Declaration of the Clergy of France

Examples of Declaration of the Clergy of France in the following topics:

• Louis XIV and the Huguenots

  • The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by Henry IV of France.
  • It marked the end of the religious wars that had afflicted France during the second half of the 16th century.
  • Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which limited papal authority in France, and convened an Assembly of the French clergy in November 1681.
  • Before its dissolution eight months later, the Assembly had accepted the Declaration of the Clergy of France, which increased royal authority at the expense of papal power.
  • Unsurprisingly, the pope repudiated the Declaration.

• The Sun-King and Authoritarianism

  • On the death of Mazarin in 1661, Louis assumed personal control of the reins of government and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without a chief minister.
  • Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which limited papal authority in France and convened an Assembly of the French clergy in November 1681.
  • Before its dissolution eight months later, the Assembly had accepted the Declaration of the Clergy of France, which increased royal authority at the expense of papal power.
  • Unsurprisingly, the pope repudiated the Declaration.
  • Louis XIV, King of France, in 1661 by Charles Le Brun.

• The Anglican Church

  • Anne arrived at court in 1522, from years in France where she had been educated by Queen Claude of France, as maid of honour to Queen Catherine, a woman of "charm, style and wit, with will and savagery which made her a match for Henry."
  • There were Common lawyers who resented the privileges of the clergy to summon laity to their courts; there were those who had been influenced by Lutheran evangelicalism and were hostile to the theology of Rome; Thomas Cromwell was both.
  • The Act in Restraint of Appeals, drafted by Cromwell, declared that clergy recognise Henry as the "sole protector and Supreme Head of the Church and clergy of England."
  • This declared England an independent country in every respect.
  • The requirement of the clergy to be celibate was lifted.

• Establishment of the National Assembly

  • Following the storming of the Bastille on July 14, the National Assembly became the effective government of France.
  • In it, he argues that the Third Estate – the common people of France – constituted a complete nation within itself and had no need of the "dead weight" of the two other orders, the clergy and aristocracy.
  • On August 26, 1789, the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which comprised a statement of principles rather than a constitution with legal effect.
  • In an attempt to address the financial crisis, the Assembly declared, on November 2, 1789, that the property of the Church was "at the disposal of the nation."
  • The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed in July 1790, turned the remaining clergy into employees of the state.

• The Declaration of the Rights of Man

  • Declaration of Independence—was at the time in France as a U.S. diplomat and worked closely with Lafayette on designing a bill of rights for France.
  • Furthermore, the declaration was a statement of vision rather than reality as it was not deeply rooted in either the practice of the West or even France at the time.
  • It embodied ideals and aspirations towards which France pledged to struggle in the future.
  • The Declaration also asserted the principles of popular sovereignty, in contrast to the divine right of kings that characterized the French monarchy, and social equality among citizens, eliminating the special rights of the nobility and clergy.
  • Identify the main points in the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

• France and Cardinal Richelieu

  • Richelieu's successful policies leading to the consolidation of the royal power, centralization of the state, and strengthening the international position of France paved the way for the authoritarian rule of Louis XIV.
  • By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong, centralized state.
  • The Queen had become Regent of France when nine-year-old Louis ascended the throne. 
  • Moreover, the King of England, Charles I, declared war on France in an attempt to aid the Huguenot faction.
  • The clergy, nobility, and high bourgeoisie were either exempt or could easily avoid payment, so the burden fell on the poorest segment of the nation.

• The Ancien Regime

  • The First Estate comprised the entire clergy, traditionally divided into "higher" and "lower" clergy.
  • The population of France in the decade prior to the French Revolution was about 26 million, of whom 21 million lived in agriculture.
  • The clergy numbered about 100,000 and yet they owned 10% of the land.
  • The upper echelons of the clergy also had considerable influence over government policy.
  • France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners).

• Taxes and the Three Estates

  • France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners).
  • Consequently, attempts to impose taxes on the privileged - both the nobility and the clergy - were a great source of tension between the monarchy and the First and the Second Estates.
  • However, the clergy, the regions with "pays d'état," and the parlements protested.
  • Caricature showing the Third Estate carrying the First and Second Estates on its back, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, c. 1788.
  • The tax system in pre-revolutionary France largely exempted the nobles and the clergy from taxes.

• Calling the Estates-General

  • An Assembly of Notables was a group of high-ranking nobles, ecclesiastics, and state functionaries convened by the King of France on extraordinary occasions to consult on matters of state.
  • Throughout the history of modern France, such an assembly was convened only several times, serving a consultative purpose.
  • If the estates voted by order, the nobles and the clergy could together outvote the commons by 2 to 1.
  • On June 17, with the failure of efforts to reconcile the three estates, the Communes - or the Commons, as the Third Estate called itself now - declared themselves redefined as the National Assembly, an assembly not of the estates, but of the people.
  • Two days later, removed from the tennis court as well, the Assembly met in the Church of Saint Louis, where the majority of the representatives of the clergy joined them.

• The Rise of the Nobility

  • Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralized state governed from Paris, sought to eliminate remnants of feudalism in France, and subjugated and weakened the aristocracy.
  • The reign of Louis XIV marked the rise of France of as a military, diplomatic, and cultural power in Europe.
  • As a result of these attempts at reform, the Parlement of Paris, using the quarrel between the clergy and the Jansenists as a pretext, addressed remonstrances to the king in April 1753.
  • In the political system of pre-Revolutionary France, the nobility made up the Second Estate (with the Catholic clergy comprising the First Estate and the bourgeoisie and peasants in the Third Estate).
  • Sources differ about the actual number of nobles in France, however, proportionally, it was among the smallest noble classes in Europe.