Keller 1 HISTORIOGRAPHY The research that I have collected was used to support my thesis which describes the change of nationalism and national identity of nobles during the French Revolution. I used five books which focus on important aspects of France during 1789 such as, events which impacted the nobility, important people of the Revolution, documents of the Revolution, and scholarly reviews that look back on the Revolution and how they had an effect on the nobility. I used eight secondary articles which focus on how the nobility lived in France during the Revolution, events that changed the lives of the nobility, and scholarly views on how the national identity of nobility was changed during the French Revolution. I have also compiled primary sources which give a first-hand account of the live of the citizens of France during the French Revolution. An important book which was critical to my research was The French Revolution, written by Peter Davies. The author breaks down the events of the French Revolution into different sections by event. Davies wrote a timeline of the French Revolution, beginning with the life of the nobility during the Old Regime and ends with the Counter Revolution. Each event has its own headings, which allowed me to focus on the important details of the nobility that I wanted to use in my paper. The life of the nobility is mentioned in detail from the Old Regime and ends with the August decree of 1789 when the nobility was abolished. The Days of the Revolution, written by Christopher Hibbert, is also broken down into events in which the author believes were important to the French Revolution. Unlike Davies, Hibbert mentions twentieth century historians throughout the books such as, Lefebvre, Soboul, Roberts, Goodwin, and Hampson. This book offers a more detailed

Keller 2 account of the most important days of the French Revolution. Hibbert uses the sources to display the change of balance of power in France between the three Estates and the monarchy. The prologue describes the privileges of the nobility, and ends with the Third Estates rise to power. This book is important to my research because Christopher Hibbert breaks down the Revolution by event and shows the importance of each to the fall of the nobility. The Ancien Regime and the Revolution, written by Alexis de Tocqueville is a book written by a famous French author who lived after the French Revolution. This book is different than other books that I am using in my research, because it is written by an author who felt the effects of the French Revolution. Tocqueville belonged to a noble family, and his book is considered to be one of the best critiques of the Ancien Regime and the French Revolution. The book consists of essays written by Tocqueville which focus on how there were changes to the nobility before the French Revolution, and suggest that the Second and Third Estates may have seen eye to eye on more issues than most historians believe. This source is useful to me because it is compiled of essays of one of the most prominent writers of the French Revolution and gives insight in to what life of the nobility was like during and after the Revolution. An article which was critical to my research was “The Survival of the Nobility during the French Revolution” written by Robert Forster. Forster describes the life of the nobility who owned land and lived a prosperous life during the Old Regime, and how the changes of the Revolution changed the identity of the nobility to “the losers.” This article is important to my research because the author focuses on the landowning nobility, and how changes during the Revolution such as the abolition of the seigneurial system, tax

Keller 3 privileges, and allowing anyone to hold certain offices changed the identity of the nobility. The author also discusses the new identity of the nobility after the French Revolution, which supports my thesis on how the nationalism and national identity changed. “Lords, Peasant Communities, and the State in Eighteenth-Century Languedoc” was written by Stephen Miller. In this article, Miller focuses on the life of the nobility before and after the French Revolution. The author gives data on the land the nobility owned, the peasants working on the land, and results on court hearings between the nobility and peasants fighting over rights. The article also gives a clear definition of who was defined as a noble and how much power they held before and after the French Revolution. Stephen Millers article is useful in my paper because he offers a good insight into what was happening in France before the Revolution began in 1789. Like Tocqueville, he shows that there were power struggles between the nobility and the Third Estate before the Revolution officially began. Another article that was instrumental in writing this paper was “Nobles and Third Estate in the National Assembly.” In this article Timothy Tackett describes how members of the French nobility found their way into the National Assembly during the French Revolution. Tackett gives good insight, describing that there were nobles who supported the new ideas and the new way of life. Most historians give the perception that there were two distinct sides; the Second and the Third Estate. This article is detrimental to my paper because it offers a different perspective on how the nobility reacted to these attacks. Most scholarly pieces which talk about the French Revolution rarely touch upon the nobility who joined the National Assembly and supported the “New France”.

Keller 4 Throughout my research I found many similarities and differences between what the authors had to say. Across the board I have found that there was a strong argument to say that the nobility lost the Revolution, simply because as of 1792 there was no nobility in France. The noble order lost all of their privileges until Napoleon rose to power. There is one main difference among scholars as to when the Revolution actually began. Historians such as Tackett believe that the Revolution began in the spring of 1789 when the peasants fought the nobility in court over their rights as citizens of France. Hibbert on the other hand believes that the French Revolution began on July 14, 1789 when the Bastille was swarmed and the upper Third Estate was working under the Tennis Court Oath. The focus paper will start in the spring of 1789 when nobility was in a position of power, focus on the events of the French Revolution which strongly affected the power and privileges, and end with the reign of Napoleon, when the nobility was viewed as powerful and privileged citizens in France.

THE NOBILITY BEFORE THE REVOLUTION Looking back into the early eighteenth century in France the population was split up into three separate estates. The first estate was made up of the clergy and other church officials. The clergy had the responsibility of watching over the spiritual wellbeing of the people. They were seen to have the most power of the three estates because they were the closest to the King. The third estate made up over ninety percent of the population in France. Since there was such a diverse population in the third estate they can be separated into the bourgeoisie which was made up of the educated, professionals, and merchants, and the lower class. The focus on this paper lies in the second estate. There were three

