Kenneth's Ch. 22 Outline Pt 1

Kenneth Li Euro Hist. 6th Period 10-26-07 Ch 22, pg 613-626 I. European Society Under the Old Regime 1) European merchants and rulers ruled transatlantic economy. 2) European states governed much of America’s continents. 3) Undertook series of advances; laid foundation for transformation of world. 4) Invention of steam engine opened way for moving manufacture. 5) These successions are known as Industrial Revolution. 6) This helped Europe dominate much of world. 7) The “Old Regime,” ancien regime, referred to patterns of relationships. 8) Men and women saw themselves less as individuals than groups. 9) Old Regime’s chief characteristics were tradition, hierarchy, corporateness, and privilege. 10) Industrial Revolution expanded quantity of consumer goods. 11) Colonies in America provided strong demands for European products. II. Major Features of Life in the Old Regime 1) Pre-Revolutionary Europe based on 4 things. -aristocratic elites with many inherited legal privileges. -established churches related to the state and aristocracy. -urban labor force organized into guilds. -rural peasantry subject to high taxes. 2) Most men and women didn’t know it was the Old Regime. A. Maintenance of Tradition 1) Most people didn’t want change. -wanted to keep customary rights. -economy was also traditional. -quality and quantity of grain harvest remained crucial. B. Hierarchy and Privilege 1) Sense of hierarchy became more rigid during the century. -remained ineffective. -really enforcing hierarchy was corporate nature of social relationships. 2) Each state was considered community with smaller communities. -people in these communities enjoy privileges; unlike independence of America. III. Aristocracy 1) 18th century was great age of aristocracy. -income of aristocracy usually came from land. -across the Continent, an aristocrat was matter of birth and legal privilege. A. Great Britain 1) Had smallest, wealthiest, and most socially responsible. -had 400 families. -B/c of corruption, most of these held seats in House of Commons too.

-oldest son would inherit family profit; younger ones move into army, etc. -aristocracy dominated the English counties. B. France 1) Had nobility divided in 2; nobles of the sword and nobles of the robe. -sword got nobility from military power; robe got nobility from wealth. -nobility that were in favor of royal court got a lot of money. -by 1780s, appointment of church, army, and bureaucracy went to nobility -other nobles like hobereaux weren’t better off than some peasants. 2) All French aristocrats enjoyed hereditary privileges. -didn’t have to pay the taille, which is the basic land tax. -more liable to pay vingtieme, an income tax, but rarely paid in full. C. Eastern Europe 1) Poland had nobles that barely had to pay taxes. -by 1768, they can fully execute their serfs. 2) Austria and Hungary didn’t have to pay taxes either. -wealthiest landowner owned over 10 million acres of land. 3) Prussia had Junkers have more power after accession of Frederick the Great. -Frederick needed nobles support for war. -nobles have extended authority over serfs. D. Russia 1) Peter the Great linked noble status to state service through Table of Ranks. -resistance to compulsory state service made self-conscious identity. -Empress Anna in 1736 reduced service to 25 years. -Peter III in 1762 completely removed this service from high nobles. 2) Nobilities fought to protect social position and privilege against monarchies -they restricted entry into ranks, monopolize appointments to officer corps -used institutions they already controlled against monarchies. -pressed peasantry for higher rents or long-forgotten feudal dues. IV. The Land and Its Tillers 1) Land was economic basis in 18th century. 2) Most never traveled more than a few miles away from birthplace. 3) Dwellers of the land were poor and lives were hard. A. Peasants and Serfs 1) Those that worked land were subject to immense influence. -many were legally bound to particular plot of land. 2) Landlord power grew as you move from west to east. -most French peasants owned land, but few were serfs. -French peasants rarely own enough land to support their family. -subject to feudal dues. 3) In Prussia and Austria, landlords still exercise complete power on the serfs. -tax fell on tillers of the soil. -landlords used privileges to escape from paying taxes. 4) Condition of serfs were worst in Russia. -number of souls you have represent how rich you are. -had complete control over serfs. 5) Russian monarchy degraded the serfs.

-Peter gave villages to nobles; Catherine confirmed authority over serfs. -lead to many peasant revolts. -many were promised freedom, then brought down brutally. -Pugachev’s was largest peasant revolt. -peasants sought to reassert traditional or customary rights. V. Family Structure and the Family Economy 1) Household was basic unit of production and consumption. -few employers would employ people not belonging to owner’s family. -these rare groups live in cities. -most Europeans lived in rural areas. -family economy is economic organization that is household mode of organization predominated in farms. A. Households 1) 2 basic models under Old Regime; northwestern Europe and eastern Europe. B. Northwestern Europe 1) A married couple, children in early teens, and servants. -households were about 5 to 6 members -had high mortality rate; grandparents usually didn’t live in same house as grandchildren. 2) Children lived with parents until early teens. -usually leave home at that age and work as young servants. 3) They would then leave home to marry and make independent lives. -this is called neolocalism. -men marry about age of 26, women at 23. -usually woman is pregnant before marriage. -servant, child, and couple work together to support household. 4) Servant isn’t a person inferior to employer or person looking after wealthy. -usually ate with the family. -young men and women become servants to get money and experience. -they grow older to be able to support their own household. -late marriage is usually b/c of the years a servant needs. C. Eastern Europe 1) Marrying wasn’t like northwestern, where you build a new household. -you continue and expand an already established one. -women and men marry before age of 20, women usually older than men. -had from 9-20 members in a family. 2) Lords of manor who owned land wanted land to grow so he can get his rents -Polish landlords might forbid marriage of serfs to one from another estate -landlords preferred to use serfs. -In Russia, landlords discourage single generations, as death or serious illness would mean that the land would go out of cultivation. D. The Family Economy 1) Families saw themselves as interdependent rather than independent. -goal of these households are to support its members. -almost everyone lived in a household b/c no one can support themselves independently.

