estate to cahier of united orders 302
- Lixheim, third estate ................................................... 310
- Longuyon, clergy......................................................... 313
- Longuyon, nobles........................................................ 316
- Longuyon, third estate.................................................. 318
- Longwy, nobles .......................................................... 326
- Longwy, third estate..................................................... 331
- Martinique, colony.......................................................... 362
- Mende, nobles ............................................................ 365
- Mont-de-Marsan, third estate......................................... 368
- Nantes, lower clergy....................................................... 374
- Nomeny, third estate ................................... 378
- Riom, third estate........................................................... 382
- Rochefort-sur-mer, supplement to third estate................... 385
- Rouen, third estate....................................................... 389
- Sarreguemines, third estate............................................ 391
- Sarrelouis, clergy and nobles united................................ 397
- St. Die, third estate......................................................... 398
- St. Dominigue, Paris committee..................................... 418
- Toulon, third estate...................................................... 419
- Ustaritz, third estate .................................................... 429
A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution - on reserve for your class; ask for this book at the SCU Library Help Desk
"Limitations of space preclude the possibility of presenting here a representative selection of conservative, moderate, and radical cahiers. The final choice has been restricted to the general cahiers of the bailliage of Dourdan in the généralité of Orléans, almost in the center of France... One the whole, these may be regarded as 'typical' cahiers."
Pages 56-84: Cahiers of the Clergy, the Nobility, and the Third Estate of Dourdan
Translations and Reprints from European History, vol. 4 - on reserve for your class; ask for this book at the SCU Library Help Desk
- Cahier of Clergy, Bailliage of Blois
- Cahiers of Nobility, Bailliage of Blois
- Cahier of Third Estate, Bailliage of Versailles
Pages 1-24 of the last section of the volume
Cassini Map of France, 1750-1815
The Carte de France was published by four generations of the Cassini family from 1750 to 1815. It consists of 182 sheets at the same scale, allowing the sheets to be joined together to form a physical map of about 39 feet high by 38 feet wide. It is rich both in historical cultural information and exquisite graphic art. The map was the first national survey completed systematically, relying on the latest science of its time.
— David Rumsey Map Collection
Composite: Carte de France, (Cassini, Cesar-Francois, 1714-1784); (Cassini family), 1750
18th Century France Economics
"Economically, eighteenth-century France presented a paradox. In commerce and industry it was the most prosperous European state, in national finances the most nearly bankrupt. French prosperity was the product of the relatively unprivileged middle class; French bankruptcy originated primarily in the fiscal policy (or lack of policy) followed by the privileged upper classes who controlled the government. There was no national budget, governmental income was contingent upon expenditures, the national debt had been increased by the wars of the eighteenth century, deficits were chronic, the court was extravagant, and the government was able to avoid bankruptcy mainly by extending existing taxes, reviving old ones, or inventing new ones.
It was taxation that brought the national financial situation painfully to the attention of the average Frenchman. The privileged minority who enjoyed the benefits of taxation were exempt from, or evaded, most taxes. Payment therefore devolved upon the unprivileged majority who were either unable or unwilling to carry the burden. Whether in town or country the common man was subject to a great variety of taxes, which consumed a considerable portion of his income. Direct taxes included the taille (mainly on land), the capitation (a poll tax), the vingtieme (an income tax), the octroi (a local tariff on commerce), and the corvée (an obligation to perform a certain amount of labor, such as road work). Indirect taxes comprised the gabelle (chiefly on salt), the aides (on wine), and the tabac (on tobacco). Nowhere was there uniformity in assessment or collection; everywhere there was injustice and inequality. Internal customs and duties (e.g., the douanes) complicated the system; and the practice of selling some of the rights of taxation to individuals or firms of financiers (the Farmers-General) rendered it more odious.
If French government in the eighteenth century was of the people, by the king, for the clergy and nobles, finances and taxation of a certainty were at one with the government" (7).
— "The Antecedents of the French Revolution," A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution by John Hall Stewart
Search for Primary Sources Yourself
These digital library collections, known as repositories, are good databases to search for primary sources related to your faction and geographical region.
- Hanover Historical Texts — Modern EuropeIncludes documents from the French Revolution
- EuroDocs — France 1454 - 1788Browse this selection to find primary documents that are applicable to the background of your character.
- EuroDocs — France 1789 - 1871Browse this selection to find primary documents that are applicable to the background of your character.