Keller 5 ways to become a noble during the eighteenth century. First was to be born into a noble family, second was by holding a job in the government, and the third and final way was by wealth. The nobles ranged from simple gentlemen to knights and princes who thrived on privileges. Some of these privileges included hunting, wearing a sword, possessing land, being exempt from taxes, and they were able to hold special military positions. The nobility was very protective of their monarch who gave them these privileges, and often saw it as their responsibility to honor, serve, and offer advice to their King. There are many different positions nobles occupied in France before the French Revolution. The nobility was made up of upper class people who were considered the elite of society during the eighteenth century in France. Most nobles owned a large amount of land also known as an estate. The estate would be rented out to peasants who would work the land and grow crops which would be taxed by the noble. According to Davies, “There were about 200,000 nobles living in France at the time and between them they owned about a third of all land, with feudal rights over most of the rest.”1 During the eighteenth century land represented power, which was dominated by the nobility. The nobility would give money to the royal treasury in return for power. According to Stephen Miller “Towards the end of the 1770s, an elite clique of nobles in control of the Estates of Languedoc raised massive loans for the royal treasury in return for a share of administrative responsibility.”2 In French society money talked, therefore since the nobility owned so much land they were able to buy themselves into the government. Nobles were not only successful land owners, but also held offices. According to John Markoff “Of the several routes into the nobility, the occupation of certain offices 1 2

Peter Davies. The French Revolution. 1 ed. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009. Pg 3. Stephen Miller "Lords, Peasant Communities, and the State in Eighteenth-Century

Keller 6 was by far the most common.”3 Although some people were considered nobility because of their position, this hardly guaranteed social acceptance by the established nobility. Throughout the eighteenth century the nobility lived above the law, owned most of the land which brought wealth, and with this wealth they were brought power. Since France was a monarchy at the time, all authority was held by the King who protected the nobility as long as they fulfilled their duties. The Third Estate were looking to expand politically and economically. This brought tensions with the aristocracy who did not want to lose their power. In 1789 these tensions came to a boiling point which led to the storming of the Bastille, which sparked the French Revolution which would leave the nobility fighting for their power. This paper will focus on how nationalism and the national identity changed for the nobles of France from 1789 to the end of the Napoleonic reign.

LOUIS XVI King Louis XVI ruled France from 1774 until 1791. When Louis came to the throne, the government was in deeply in debt. There was tension between the crown and the aristocracy. King Louis XVI recognized the social privileges that the nobles had, but did his best to exclude them from the exercise of power, and to keep that power in the hands of the Ministers whom he had chosen. Despite the resistance of the Ministers, the aristocracy was not willing to quit, and they began to gain footholds in the government in order to keep their privileges alive. According to Hibbert, “The nobleman had, in fact, been a member of the noblesse d’epee who followed the King to war and, as a feudal Languedoc." French Historical Studies 26, no. 1 (2003): Pg 58. 3 John Markoff. "Allies and Opponents: Nobility and Third Estate in the Spring of 1789."

Keller 7 landowning class, helped him to rule the country in peace.”4 The noblesse d’epee was the warrior for the King who also acted as an advisory to the King. King Louis XVI created a new aristocracy of his own, the noblesse de robe. This new aristocracy gave hereditary titles to the Ministers. These titles were also sold to public offices, and rich members of the bourgeoisie. The newly ennobles families now intermarried with the families of the noblesse de robe. With the creation of the noblesse de robe, the nobility was now a position that could be bought. The privileges of the nobility were now shared with wealthy who simply bought themselves in. Even though these people were considered as nobility by the country, they were not accepted by the original nobles. “The ennobled were hardly guaranteed social acceptance by the established nobility.”5 This created a split in the noble order itself, determined by who was established, and who simply bought themselves in. With the creation of the new aristocracy, Louis XVI changed the identity of the noble class in France. In the early eighteenth century to be noble meant to be part of an elite group, now it was a position that could be obtained with enough money. King Louis XVI looked to gain popularity in France by reinstating the parlement, which became the Assembly of Notables. The Assembly of Notables acted as a council to the King. In 1787 and 1788 the Assembly of Notables met to discuss the financial problems of France. The Assembly of Notables was a larger version of the King’s Council, who were called upon to give the King advice during times of needs. As mentioned before, one of the jobs of a noble was to help the King with difficult decisions. American Sociological Review 53, no. 4 (1988): Pg 480. 4 Christopher Hibbert. The Days of the French Revolution. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999. Pg 32-33. 5 Markoff, 480

Keller 8 The Assembly of Notables was unsuccessful in helping the King solve the mounting financial problems which plagued France. Louis XVI now called onto the Estates-General for help. In December of 1788, Jacques Necker, who was the director-general of royal finances announced that the system of representation of the Estates-General would be changed in order to give the Third Estate twice as much voting strength. This was the beginning of the loss of power to the First and Second Estates’. According to Davies this was the result of a number of factors such as: “the voice of the Third Estate was becoming louder, the decisions that were being made at a local level, and a growing realization in the corridors of government that a gesture had to be made.”6 The voice of the commoners began to grow, which shouted equality. King Louis XVI now distributed the power out to the Third Estate, which now represented themselves in France. On June 23, 1789, three days after the tennis-court oath, the three estates met to discuss future sessions of the government. Christopher Hibbert describes the welcoming of the King prior to this meeting; “The King was welcomed with cheers by people outside the hall and by most of the nobility and clergy as he entered it. The Commons, though, were silent.”7 The Third Estate demanded that reforms be made to give men and women a proper trial before sentencing, freedom of the press, and no taxes. When the speech was done the King made it clear that “The separateness of the orders and the existing social hierarchy were to be maintained, that any reforms which were to come would be granted by himself and not won by demand.”8 Louis XVI reminded the Third Estate that they needed his approvals before making laws. At the end of the meeting the 6 7

