Ancien Régime (nonfiction)

The Ancien Régime (/ˌɒ̃sjæ̃ reɪˈʒiːm/; French: [ɑ̃sjɛ̃ ʁeʒim]; literally "old rule") was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France from the Late Middle Ages (circa 15th century) until the French Revolution of 1789, which led to the abolition (1792) of hereditary monarchy and of the feudal system of the French nobility. The late Valois and Bourbon dynasties ruled during the Ancien Régime. The term is occasionally used to refer to the similar feudal systems of the time elsewhere in Europe - for example, in Switzerland. The administrative and social structures of the Ancien Régime resulted from years of state-building, legislative acts (like the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts), internal conflicts, and civil wars, but they remained and the Valois Dynasty's attempts at re-establishing control over the scattered political centres of the country were hindered by the Huguenot Wars (or Wars of Religion of 1562-1598). Much of the reigns of Henry IV (r. 1589–1610) and Louis XIII (r. 1610–1643) and the early years of Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715) focused on administrative centralization. Despite, however, the notion of absolute monarchy (typified by the king's right to issue lettres de cachet) and the efforts by the kings to develop a centralized state, the Kingdom of France retained administrative irregularities: authority regularly overlapped and nobles struggled to retain autonomy.

The drive for centralization in this period related directly to questions of royal finances and the ability to wage war. The internal conflicts and dynastic crises of the 16th and 17th centuries (the Huguenot Wars between Catholics and Protestants and the Habsburg's internal family conflict) and the territorial expansion of France in the 17th century demanded great sums which needed to be raised through 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 this centralization was the replacing of personal patronage systems organized around the king and other nobles by institutional systems constructed around the state. The appointments of intendants—representatives of royal power in the provinces—did much to undermine local control by regional nobles. The same was true of the greater reliance shown by the royal court on the noblesse de robe as judges and royal counselors. The creation of regional parlements had initially the same goal of facilitating the introduction of royal power into newly-assimilated territories, but as the parlements gained in self-assurance, they began to become sources of disunity.

Links

• Ancien régime @ Wikipedia