Estates of the realm
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and evolved over time.
- The best known system is the French Ancien Régime, a three-estate system which was made up of a First Estate of clergy, a Second Estate of titled nobles, and a Third Estate of all other subjects.
- In some regions, notably Sweden and Russia, burghers and rural commoners were split into separate estates, creating a four-estate system with rural commoners ranking the lowest as the Fourth Estate.
- In Norway, the taxpaying classes were considered as one, and with a very small aristocracy; this class/estate was as powerful as the monarchy itself. In Denmark, however, only owners of large tracts of land had any influence. Furthermore, the non-landowning poor could be left outside the estates, leaving them without political rights.
- In England, a two-estate system evolved that combined nobility and clergy into one lordly estate with "commons" as the second estate. This system produced the two houses of parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
- In southern Germany, a three-estate system of nobility, knights, and burghers was used; this system excluded lower clergy and peasants altogether.
- In Scotland, the Three Estates were the Clergy, Nobility, and Shire Commissioners, or "burghers", representing the bourgeoisie and lower commoners. The Estates made up a Scottish Parliament.
Social mobility
During the Middle Ages, advancing to different social classes was uncommon and difficult, and when it did happen, it generally took the form of a gradual increase in status over several generations of a family rather than within a single lifetime.One field in which commoners could appreciably advance within a single lifetime was the Church. The medieval Church was an institution where social mobility was most likely achieved up to a certain level. Typically, only nobility were appointed to the highest church positions, although low nobility could aspire to the highest church positions. Since clergy could not marry, such mobility was theoretically limited to one generation. Nepotism was common in this period.
Dynamics
observed that "Medieval political speculation is imbued to the marrow with the idea of a structure of society based upon distinct orders". The virtually synonymous terms estate and order designated a great variety of social realities, not at all limited to a class, Huizinga concluded applying to every social function, every trade, every recognisable grouping.File:Troisordres.jpg|thumb|Satire of the three estates from 1789; the hard-working Third Estate carries the lazy nobility and clergy. The legend reads A faut espérer q'eu jeu là finira bentôt, prefiguring the French Revolution.
This static view of society was predicated on inherited positions. Commoners were universally considered the lowest order. The higher estates' necessary dependency on the commoners' production, however, often further divided the otherwise equal common people into burghers of the realm's cities and towns, and the peasants and serfs of the realm's surrounding lands and villages. A person's estate and position within it were usually inherited from the father and his occupation, similar to a caste within that system. In many regions and realms, there also existed population groups born outside these specifically defined resident estates.
The estates of the realm were not merely descriptive or informal divisions. The legal and political status of a person was strongly dependent on his estate. Medieval law was usually not codified or uniform, but the sources of law were diverse. Different laws applied to different estates, and the estates held distinct privileges. A nobleman or cleric could not be sentenced by an ordinary court. One set of laws governed the conduct of the merchants, another governed the feudal system, and the church was governed by its own laws. The application of canon law, which originated in the church, was more widespread than in modern times. The expressions of these rights varied by country. For instance, in Sweden, the right to conduct international trade was subject to licensing and typically only given to burghers. In some countries, non-nobles were legally prohibited from wearing clothing that was considered too luxurious by sumptuary laws.
Legislative bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch above all three estates. Meetings of the estates of the realm became early legislative and judicial parliaments. Monarchs often sought to legitimize their power by requiring oaths of fealty from the estates. Today, in most countries, the estates have lost all their legal privileges, and are mainly of historical interest. The nobility may be an exception, for instance due to legislation against false titles of nobility.
One of the earliest political pamphlets to address these ideas was called "What Is the Third Estate?" It was written by Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès in January 1789, shortly before the start of the French Revolution.
Background
The hereditary status of the estates had a precursor in Emperor Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century, where Diocletian made certain "essential" occupations hereditary. Peasants became tied to their land, and sons of soldiers were forcibly conscripted to the army. Essential occupations included also bakers, armorers, tenant farmers and members of town councils. This significantly restricted social mobility. In essence, by establishing hereditary occupations, which later became the estates of the realm of medieval Europe, Diocletian laid the foundation for feudalism, the political system that would reign over Europe for the following thousand years. Emperor Constantine further entrenched these policies and widened their application in the 4th century.After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, numerous geographic and ethnic kingdoms developed among the endemic peoples of Europe, affecting their day-to-day secular lives; along with those, the growing influence of the Catholic Church and its Papacy affected the ethical, moral and religious lives and decisions of all. This led to mutual dependency between the secular and religious powers for guidance and protection, but over time and with the growing power of the kingdoms, competing secular realities increasingly diverged from religious idealism and Church decisions.
The new lords of the land identified themselves primarily as warriors, but because new technologies of warfare were expensive, and the fighting men required substantial material resources and considerable leisure to train, these needs had to be filled. The economic and political transformation of the countryside in the period were filled by a large growth in population, agricultural production, technological innovations and urban centers; movements of reform and renewal attempted to sharpen the distinction between clerical and lay status, and power, recognized by the Church also had their effect.
In his book The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined, the French medievalist Georges Duby has shown that in the period 1023–1025 the first theorist who justified the division of European society into the three estates of the realm was Gerard of Florennes, the bishop of Cambrai.
As a result of the Investiture Controversy of the late 11th and early 12th centuries, the powerful office of Holy Roman Emperor lost much of its religious character and retained a more nominal universal preeminence over other rulers, though it varied. The struggle over investiture and the reform movement also legitimized all secular authorities, partly on the grounds of their obligation to enforce discipline.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, thinkers argued that human society consisted of three orders: those who pray, those who fight, and those who labour. The structure of the first order, the clergy, was in place by 1200 and remained singly intact until the religious reformations of the 16th century. The second order, those who fight, was the rank of the politically powerful, ambitious, and dangerous. Kings took pains to ensure that it did not resist their authority. The general category of those who labour diversified rapidly after the 11th century into the lively and energetic worlds of peasants, skilled artisans, merchants, financiers, lay professionals, and entrepreneurs, which together drove the European economy to its greatest achievements.
By the 12th century, most European political thinkers agreed that monarchy was the ideal form of governance. This was because it imitated on earth the model set by God for the universe; it was the form of government of the ancient Hebrews and the Christian Biblical basis, the later Roman Empire, and also the peoples who succeeded Rome after the 4th century.
Kingdom of France
France under the Ancien Régime divided society into three estates: the First Estate ; the Second Estate ; and the Third Estate. The king was not part of any estate.First Estate
The First Estate comprised the entire clergy and the religious orders, traditionally divided into "higher" and "lower" clergy. Although there was no formally recognized demarcation between the two categories, the upper clergy were, effectively, clerical nobility, from Second Estate families. In the time of Louis XVI, every bishop in France was a nobleman, a situation that had not existed before the 18th century.The "lower clergy" constituted about 90 percent of the First Estate, which in 1789 numbered around 130,000.