Davies, , 17 Hibbert, 61

Keller 9 nobility remained safe as long King Louis XVI was in control. The national identity was still above the Third Estate for the time being until June 27 when Louis XVI instructed that the First and Second Estate join the National Assembly. The death of Louis XVI on December 11, 1792 goes hand in hand with the death of the nobility. Before the reign of Louis XVI the noble class lived in feudal France with power and many privileges. During his tenure he passed the power onto the Third Estate, which demanded equality. Louis XVI and the French Revolution caused the noble class to disintegrate. The nobility lost their titles, their privileges, and their power in making government decisions. Nobles quickly became equivalent to the normal citizen in the French society. Land was striped of the titles of fiefs, the nobility had to pay the same taxes as other citizens, and lost other privileges such as hunting, the ability to carry a sword, and funeral honors. Therefore, as the guillotine dropped on Louis XVI, the feudal chapter of France was finished, while the republic had just begun. “A profound silence reigned all around him, and when his head was shown to the people, from all around there arose the cries of Vive la nation! Vive la republique!”9

TENSIONS BETWEEN THE ESTATES The tension was growing between the nobility and the peasants, who fought for their rights to own land and to be represented in the government. Before the 1780s the nobility bought land to rent out to peasants to grow crops. The peasants would work the land in return for food and a place for the peasants family to stay. The peasants also had 8

Hibbert, 61 Jean-Paul Marat. "The Execution of the Tyrant." In Journal officiel de la Rapublique francaise (French Edition). Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Of Michigan Library, 2010. 466-467. 9

Keller 10 to pay a taille which was a tax on the land. The nobility and clergy were exempt from this tax before the French Revolution. In the late 1780s the peasants fought for their own rights which would free them from the nobility that they have been bound to. Jean-Paul Marat stated that, “Nobles of Toulouse argued that peasants should never obtain the right to participate in elections of seigniorial officers.”10 The nobility felt uncomfortable with the idea of the peasants having the right to vote, or having any access to power. Even though the upper-class Third Estate citizens saw success in gaining power in the government, the nobility believed that the peasants should stay out of the government. Eventually in 1791, the peasants began to refuse to pay their rent on the land. Without this money flowing in from the taxes, the nobility lost an important source of income. According to Robert Forster, “For some nobles, then, the abolition of dues was a heavy loss and it seems that compensation payments provided by the laws were few.”11 The income that the nobility was dependent on was the rent paid by the peasants, and the compensation payments were not enough to cover the losses. When the peasants were no longer required to pay the tax to the noble, it showed the power of the noble was on the decline. If the nobility was losing power over the peasants, who would they have power over? The social movement by the peasants to refuse to pay the dues owed to the nobility changed nationalism throughout the noble order. The new ideology was that France would become a better country if the peasants did not need to pay rent to the nobility on the land. The nationalism of the nobility became stronger when they defended their stance that France was a stronger nation because of its foundation in feudalism, 10 11

Miller, 78 Robert Forster. "The Survival of the Nobility During the French Revolution." Past &

Keller 11 while the peasants were looking for equal rights. The tension between the nobility and the Third Estate came to a head when deciding on the rules for the Estates-General in Mâcon. The nobility wanted the EstatesGeneral to meet every five years. They proposed to reduce the number of members in the Estates-General. They also proposed that the first two estates be able to meet to discus material privileges. The Third Estate disagreed and believed that the Estates-General should meet twice a year, and that they were the perfect size. These disagreements of terms increased the tension between the Second and Third Estates. The Third Estate however, refused to break down and conform to what the Second Estate wanted. As a matter of fact, they decided to come together to conquer the Second Estate. In his article, John Markoff states that, “The Third Estate, perhaps aware of the nobles’ proposal, announced that if the deputies of the privileged orders joined together or refused to participate with them, the Third Estate’s deputies would function as a National Assembly.”12 This passage discusses how the proposals of the Second Estate prove that the nobility was threatened by the attempts at power from the Third-Estate. On May 15th, 1789 the Estates-General met, where the voting took place by the Estate rather than by head. This gave the First and Second Estate the power since they were able to team up and overthrow the Third Estate. The Third Estate had twice the members of the First and Second Estate and disagreed with the voting procedure. The Third Estate, who was unhappy with the Estates-General, began meeting on its own. The National Assembly was formed on June 17th, 1789. The National Assembly was created to represent the ideas and voice of the Third Estate. On June 20th, 1789 the Present 3 (1967): 73 12 Markoff, 93

Keller 12 Third Estate declared that, “It would not cease its activities until a new constitution had been passed.”13 The National Assembly made this statement through the Tennis Court Oath. The Tennis Court Oath was taken when the members of the National Assembly were locked out of their hall because the royal family decided that the actions of the Third Estate were too revolutionary. The members of the Third Estate met at a nearby tennis court where they took an oath to “never to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is established and fixed upon solid foundations.”14 Each member of the National Assembly signed their name to confirm this oath. The National Assembly met with the king, along with the other two estates in order to propose reforms to give themselves more power in the French government. These attempts were turned down by the King, and tensions began to rise between the King, the first two estates, and the National Assembly. The National Assembly protested to the King, when Louis XVI called on foreign mercenaries to protect strategic points around Paris. The King responded by saying that the soldiers were there to protect Paris from disorder and riots. There was also belief that members of the Second Estate were hoarding grain in an attempt to destroy the Third Estate. The Third Estate now prepared themselves for battle, by creating a National Guard who would fight as soldiers of the Third Estate. Even though the National Assembly was made up initially of people of the Third Estate, there were members of the nobility who joined. The Duc d’Orleans led the movement of the clergy and nobility joining the National Assembly. “Certainly, on 27 June, when most of the clergy and forty-seven of the nobility led by the Duc d’Orleans 13 14

Davies, 32 James Harvey Robinson. "The Tennis Court Oath." Political Science Quarterly 10, no.

Keller 13 had joined the National Assembly…he asked the rest of the nobility to follow the example of their colleagues.”15 The social movement, which was sparked by the Duc d’Orleans is another example of noble nationalism. In an attempt to keep the power with Louis XVI, the nobility joined the National Assembly to put themselves in a position of political power. There were nobles who represented the Second Estate, where others represented the National Assembly. However, those who joined the National Assembly could have been the bourgeoisie who bought themselves the title of noble, whereas the nobles who remained in the Second Estate could have been people who were born into the nobility. The research does not differentiate between the two groups of nobility, and does not clarify which families joined the National Assembly, and who stayed in the Second Estate. Tensions were at an all time high in France in June 1789. Soon things became violent, which did not favor the efforts of the Second Estate to protect the monarchy and their feudal rights.