Faction 1: The First Estate (Clergy)
"Socially, eighteenth-century France consisted of three main groups or estates. The first estate, the clergy, numbered in a total population of some 25,000,000 approximately 130,000 persons. Of these perhaps 60,000 were 'regular' clergy, living in monasteries, convents, and abbeys, and professedly concerned with education, scholarship, and the salvation of their own souls. The remainder were “secular” clergy, in charge of churches, and concerned with public welfare and the salvation of mankind in general. Within their own order the clergy were subdivided into an upper minority of archbishops, bishops, and abbots who enjoyed most of the benefits, and a lower majority of parish priests and common regulars who did most of the work and received little in return. A principal source of church revenues, apart from income derived from lands, was the tithe, an annual tax originally constituting one-tenth, but now one-fifteenth or less, of the produce or income of the bulk of the population.
The clergy owed their prominence in France largely to their assumption of certain responsibilities: the salvation of souls, the primary work of the church; education, for which ecclesiastics alone were adequately trained; and the recording of vital statistics, since clergymen were always present to baptize the newborn, to perform the sacrament of matrimony, and to administer last rites to-the dying. Since France had long been committed to one church, the Roman Catholic, the clergy of that faith enjoyed a monopoly of these functions; and partly as compensation for their endeavors they enjoyed certain privileges—special courts and laws, the power of censorship, and exemption from most taxation. As individuals the greater part of the clergy in eighteenth-century France fulfilled their obligations effectively, and thereby justified the existence of their special prerogatives. As a corporation, however, under the guidance of the upper clergy, the reverse was true. Special courts were utilized to defeat the ends of justice, censorship was invoked on behalf of intolerance, exemption from taxation was used to free a wealthy organization from its economic responsibilities. Furthermore, benefices in most instances had become the hereditary property of noble families, monastic houses had declined ,in morality, and certain bishops allowed worldly interests to alienate them from diocesan affairs." (7-8)
— "The Antecedents of the French Revolution," A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution by John Hall Stewart
- Browse Digitized Items for ReligionCollection of digital surrogates grouped around the topic of religion in revolutionary period France.
The History of The Clergy During the French Revolution; in three parts by Publication Date: 1794[Ebook] Digitized first American edition of this important 18th century French book.
Times of London Digital Archive
Voyages en France et pays circonvoisins depuis 1775 jusqu'en 1807 [French] by Publication Date: 1817Select "Full View" of a chosen volume to identify mentions of Clergy, e.g. Salency
Faction 2: The Second Estate (Nobility)
"The second estate of France, the nobility, comprised 200,000 or more individuals [out of a population of 25,000,000]. Of these a small minority constituted the old 'nobility of the sword,' dating from the middle ages and originating in military service and the feudal relationship. The great majority, however, were the new office-holding 'nobility of the robe,' most of whom had obtained their patents by purchase when the king chanced to need funds. The small coterie of 'court nobles' at Versailles regarded with contempt both the ‘country nobles' who, through chance or necessity, spent the greater part of their time on their rural domains, and the 'administrative nobles' who formed the bulk of the governmental hierarchy. Many nobles were in comfortable financial circumstances, but, rich or poor, all derived their revenues' mainly from one or more traditional sources—lands, official positions, and royal sinecures.
The nobility owed their position of eminence primarily to their past performance of services, the most important of which were the provision of military aid for the king and assistance in an advisory capacity in the government. In consequence, like the clergy the nobles enjoyed benefits— judicial and landholding privileges, a monopoly of the best military, political, and ecclesiastical offices, and exemption from most taxes. By the eighteenth century, however, these benefits, except in a few instances, were no longer earned. Moreover, many nobles used their judicial privileges as a means of evading legal penalties, contributed to a decline in manorial administration by absenting themselves from their estates, and proved indifferent or incompetent as officeholders. Their exemption from taxation had become obnoxious, not only because it was no longer justified, but because the nobles as a group consumed about one-quarter of the governmental income" (8-9).
— "The Antecedents of the French Revolution," A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution by John Hall Stewart
Faction 3: Third Estate - Sections (Working Class, Sans Culottes, etc.)
"The third estate in eighteenth-century France, the commoners, was composed of all who were neither clergy nor nobles, and numbered some 24,000,000 or more. Of these about 2,000,000 lived in towns, the remainder in the country.
