The Estates

The Estates Back in the time when French was in the Ancien Regime divided their own society into three main groups known as Estates. The First Estate was known as the Clergy. The Second Estate was known as the Nobility. Finally, the Third Estate was known as the Commoners. While they were divided into these main groups the King had his own Estate. The First Estate comprised of Upper and Lower Clergy which numbered about 100,000. Higher being nobleman of families and Lower Clergy being mostly priests and monks. The duties of the Clergy were: registration of births, deaths, and marriages; censored books; acted as moral police; and operated schools, hospitals, and churches. In relation of that, they owned about 10 – 15% of the land in France which was all tax free. The Second Estate was the French Nobles which in our terms means royalty. This was royalty outside the King himself and only comprised 1% of the French population. They had privileges such as being exempted from tax and labor, being able to present their unique coat of arms and being able to carry a sword at all times. The Third Estate comprised of almost 97% of the French population and was really the peasants of France. These people where in rough conditions at the time since they were stuck with paying the Kings taxes simply because the King believe they did nothing else for him. At the time religion was the answer for everything so the Third Estate believe that God wanted them to be the way they were so Revolution was out of the question that is until new Kings came to power. (276)