THE ATTACK ON FEUDALISM AND THE NOBILITY The falling of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 marked when the revolution moved from the courtrooms to the streets. According to Davies, “The facts are these: the Bastille was a prison or arsenal, housing supplies of ammunition, and thus stood as a symbol of the Old Regime.”16 This falling of the Bastille meant that the King had lost his capital city, which meant that his power was coming to an end. The upper Third Estate made 3 (1895): 460-474. 15 Hibbert, 62

Keller 14 their voices heard through the Tennis Court Oath. The rest of the Third Estate however, brought terror and violence into the Revolution. On July 14, the Governor of the Bastille was hacked into pieces, and the citizens put his head on a pole which was paraded around the city. In this book, Hibbert describes the mob surrounding the Governor of the Bastille. “The mob gathered around him as he lay in the gutter, firing pistols as him and thrusting blades of swords and bayonets into his now lifeless body. There was a call for his head cut off so that it could be displayed…”17 The mob made an example of the governor, and promised to do the same to anybody who displayed any type of opposition for the revolution. The falling of the Bastille did not have much effect on the nobility at the time. France had been experiencing revolts all throughout the country. The economy was poor at the time, which caused rioters to refuse to pay their taxes on their land. Some rioters became so desperate that they broke into the castles and burned the seigniorial title deeds which obliged them to pay their taxes. There were also rumors of an aristocratic plot who had intentions of somehow undermining the Third Estate by destroying important crops that were vital to the country. This was the start of the Great Fear which resulted in the peasantry attacking every symbol of feudalism in France. The Third Estate wanted to see feudalism abolished, which was the political system in which the clergy and nobility thrived. As long as there was a king in France, the two Estates would be powerful and they were unwilling to share these powers with the Third Estate. The National Assembly believed that the nobility could not give their allegiance to Assembly and the King. In his book, Prelude to Terror: The Constituent Assembly and the Failure 16 17

Davies, 37 Hibbert, 82

Keller 15 of Consensus, Norman Hampson states that, “Citizens could not serve two masters and the unitary state could not tolerate the existence within itself of a dual allegiance or of autonomous corporations of any kind. That was one the aspects of French society that the session of 4 August had been intended to destroy.”18 If the Assembly was able to destroy the monarchy which gave the nobility their feudal rights, then the nobility would not have the dual allegiance. The first step to eliminate the power of the nobility was to abolish the feudal system. On August 4th, 1789 the nobility had lost their seigneurial rights on their land. On the night of August 10th, the National Guard was deployed to keep the peace. Before being dispatched the soldiers took an oath to the nation, the king, and the law. According to Hampson, August 10th was the night that Louis XVI lost control over his army inside of France. “Almost casually and with minimum debate, the Assembly deprived the king of his control over the armed forces…Since the new municipalities were under no one’s effective control, the most centralized bureaucracy in Europe had suddenly fallen apart.”19 The oath that the army had taken changed them from taking orders only from the King, to being faithful to not only the King, but now the nation, and the laws which were being created by the National Assembly. The Decree of the National Assembly Abolishing the Feudal System was put into action on August 11th, 1789. There were nineteen articles which took away the rights of the First and Second Estate. Article I discussed the abolition of the feudal system in which all rights and dues were abolished. Articles II and III discussed how that there was no longer an exclusive right to hunt. Anybody was now able to hunt animals on their own 18

Norman Hampson. Prelude to Terror: The Constituent Assembly and the Failure of Consensus, 1789-1791. Malden: Blackwell Pub, 1988. 57

Keller 16 land. Articles IV describes the National Assemblies plan to create a new judicial system. Article IV of the Decree of the National Assembly Abolishing the Feudal System states that, “All manorial courts are hereby suppressed without indemnification. But the magistrates of these courts shall continue to perform their functions until such time as the National Assembly shall provide for the establishment of a new judicial system.”20 They nobility also faced losing their rights to collect rent from peasants on the land, have exclusive rights to hold certain offices, or have a pension. Most importantly in Article IX the National Assembly states that, “Pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the payment of taxes are abolished forever. Taxes shall be collected from all citizens, and from all property, in the same manner and in the same form.”21 The nobility had been exempt from paying taxes, until then. Economically, they shared equal responsibilities to France. They were now responsible to pay taxes, they were unable to benefit from their land by taxing peasants, and they were unable to sell municipal offices which could be bought to gain access into the nobility. Almost a year later on June 19th, 1790, the National Assembly passed another decree which abolished the nobility and hereditary titles. People were not allowed to accept titles, or give titles to anyone, and a citizen may assume only the real name of his family. Article III gives good insight on how France changed during the Revolution. “The titles of Your Royal Highness and Your Royal Highnesses shall not be bestowed upon any group of individual.”22 This decree legally abolished the nobility, and all of 19

Hampson, 58 University of Pennsylvania History. Translations and Reprints From the Original Sources of [European] History (Volume 1). New York: General Books Llc, 2010. 21 University of Pennsylvania History, 4 22 Frank Maloy Anderson. The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France: 1789-1901. Toronto: Nabu Press, 2010. 20