The town dwellers comprised three main groups: the few 'upper bourgeoisie' who enjoyed wealth and controlling influence in the professions, in commerce, and in industry; the 'petty bourgeoisie' or small traders, manufacturers, shopkeepers, and professional people; and the remainder, most of whom derived their living from wages or salaries. All three groups contributed to and profited from the prosperity which France experienced during the eighteenth century. Most of the profits, it is true, went to the upper bourgeoisie who purchased titles, lands, and positions in an attempt to achieve political power and social prestige. Yet, with few exceptions, all were required to contribute to the maintenance of the state. Whereas at one time such contributions had been made in return for national aid and protection, now, however, the town dwellers received relatively little; moreover, many of the taxes seriously obstructed commerce and industry, and more and more the government seemed to consider the bourgeoisie merely as an unfailing source of money and credit.
The country dwellers were largely of one class, the peasantry. Many peasants, by phenomenal thrift, had managed to save enough money to purchase small parcels of land from improvident landlords (who shrewdly retained the tide deeds); but most of them lived as tenants or hired laborers on sections of a large, more or less self-sufficient agricultural unit of medieval derivation, the manor. There the peasants applied primitive agricultural methods to eke out a meager living, much of which went to several tax masters. In addition to the regular royal and ecclesiastical obligations, the peasants were burdened with manorial exactions. Of these the most distasteful were the banalités (seigneurial monopolies of bake ovens, wine presses, fishponds, and gristmills), the capitaineries (hunting rights which enabled the seigneur first to feed and then to hunt his game on the peasants’ fields, without interference or payment for damage done), and the remnants of the manorial corvée (statute labor). Originally these obligations were fulfilled in return for protection and maintenance by the seigneur; by the eighteenth century, however, these benefits either were no longer necessary, or simply were no longer conferred. And the fact that many of the exactions had come to be commuted into money paymente often caused seigneurs to regard the peasants solely as a source of income.
Both town dwellers and country dwellers in eighteenth-century France were materially better off than were the commoners of any other continental European state of the time. But for that very reason they were discontented. Instead of being permitted to enjoy the prosperity which they created, they saw much of it diverted to the maintenance of unproductive minorities" (9-10)
— "The Antecedents of the French Revolution," A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution by John Hall Stewart
- What Is the Third Estate? [French]
Full digital reproduction of Sieyès's pamphlet Qu'est-ce que le Tiers-État? (1789)
- Political Cartoon: J'suis du Tiers-état [I am the Third Estate]
Cartoon about the supremacy of the 3rd estate, the people, showing man from the 3rd estate holding up wine bottle and glass. [1789] - Political Cartoon: Â faut espérer q'eu s jeu la finira ben tôt...
English translation: It is to be hoped that this game will end it soon: a paisan carrying a prelate and a nobleman: an allusion to the taxes whose weight fell entirely on the people: M.M. the clerics and the nobles not only paid nothing, but also obtained graces, pensions which exhausted the State and the unfortunate farmer could hardly provide for his subsistence [1789] - More Political Cartoons and ImagesBrowse images related to the three estates published from 1788-1789.
Faction 4: Jacobins (3rd estate and clergy)
"On the Left sat the heirs of the Jacobin group, soon to become known (because of their high seats in the hall) as the Mountain or Montagnards. Fewer in number than the Girondins, this faction was dominated by the Paris delegation, which included such agitators as Robespierre, Danton, Desmoulins, and Marat; and among their new members were Foucé, Tallien, and Saint-Just. All belonged to the Jacobin Club, from which dissenters were soon to be purged. In general they represented the democrativ republicanism of the lower classes, Aoart from the oratorical ability of many of their members, the strength of the Jacobins lay principally in their certainty of purpose and their perseverance in pursuing their objectives, outstanding among which were the overthrow of the Girondins and the execution of the King" (377-8).
— "Chapter Five: The First Phase of the National Convention (20 September, 1792 — 2 June, 1793)," A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution by John Hall Stewart
- The Calculating Patriot [Sans-culottes]
The Terror, which many justified then as now as an unfortunate necessity, raised enormous anxieties. A hostile cartoon equates the Revolution with severed heads.
Projet de réglement pour la Société des amis de la Constitution, séante aux Jacobins de Paris [French] by Publication Date: 1791Draft rules for the Society of Friends of the Constitution, sitting at the Jacobins in Paris