THE 18TH CENTURY: THE

ANCIEN RÉGIME IN CRISIS

Unit 1
 THE ANCIEN RÉGIME

ECONOMY SOCIETY POLITICS

RURAL AND ABSOLUTE

STRATIFIED
AGRARIAN MONARCHY

ENLIGHTENED
MANORIAL INEQUALITY
MONARCHY

OTHER
MINORITY
SUBSISTENCE
POLITICAL
SYSTEMS
 THREE –STATE SYSTEM
FIRST AND SECOND ESTATES (5%)
- The clergy and the nobility.
- They didn’t pay taxes. The lived on the
rent they received from their lands.
- The lower nobility and the lower
clergy (rural priests and monks) were
often poors.
THIRD ESTATE (90-95%)
- Upper middle class: prominent
merchants and business owners. They
became richer and more powerful.
- Lower middle class: small merchants
and craftsmen. Their situation declined.
- Peasants: they suffered due to poor
harvests, rising prices and high taxes.
 FACTORS FOR CHANGE

Aspirations of the bourgeoisie

The conditions of the peasantry and the working class

Intelectual movement: the Enlightenment

The examples of Great Britain and the United States

THE PARLIAMENTARY MONARCHY IN
ENGLAND
THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED
STATES
 THE ENLIGHTENMENT

Intellectual movement

New way of organising society

Freedom of thought, religion and expresssion

Liberalism
Enlightened despotism
SPAIN IN THE 18TH CENTURY
 REY

ÓRGANOS
INSTITUCIONES
EJECUTIVOS

CONSEJOS: asesoran ADMINISTRACIÓN ADMINISTRACIÓN

al rey CENTRAL PROVINCIAL

SECRETARÍAS: Estado; Capitanes generales;

CORTES: se reúnen Asuntos extranjeros; Audiencias;
por petición del rey Justicia; Guerra y Corregidores;
Marina; Hacienda Intendentes.
 OTRAS REFORMAS BORBÓNICAS EN EL
SIGLO XVIII
 Intento de impulso a la industria: creación de manufacturas reales.
 Modernización de la Marina y creación de barcos.
 Creación de Academias y centros culturales: Real Academia Española, Academia
de la Historia, Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Museo de Ciencias
Naturales de Madrid, observatorio astronómico de Cádiz, etc.
 Creación de un catastro para Castilla (registro de propiedades).
 Repoblación de regiones deprimidas.
 Mayor control sobre la Iglesia.
 Fin del monopolio sevillano y gaditano sobre el comercio americano.