Keller 17 their privileges. The attack on the nobility from the National Assembly and the lower Third Estate had a profound effect on the nobility. The violence of the Great Fear scared some nobles out of the country, the Decree Abolishing the Feudal System took away all of their privileges, and one year after the storming of the Bastille the nobility was nonexistent. The status of the nobility was extremely similar to that of a foreigner. All citizens were now equal, and there were severe punishments for those who believed otherwise. After the decree which abolished nobility, there was a new identity for nobility. The Second Estate, revolutionaries who left to create an army to fight against France, or émigrés who left France to start a new life. The National Assembly agreed that they needed to draft a declarations of rights, but needed to make sure that the majority of the citizens of France would accept this decree. This created a debate between the members of the National Assembly. The National Assembly finally agreed on seventeen articles in which would grant rights to all of the citizens of France, which limited the power of the King. The King was unable to take away or violate the rights of the citizens that was granted by the National Assembly. The First and Second Estate always relied on the King for their powers, and with the citizens in charge their power would be destroyed with the King. On August 26, 1789 the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was put into law. Some of the reforms that highlight the declaration were the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, no taxation without representation, elimination of excessive punishments, and various safeguards against arbitrary administration. There are several articles in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen that

Keller 18 directly changed the national identity of the nobility during the French Revolution. Article I and Article III discuss the rights of man in the new government of France. Article I stated that: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility.”23 There was to be no distinction between classes such as the First, Second, and Third Estates. All citizens were now created equal, and no group had privileges or rights that put them above the rest. The term noble now meant nothing, these people were now ordinary citizens according to the law of France in 1789. Article III explained that: “The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate expressly from the nation.”24 The nobility no longer had any authority over the Third Estate in France. They were no longer allowed to have power over the peasants who worked on their land, or have a relationship with the King which put them over the law. Before the Revolution began, the nobility had certain rights to offices which gave them power in the government. Article VI which describes the citizens rights to hold offices states that, “…All citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices, and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than hat or their virtues and talents.”25 The nobility were the only citizens to hold these offices before the Revolution, and now they remain open to any and all qualified citizens. The nobility were now fighting for jobs with all citizens who had the ability to do the same job, and some may have been more qualified for the position than the nobles. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen the nobility was now forced to pay taxes along with the rest of the citizens in France. Article XIII explains 23 24

Anderson, 77 Anderson, 77

Keller 19 that: “For maintenance of public authority and for expenses of administration, common taxation is indispensable. It should be apportioned equally among all citizens according to their capacity to pay.”26 The nobility now saw something that they have not seen in the First or Second Estate in France; taxes. Not only did the nobility have to pay these taxes, they had to pay more according to the amount of wealth they had. If the noble owned a lot of land, he had to pay more taxes which were going to the new government of France. In the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen, the nobility saw many changes. France as a nation was growing and transforming into something that the nobility was against. All citizens of France were being freed from feudalism and the unfair laws of monarchy. Nationalism of the nobility was changed, the nobility fit into the nation as a common citizen opposed to a powerful landowner, who held special privileges in France. Peter Davies described these changes France was going through in 1789. The legacy of 1789 had been strong: a constitutional monarchy was on the verge of replacing an absolute one, the Third Estate had shown its growing strength, and a National Assembly had been established. What is more, the middle classes, people and peasants had articulated their grievances against ‘the system’. No-one could claim that the relationship between the classes was harmonious - far from itbut it was obvious that a new France was emerging in embryonic form.27 The government was changing from an absolute monarchy, where the King was the law to a constitutional monarchy where the law was the constitution. The Third Estate and the National Assembly had gained power in France, and was successful in creating equality in France. The nobility was fighting the changes, but were unsuccessful. What was next was the Constitution of September 1791, which was a result of the Tennis Court 25 26

Anderson, 77 Anderson, 78

Keller 20 Oath, the fall of the Bastille, and the Great Fear. On September 14th, 1791, Louis XVI officially accepted the Constitution by saying; “…All who swears the civic oath, and engages himself to fulfill all the duties that the Constitution imposes, has the right to all of the advantages that the Constitution assures.”28 The Constitution was now the guideline to the French government. All citizens who wanted to have the rights that were granted to them through the Constitution were to show their loyalty through an oath. The preamble of the Constitution describes the abolition of the nobility: “Neither nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary distinctions, nor distinctions of orders, nor feudal regime, nor patrimonial courts, nor any titles…or decorations requiring proof of nobility or implying distinctions of birth, nor any superiority other than that of public functionaries in the performance of their duties any longer exist.”29 The goal of the Constitution of 1791 was to ensure that all citizens were equal, and to separate the legislative and executive bodies be separate from the monarchy. After the passing of the Constitution of 1791, the King no longer had the power to interfere with the work of the National Assembly. These two documents were extremely important in the changing of the national identity of French nobles during the Revolution. Not all of the nobility were effected in the same way. Some nobles decided to renounce their nobility and work with the Third Estate in creating these documents which brought change to all of France. This is where the identity of the French nobles began to split into different categories. Some of the nobility decided to renounce their nobility to join the efforts of a constitutional monarchy, 27

Davies, 49 Davies, 47 29 Michael P. Fitzsimmons. The Remaking of France: The National Assembly and the Constitution of 1791. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 28

Keller 21 others left the country to start a new life with their families, and others tried to gain support of other countries to fight against the new France.

NOBILITY IN THE GOVERNMENT During the French Revolution the political factions were split into the left and the right. The left supported the revolution and the ideas of all citizens being equal, while the right was in support of the King and looked to restore the absolute monarchy which had given them so much power. The intentions of the nobility in the government also differed. There were noblemen who were in the government to try and stop the National Assembly from moving on with the new constitutional monarchy, and those who were looking for change and supported the Constitution of 1791. During the Great Fear a minority of the nobility came over to the Third Estate. Most of the nobility refused the orders to join the National Assembly until they heard that the King was in danger. Timothy Tackett provides an example of the loyalty that the nobility in his article which states, “It was only after receiving a warning from the Comte d’Artois that the king’s life was in danger that they sullenly marched into the National Assembly, with tears in their eyes, and rage and despair in their hearts.”30 There were still nobles and clergy who continued to boycott the National Assembly, and who met in their own meeting halls. After some time the nobility became comfortable in the National Assembly. Writers during this period, such as Felix Faulcon wrote about this unity between the nobility and Third Estate by saying; “These proud nobles, who once so greatly profited from their alleged privileges and the chance occurrence of their birth, 30

Timothy Tackett. "Nobles and Third Estate in the Revolutionary Dynamic of the National Assembly, 1789-1790." American Historical Review 94, no. 2 (1989): 280.

