The Old Regime took place during the fifteen hundreds and are conflicted by the enlightenment in the middle seventeen hundreds. The Old Regime thoughts and ways are different politically and economically then the enlightenment world. The Old Regime thoughts are based upon God and the church. The people believed that God was the ruler of everything and God was what makes things happen and work. People of these times had no concepts of science or reason. People believed that things happened because God made them happen. If you had thoughts that were different than that you had to answer to the church and there could be serious penalties to pay.
During the period of the Old Regime, there was no other governing other than the church, which caused serious conflicts for the monarchies of this time because there was a constant battle over the power of the people, and who was going to rule over them. The church had the entire rule and the kings of these times would have to discuss with and go through the churches before they could make any decisions. The reason that they had given so much power to the church was out of fear. The thrown was afraid of making God angry so they would do anything in their power to keep God and the church satisfied. One way of making sure God was happy was to give the power to the church, this included money or taxes that were collected.
Women’s role in society was hardly important to the people of these times. Women in this time were not thought about very highly. They were thought of and treated as property. Women had it hard in these times, because men were so intent on their superiority over the women. There were hardly any times that women were rulers. In the late fifteen hundreds a man named Francois Hotman wrote Francogallia which is his best known work. In this work he discusses women and how he thought of them. He implied that they were not fit to be rulers or even contribute to the thrown. He discusses some of his occurrences with women rulers and how they all seemed to demolish what they had been given, and every thing ended up in destruction including their thrown.
Religion was a very serious subject in this time, since everything revolved around God and the church religion was the largest part of people’s lives. Catholicism was the main religion of this time, even though it changed and was reformed many times. Religion was constantly trying to be reformed to suit everyone’s needs and expectations. Many revolts and wars were based on religion conflicts and reformation, because of the inconsistency and change. There were some people that revolted, for example, William of Orange who led the revolt against Spain in 1579 and fought for toleration of all religions. He was assassinated in 1584, which shows that there was no toleration for disobedience in the church.
The political status in the Old Regime was separated into three different estates. The three distinct groups of people at this time were peasants, nobles and the clergy. The least important group of people were a group of people called the surfs or peasants. They were ruled over by the nobles, church and monarchy. They had no say about what was to come of them. They were born slaves and owned by the nobles and bound to the land and could rarely free themselves from slavery. They were dealt an awful life of slavery, and inhumane conditions of living. Politics of these times all agreed that peasants were the common population and were not ever thought of as people, more like monsters and a threat to society. They were mostly workers of the land, because that is the only work that was of this time. The peasants worked very hard long days, and they were working for their lords whom had complete reign over them. They were heavily taxed. Most of what they worked for went to the nobles, and they were only given enough food so they could barely stay alive. The life for these people was very hard and grim.
The economical status in the Old Regime was very broken down and unfair to the people that were born into a lower class. There were some ways that some of the peasants learned how to get ahead in life. They found loopholes in taxation, ways to marry and get moved up in to the life of a noble. Some of the peasants were getting richer than some of the nobles. This was making them very unhappy and caused great deals of conflict. Cardinal Richelieu said that it is hard to keep the common folk peaceful when they are getting richer than the nobles. And that was many people’s views of that time.
Henry the fifth (1589-1610) was a ruler of this time. He was the Protestant king who led Huguenot cause during the French wars of religion. Occasionally there would be a king who fought for rights and was different in the course of history. The government of the Old Regime times changed very slightly periodically as the rulers changed. They did not change a significant amount because they all remained a monarchy. Most of the monarchies of this time practiced absolutism. The people were ruled by their king and by the church, and that is all anyone knew of their lives. No one thought of change or a difference on how things were ruled.
Something occurred that changed the world as all of these people knew it. It changed it so much that the world would not be the same nowadays as we know it now. A group of people started thinking and exchanging ideas and reasons. These people looked at things in a different level and did not go about the old ways of doing things. They started to revolt against the church and all of the beliefs that were occurring at those times. Instead if believing that God controlled the whole universe, scientists and observers discovered what was really going on.
The enlightenment occurred in the seventeen hundreds. It was a discovery of science and the way that things were. People were discovering that God does not make everything happen, but science does. This new concept of reason and science changed the world. The enlightenment resulted in better lives for every one including the surfs and thew peasants. It was the revolution that showed the importance of education, and how it would help the world. It had a change in art, views, politics, and religion. The enlightenment changed religion a massive amount. Since the people were now looking to science for the answers, it put an end to superstition and total reliance on God to keep the world going. This caused much confusion, in return caused much punishment, disagreement, conflicts, and war.
The greatest known scientist and philosopher of this time was Galileo (1564-1642). He studied the stars, planets, and motion of the solar system. He perfected the first telescope, and described the moons of Jupiter, and described the lunar surface. He was prohibited to publish his findings because it was considered against the church. Many scientists followed Galileo’s work and expanded on his findings. In time the people started to accept these views of reason and science, which changed everyone’s views and thoughts of the world as they knew it.
Three enlightenment rulers of this period were Fredrick the great, Maria Theresa, and Catherine of Russia. Fredrick the great was a ruler during 1740-1786 along with Maria Theresa. Catherine was in rule 1762-1790. All of these enlightenment rulers had similar Ideas and views. Those views included improving education, some toleration of religion, rationalize and simplify bureaucracy, improve social welfare and army, and patronize culture. They all ruled with the enlightened ideas and reasoning. One of the conflicts that occurred in this time from the enlightenment was the seven years war. Fredrick the great was involved in this war, and defended Prussia successfully.
The political status changed for the peasants. Many enlightened rulers began to grasp the concept of changing the lives of the peasants to help society as a whole. The peasants of this time were now finally getting a chance to break free. Rulers were now allowing slavery to be mostly banished if not all. New views promoted education to the poor to help society as a whole. Factories provided jobs and let the peasants have the freedom to be more than just workers of the lands. Now being a merchant or a guild was a respectable way to earn a living, being able to make and do what you can and being able to sell for a profit. The increase of education and money to the lower class provided an economical change as well.
All of the things that could never have been thought of in the Old Regime were now all becoming a reality. The world was changed economically and politically all due to the minds of people who were not afraid to take a stand for what they believed in; And to come up with new ideas and reasons.