-people are suspicious of others that aren’t in a household. 2) The whole household had to work to survive. -can have members go elsewhere to work, and send wages home. -depending on ages and skills, everyone worked, but jobs vary. 3) Family economy dominated the life of skilled artisans. -father was usually chief craftsman. -everyone was expected to work in the enterprise. -if business was poor, family members would look for employment. 4) Death of father meant it can be the downfall of the household. -widow might need to remarry fast so as not to be independent. -some households just dissolved. 5) In eastern Europe, family economy existed in context of serfdom and landlord domination. -there were fewer artisan and merchant households in western Europe. E. Women and the Family Economy 1) Women’s life experience is the purpose of her capacity to maintain household. -marriage is essential to survive and also to fulfill sexual and psychological needs. -bearing and rearing children are subordinate to these goals. 2) By age of seven, girl begins to work in household. -can clean or carry, later sew or weave. 3) Leaves home at 12-14. -young woman’s chief goal is to gather a dowry. -might work for 10 years or more. 4) She needs to find adequate food supply. -Birth control technique to prevent children from getting in the way of economic survival is coitus interruptus. -male withdraws before ejaculation. 5) Woman’s work can be a function of husband’s occupation. -if peasant household possess enough land to support itself, wife needs to spend a lot of time doing things her husband does. -when husband dies, she might take over business. 6) If economic disaster struck family, wife organizes “economy of expedients” -that means a family member will be sent elsewhere to be employed. F. Children and the World of the Family Economy 1) Childbirth was fatal for mother and infant. -contagious diseases. -immense poverty and bad housing conditions 2) Child not always welcome, as they might be an economic burden. -as a result, infanticide is used. 3) Another problem is that young women are pregnant with no husband. -they can’t support to lives independently. 4) Foundling hospitals were constructed. -they accepted many abandoned children. -they had too less resources in the end, and had to pick children by lottery.

-many infants were abandoned b/c they can’t be supported by the family. -foundling hospitals didn’t guarantee survival for infant. -only 10% of children survived to the age of 10 5) Children still grew up and come of age. -as children grew, so did demand for child education. -literacy grew more and more important. -most education was in the church, and most Europeans stayed illiterate. VI. Growth of Agriculture and Population 1) Groups want to pursue specific direction in social and economic life. -developments led to Europe’s transformation. -first appearing in agriculture. A. The Revolution in Agriculture 1) Main goal of peasant society was to ensure stability of food supply. -hard to find food in country than city b/c city has reserve grain supply. 2) Poor harvests can lead to price problems. -less supply leads to more demand, so the prices rise up. -b/c the times are so hard already, it’s hard to find money to buy food. 3) Bread prices slowly rose, causing a big problem for the peasants. -landlords, however, benefited from this b/c they can improve lifestyle. -they began series of innovations called agricultural revolution. B. New Crops and New Methods 1) Began during 16th-17th centuries in Low Countries. -Dutch landlords and farmers made better ways to build dykes and drains. -did this to farm more extensive areas. 2) Adopted in England during early 18th century. -made new methods of farming, new crops, and new modes of landholding -has adequate food to feed the cities now. -farming is for making food and making landlords a good profit. C. Enclosure Replaces Open-Field Method 1) These inventions didn’t match with Britain’s land. -still farmed anyway; tilled assortment of unconnected strips. -much of it was unproductive. -called for the traditional way back. 2) Half of arable land in Britain was farmed. -encouraged the landlords to meet about the rising prices of wheat. -made up a procedure; it disrupted social and economical life. -1761-1792, 500,000 acres were enclosed parliamentary. -only 75,000 between 1727 and 1760. 3) By extending farming, the food production rate increased by a lot. -forced off some independent farmers that needed the land. -also forced off some poor cottagers. D. Limited Improvements in Eastern Europe 1) Improving agriculture tended to characterize farm production. -much discussion about improving agricultural methods. -these rules benefited the ruling classes. 2) Prussia, Austria, Poland, and Russia, agricultural improvement was little.

-main way to increase production was to farm already untilled lands. -maize and potato was a gain in their efforts. E. Population Expansion 1) Agricultural expansion was cause and result of massive agricultural expansion. -in 1700, Europe’s population was 100 million-120 million. -by 1800, almost got to 190 million. -every country in Europe had a population increase. 2) There was a decline in death rate. -hygiene and sanitation proved to be important. -less epidemics. -enough potatoes could be raised to feed a peasant’s family for a year.