Keller 22 now sleep or walk side by side with the commoners.”31 The goal of the commoners was for each group to see themselves as equals. Officers were elected for the National Assembly every two weeks and secretaries held office for one month terms. The officers had a great deal of power such as setting the order of the debate, designating speakers, controlling minutes of the meeting, and decide which letters and petitions went to which committee. The privileged orders were able to obtain a majority of the offices in the earliest elections. According to Tackett, “This marked the preference for nobles and clergymen as assembly officers continued throughout the entire first year of the Constituent Assembly with nineteen of twentyseven presidents and fifty-one of eighty-one secretaries being drawn from members of the first two estates.”32 A popular left-wing nobleman during the French Revolution was Comte de Mirabeau. Mirabeau was a statesman as well as a writer who believed that France should adopt a constitutional monarchy. He was a noble who was elected to the Estates General as a delegate of the Third Estate. According to Peter Davies, “He had a clear understanding of the unfairness at the heart of the French political system and was sympathetic to the claims of the middle class.”33 Comte de Mirabeau is also known for attempting secret negotiations with the monarchy to bring the King and the Revolution closer. On the case of the king having a veto, Mirabeau and the radicals argued that “the idea of an absolute veto is absurd.”34 The radicals wanted to see the power shift from the King over to the Constitution and the people. These nobles were the new face of French 31

Tackett, 282. Tackett, 284. 33 Davies, 33 34 Leigh Whaley. Radicals. illustrated edition ed. Chicago: Sutton Publishing, 2000. 32

Keller 23 nationalism during the French Revolution. The nobles joined the political movement on behalf of France to fight for equality for all of its citizens. The right-wing was made up of citizens who supported the preservation the institutions of the Ancien Regime, the monarchy, and the aristocracy. Tackett described a group of nobles who remained loyal to the Ancien Regime in his article. He wrote, “Even after the meeting halls of the Nobles and the Clergy had been closed and converted into offices by Jacques Necker, a core of the most conservative noblemen and bishops continued to meet in the homes of individuals.”35 These noblemen and bishops came together to become a unit to fight against the Assembly. This clique of members voted as a group to fight the views of the National Assembly. According to Tackett, right wing was “The new coalition of more moderate conservatives, a number of them recruited from the Third Estate.”36 This group sought to ensure that the ultimate sovereignty remained in the hands of the King. Their tactic was to recruit members from the Third Estate who felt the same so the group would be strong in numbers to win votes versus those who believed in a constitutional monarchy. On September, 17 a radical printerdeputy from Lyon wrote “the coalition of nearly all of the Clergy and the Nobles, along with the lesser numbers of Commoners, has become so strong that the deputies involved never differ on their votes: without exception, all of them rise together or stay seated.”37 The ring-wing stayed together to fight for the power to stay with the King. Nationalism was a right-wing belief during the times of the Revolution. The French endorsed ethnic-nationalism which is defined as nations having people who share a common language, a common faith, and a common ancestry. Cultural conservatism is 35 36

Tackett, 285 Tackett, 286

Keller 24 also found in right-wing nationalism which is aimed as preserving of the heritage of the nation. As we see with the right-wing nobility, they were trying to preserve how the nation is governed in France. National identity was split between two different ideologies of the nobility. The left-wing who were working towards a constitutional monarchy, and the right wing who fought to keep the absolute monarchy.

ÉMIGRÉS AND REVOLUTIONARIES The term émigré refers to the people who left France during the revolutionary period. These individuals left France to try and make new lives for themselves and to get away from the problems going on in France. The most famous émigrés were those of the First and Second Estate who left France because of the political problems occurring at that time. There were two types of émigrés, “émigrés of disdain” and “émigrés of fear”. The émigrés of disdain were driven out by ideology while the émigrés of fear left because of events such as the Constitution of 1791 or the execution of Louis XVI. The National Assembly tried to eliminate the émigrés from existence by passing legislation on March 28, 1793. The émigrés were banished in France. They were regarded as dead and their property was to be passed over to the Republic. The émigrés would be punished to death if they tried to return. Emigration was a way for the nobility to show loyalty for their King. Robert Forster quotes in his article “The Survival of The Nobility During The French Revolution”, a woman named Madame des Escherolles who described the types of people who emigrated at the time: Everyone who was noble and loyal to his king felt he was performing 37

Tackett, 287

Keller 25 a duty. This decision was quickly made. One could see old military men, peaceful people, and heads of families respond to this highminded appeal, and without hesitation, leave the comforts of the foyer for the painful and adventurous life of a simple soldier… It was very difficult to resist the pleasure of a public opinion… One must leave or be dishonored.38 This quote shows the loyalty that the nobility had to the King of France during the French Revolution. All types of nobility made the decision to pack up and leave the country because of the change in power going on in France. A wide variety of citizens from the military men who fought for the king, to the people who were raising families in France decided to leave to show loyalty to Louis XVI and the monarchy. These people were leaving the lap of luxury to live the “life of a simple soldier.” The laws of the National Assembly stated that all citizens who decide to leave the country would forfeit their land to the Republic. Years later noble families returned back to their land, looking to continue their lives in France on the land they left when they emigrated earlier in the decade. In 1794 an emigrant returned to his olive farm which was now owned by Therese Bouisson, the widow Janniquet. Augustin Baux was an émigré who illegally changed his profession in order to be allowed back into the country. Therese Bouisson wrote about Augustin in her letter which states, “He had learned, through plotting and subterfuge, how to change his profession from being a merchant in wholesale cloth, to being a health official.”39 Augustin brought Therese Bouisson to court and lost his first case. Augustin appealed to the same court, and this time won, in which he was granted the full harvest. The most important land that émigré families seized back was the forests. According to Hardman, 38

