Resentment of Church Privileges

The resentment towards the privileges of the Church in pre-revolutionary France was rooted in the deep-seated social and economic disparities of the Ancien Régime. The First Estate (the clergy) enjoyed numerous exemptions and privileges, which were in stark contrast to the burdens placed on the Third Estate (commoners). The Church possessed about 10% of the land in France, which provided it with substantial revenue from agricultural production. Additionally, the Church collected the tithe, a compulsory tax that obliged peasants to contribute a portion of their crops or income. This system placed considerable strain on the lower classes, exacerbating their economic hardships.

The clergy were exempt from many taxes that the rest of the population had to bear. For instance, they did not pay the taille (a direct land tax), which was a significant source of grievance among the common people. Furthermore, the Church enjoyed judicial privileges that allowed clergy members to be tried in ecclesiastical courts rather than in the common courts, fostering a perception of unfairness and inequality in the legal system.

This privileged status of the clergy extended to political influence as well. The First Estate had considerable sway in the Estates-General, an assembly representing the three estates of the realm. The voting system within the Estates-General favored the clergy and the nobility, as each estate had one vote, regardless of the number of deputies. This meant that the interests of the Third Estate (which represented the vast majority of the French population) were often overshadowed by those of the more privileged estates.

Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau criticized the Church’s excessive wealth and political power, advocating for a more rational and equitable society. Their writings contributed to the growing public discontent and intellectual underpinnings of the Revolution. The economic struggles of the 1780s (including the financial crisis that gripped France) intensified these resentments, as the populace became increasingly aware of the stark contrast between their own hardships and the opulence of the clergy.

The revolutionary government took significant steps to address these grievances once the Revolution began. The National Assembly decreed the abolition of the tithe on 4 August 1789, and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (passed on 12 July 1790) radically restructured the Church’s role in society. This legislation brought the Church under state control, required clergy to swear an oath of loyalty to the Revolution, and led to the confiscation of Church lands. These measures aimed to eliminate the inequalities that the Church's privileges had perpetuated and to integrate the clergy into the new republican framework.

The resentment of Church privileges thus played a significant role in the socio-political landscape of the French Revolution. The disparities and perceived injustices experienced by the Third Estate fueled revolutionary fervor and led to significant changes in the relationship between the Church and the state.

• The French Revolution emerged partly due to the widespread resentment towards the privileges held by the Catholic Church, which owned about 10% of the land in France and collected tithe—a tax on parishioners.
• Many viewed the Church as an emblem of inequality, as its wealth contrasted sharply with the hardship faced by everyday citizens during the Ancien Régime (the political and social system in France before 1789).
• The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, enacted in 1790, aimed to restructure the Church's relationship with the state; it required clergy to take an oath of loyalty to the state rather than the papacy, leading to a split among clergy that resulted in many refusing to comply.
• The Revolution prompted a significant secularization of society; by 1793, a de-Christianization campaign stripped churches of their power and property, and many religious figures were persecuted or executed.
• In 1791, the National Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which fundamentally questioned the special status of the Church and underscored the ideal of religious equality in a new secular context.