THESIS: During the period of the Enlightenment, the middle-class began to express its resentment over aristocratic privilege.  The growing middle class used the ideas of the Enlightenment to challenge the existing order of Europe.
 

I. The Old Order: The European NOBILITY of the Early Modern Age (Hunt, pp. 624-25) (medieval system) Held title and "special privilege." Often lived in the greatest luxury, believed themselves a "breed apart"  Sometime referred to as ARISTOCRATS 1. Patterns of Nobility varied from country  England  France  Spain 2. Special Privileges - "Seigneurial Dues" Money payments from Peasants (Bruegal, The Peasant's Wedding - 1568) To grind grain bake bread press grapes Inheritance tax on peasants Peasants required to work on public roads 3. Fashion and Culture country homes libraries private orchestras patrons of the Arts pedigree dogs collections of antiques & firearms

Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Portrait of Madame de Sorquainville (1749) Louvre     Goya, The Marquesa de la Solana (1757-1795) Louvre

 

François Boucher, Morning Coffee (1739)  Louvre

II. The Rising New Elite: The Early Modern MIDDLE CLASS (Hunt, pp. 625-29) Did not have legal title like the nobility nor did they work with their hands like peasants and artisans. Referred to as the BOURGEOIS (French term for "city dweller") Who are the Bourgeoisie? Entrepreneurs & Bankers Professions - doctors, lawyers, low-level government bureaucrats Protestant Clergy (Catholic clergy are a class apart) Participants in growing public culture of the city Concerts Libraries Coffee houses

III. State Power in an Era of Reform (Hunt, pp. 634-42) A. "Enlightened Absolutism" - Frederick II of Prussia State-sponsored Reform Limits to Reform Food Riots and Peasant Uprisings Popular Opposition to Monarchy

Allan Ramsay, Portrait of George III (1762) National Gallery, London