Forster, 75 Therese Bouisson. "Letter to Freron: Émigrés Return." In French Revolution Documents;: Volume II, 1792-1795. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. 285-286. 39

Keller 26 “Confiscated forests were not divided into small lots and sold but kept by the Revolutionary government as national domain. As a result they could be restored to their original owners intact.”40 The nobility who owned large pieces of land were fortunate enough to have all of it restored to them, while other land owners were not so lucky when pieces of land were split and sold to different families. Here we see the nobility viewed as foreigners of France. The National Assembly placed laws which took away their citizenship, and their possessions. The national identity of the nobility as émigrés were the nobles that displayed their loyalty to the King by leaving their lives behind and leaving France. These nobles were citizens who were against the politics of the time in France, or citizens who were feared that they would be killed if they remained in France. The future Louis XVIII was a well known aristocrat who emigrated from France. During his journey he kept a journal in which he described a fellow aristocrat M. de Tourzel who had also emigrated from Paris. In Louis’ journal he describes the event: M. de Tourzel had left Paris on the Thursday or Friday, and to avoid creating suspicion, he had gone to spend two days at the House of Archbishop of Narbonne at Haute-Fontaine. His servant, Who had no desire to leave France, went, in a moment of intoxication, To inform against him at the Jacobin club at Attichy, as an aristocrat Who was going abroad to effect a counter-revolution. The club Immediately sent a notice to those of neighboring towns and amongst Others to that of Soissons, for the arrest of all travelers.41 This passage reflects the intentions of other émigrés at the time in France. There were noblemen who decided to leave France in order to get the support of other countries 40

Hardman, 78 Marie-Therese Charlotte, Duchesse D', and Et Al. Angouleme. Royal Memoirs on the French Revolution: containing, I. A narrative of the journey of Louis XVI and his family to Varennes, by Madame royale, duchess of Angouleme. .... London, England: London: John Murray,, 1923. Pg. 102. 41

Keller 27 to fight along side them. Towards the end of 1791 the National Assembly received news that the French noble émigrés had allied themselves with Prussia and Austria to fight against the Revolution. On November 29, 1791 the National Assembly addressed the King about the émigrés. The first sentence of the letter reads: “The National Assembly had no sooner turned its gaze toward the state of the kingdom, than its noticed that the continuing troubles have their source in the criminal preparations of French émigrés.”42 The nobility who emigrated was now viewed as criminal. The National Assembly was looking to the King to stop these countries from teaming with the émigrés. As long as they respect of the Constitution of France, France would respect their constitution. The National Assembly then went on to tell the King that if he was successful in eliminating the émigrés who pose a threat to France they would recognize him as the “defender of the Constitution.”43 One of the most significant counter-revolutionary revolts of the French Revolution was the Vendée rebellion. According to Davies, “The vast majority of the rebels were peasants but, significantly, the leaders of the revolt came from the nobility.”44 Here we see the cultural conservatism aspect of French nationalism. The nobility was trying to preserve the French heritage by trying to stop the National Assembly from imposing conscription, which required citizens to join the military to fight for France and the Revolution. The nobility fought for their beliefs of monarchism and their religious views as well. These events marked a new national identity of the noble émigrés towards the 42

J.M Roberts. "The Assembly Complains to the King about the Émigrés." In The French Revolution: A Document Collection. Paris: Oxford, 1966. Pg. 466 43 Roberts, 467 44 Davies, 85

Keller 28 middle of the 1790’s. The National Assembly and the new government had given them the label of the enemy. Through the decrees, laws, and letters to the king research proves that the émigrés were not welcome in France. As a matter of fact they were not labeled as the enemy. Through thick and thin the nationalism of the nobility remained the same. The nobles still fought for the absolute monarchy, and were willing to fight against the laws of the Constitution. NOBILITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of France on May 18th, 1804. Napoleon was responsible for bring titles back to France, allowing the émigrés to return, re-establishing the feudal regime, abolishing conscription, and above all, Napoleon restored power to the Emperor. Using documents such as the Constitution of the Year VIII on December 13, 1799, the decree on the titles on March 1, 1808, The Law for Organizing the Legion of Honor on March 19, 1802, and the Constitutional Charter of 1814 I was able to examine how these changes restored characteristics of the nobility similar to those which they enjoyed during the Ancien Regime. The Constitution of the Year VIII, which is also known as the Constitution of the French Republic on December 13, 1799 was extremely popular with the citizens of France. Napoleon pardoned the émigrés who left France during the Revolution, and made sure that the citizens who bought the confiscated land were safe from losing the land in court to the nobility who originally owned the land. For the nobility, this was a chance to return to France and try and continue their lives without fear of being sent to the guillotine. All of the work of the Third Estate to destroy the nobility was being reversed. First, the nobility and other émigrés were allowed to return to France without

Keller 29 punishment, and now Napoleon was looking to bring back feudalism in France. On March 1st, 1808 the decree on the titles was passed, which allowed the citizens to have titles, but they were not a symbol of power. The Constitutional Charter of 1814 clarified the new public laws of France. First; “Frenchman are equal before the law, whatever may be their titles and ranks.”45 The titles were not a representation of power as they were during the Old Regime before the revolution, but the nobility was now able to distinguish themselves through their titles. Article seventy-one is focused on the titles of the nobility. “The old nobility resume their titles. The new retain theirs. The King makes nobles at will, but he grants to them only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the burdens and duties of society.”46 In this passage we see the return of the nobility in the Constitution. This law changed many things for the nobility, who have been abolished for over a decade. With the rising of Napoleon, the nobility saw themselves reappearing in France. Émigrés were returning from neighboring countries where they were able to start a new life under Napoleon. The titles were allowed in France, but yielded no power over other citizens. According to the memoirs of Henriette-Lucie Dillon, Napoleon was looking for the old nobility to intertwine with the new nobility to support the monarchy. In her memoirs Henriette Dillon describes Napoleon gaining the support of the nobility so he could retain their vote that the Consul for Life should be proclaimed Emperor: A little later there appeared in the communes the lists upon which it was necessary for the votes to inscribe their names and respond by “yes” or “no” to the question as to whether the Consul for life should be proclaimed Emperor. Monsieur de La Tour du Pin was in a state of great indecision before he 45 46

Anderson, 271 Anderson, 278

Keller 30 decided to write “yes” upon the list at Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac.47 By gaining the support of the noble class, Napoleon was voted in as the Emperor of France. In order to gain the support, Napoleon decided that it was necessary to pass laws which would gain the votes of the nobility. Once the Napoleon had the support of the nobility, the rest would follow suit. The social and political movements of Napoleon and other reforms of the nineteenth century changed the national identity of nobles in France. The nobility began to remerge during the time of Napoleon, becoming the righthand class of the Emperor.

CONCLUSION During the years of the French Revolution, the nobility was transformed from the rich landowners, who had influence in the government, and had special privileges in France. Although the Third Estate destroyed the nobility in France, famous historians such as Alexis De Tocqueville believe that France would have been successful in creating total freedom if the nobility had not been destroyed. In his book Ancien Regime and the French Revolution, Alexis De Tocqueville said; It must always be a matter of regret that, instead of bending the nobility to the rule of the law, we cut it down to the roots. By this action the nation was deprived of a vital part of its substance and a wound was inflicted on liberty which will never be healed. This one class had been in the lead for centuries, had acquired in this long and unchallenged familiarity with greatness a clear proudness of heart, a natural trust in its own strength and a habit of being deferred to, which makes it the most resistant body in society.48 47

La Marquise de La Tour, and Walter Geer. "Winning over the Nobles." In Recollections of the Revolution and the Empire. First edition. ed. London: Brentano's, 1920. 358-360. 48 Alexis De Tocqueville. Ancien Regime and the French Revolution (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2008.

Keller 31 The nobility were the ultimate victims of the French Revolution. The nobility were attacked politically by the National Assembly who took away their rights and titles though the Constitution, were killed or chased out of France by the peasantry during the peasants during the Great Fear. Tocqueville describes the guillotine in France. He says, “The guillotine--itself an invention of gruesome fascination--together with the exalted status of its victims, many of them royal, nobles, or political celebrities, made the Terror as thrilling as it was alarming.”49 The National Assembly and peasants destroyed the absolute monarchy along with the nobility by creating a constitution which gave them rights and freedoms in France. According the Tocqueville, no matter how many laws the National Assembly enacted, or who was in power, the same people would stay in command in France. As we saw in France, Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1801 which brought an Emperor to France. The noble class was able to survive the French Revolution, as we see through the next generation of nobility in France, Adelbert von Chamisso and Alexis de Tocqueville. Chamisso belonged to a noble family who fled from France in 1792, settled in Berlin. Two years later his family returned to France, while Chamisso decided to stay in Berlin, where he belonged to the Berlin military. Chamisso represents the émigré nobility whose life was short-lived in France due to the Revolution. Alexis de Tocqueville was born in 1805 into a noble family. According to Harry Liebersohn, “he was a prototypical notable, heir to social advantages that, united with personal talent, pointed the way to success in France after 1815.”50 The nobility still had social advantages in 1815 which proves that 49

Maurice Cranston. "The French Revolution in the Minds of Men." The Wilson Quartely 13, no. 3 (1976): Pg. 47 50 Harry Liebersohn. "Discovering Indigenous Nobility: Tocqueville, Chamisso, and Romantic Travel Writing." American Historical Review 99, no. 3 (1994): Pg. 749

Keller 32 the nobility had survived the French Revolution. However, the privileges were not the same as they had been during the Old Regime. In the article Liebersohn describes the “privileges” that the French nobility had after the Revolution. “After the French Revolution, privilege in the old sense of legal difference may have ebbed, but distinction in the sense of a network of marriage alliances, social contacts, and an aristocratic way of life remained resilient until 1914.”51 The nobility was once a class which separated themselves from other groups of society. The nobility was a constantly changing class during the French Revolution. Even though the term nobility was abolished in 1790, the nobility always remained a vital part of France. Before the Revolution, the nobility were cultural conservatives who wanted to preserve the absolute monarchy, where the king was the law. When the king had the power, the nobility had power. So when the Constitution took power away from the king, the nobility lost its power and influence as well. Once the constitutional monarchy was put in place, the majority of nobility became reactionaries. These reactionaries wanted to see the return of the absolute monarchy to France. Against all odds, the nobility was able to battle through the French Revolution and survived through the 19th century. National identity is a feeling, it’s like love, and can you define love? Being French is a consciousness of belonging to a people who have a common history, a common territory, a common future, and above all a common language. French nationality has to be either inherited or deserved. The lass homeless French person must have greater rights than any foreigner, however talented, clever or respectful the foreigner may be. Because that person’s father may have been a paysan, his grandfather maybe died at Verdun. He is the heir to all who have built France.52 The same sense of nationalism and national identity can still be seen in France 51

Liebersohn, 751

Keller 33 today. Nationalism in France is defined as a shared heritage, a common language, a common faith, and a common ancestry. The nobility in France set the groundwork of what France has become. The nobility were the leaders in France for centuries, and were proud of the country until they were victimized in the French Revolution. Once the dust had settled, the nobility was able to recover and became a representation of prosperity in France. The nobility always felt a sense of belonging in France. Whether it had been through political movements, social movements, language, ideology, or being affected by change, there was always a sense of nationalism with the nobility in France during the French Revolution.

52

Davies, 151