The conflict between the French king and the Pope

The transformations of Philip IV led to a significant strengthening royalty. By the beginning of the XIV century, when the main power in European states belonged to the Pope, the independence of the French king was a manifestation of disobedience. One of the directions of the reforms of Philip IV was the restriction of the privileges of the clergy. The king in his domain introduced a reduction in the property holdings of the church and its judicial powers.

Remark 1

The direct cause of the conflict was the introduction by the monarch of tax collections from church lands. Internal contradictions between the king and the church outgrew state borders. The French Church, being part of the dominion of the Pope, faced a difficult choice: to obey the Pope or the King.

In 1296, Pope Boniface VIII forbade members of the clergy to pay taxes without his permission, and secular monarchs to collect taxes from church ministers. The French king struck back: he forbade the export of precious metals (gold and silver) from the country. The papal treasury stopped receiving contributions from the French clergy. Then the Pope brought the issue of reforms in France and the activities of the French king to the church council. The date of the council was set for November 1, 1302. Boniface VIII supported his claims to the king with the theory of Pope Gregory VII about the primacy of spiritual power over secular.

Formation of the Estates General

Philip IV did not wait for the decision of the church council. He accepted the actions of the Pope as interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom. The king also accused the Pope of abusing his rights. Boniface VIII made the same accusations and raised the issue of excommunication of the monarch from the church. In response, Philip IV created a representative body from all the estates of France - the States General.

The first meeting of the class institution took place in 1302. Each estate was represented by elected deputies, two people from each. big city or area. Philip IV raised the question of recognizing the Pope as a heretic. The deputies from the cities supported the king. The opposition was represented by elected representatives of the clergy and nobility from southern regions countries. There were more supporters, and the opinion of the king was approved in the form of a law.

To depose the Pope, Philip IV sent two agents to Rome: Guillaume Nogaret and Guillaume Pleisian. The agents received enough money from the royal court to win over the Pope's political rivals in Italy to their side. Having gathered a group, they broke into the residence of the Pope and put Boniface VIII under house arrest. Unable to bear the insults, the Pope died. In 1305, a protege of the French king, Clement V, was elected pope.

King's fight with the Templars

To consolidate the position, Philip IV held a trial of the Knights Templar, accusing its members of heresy.

Remark 2

The spiritual and knightly order of the Templars was created in the XII century under the auspices of the Pope. His goal is to support the crusaders in the East. A hundred years later, the order has become a major owner of the land.

In the XIII century the Order moved from the East to Europe. He began to carry out usurious operations. Philip IV tried to destroy the order in order to solve several issues in one fell swoop:

1. Eliminate the political enemy within the country;
2. Confiscate in favor of the treasury the treasury of the order and its land holdings.

In 1308, the king convenes the States General and puts up for discussion the issue of recognizing the Templars as heretics and dissolving their organization. But it fails: the class body does not make such a decision. But the order was still dissolved. This happened in 1312 by decision of the Church Council.

In 1309, Pope Kement V moved the residence to the city of Avignon on the Rhone River. The 70-year captivity of the Popes (until 1378) by the French monarchs begins.

The States General were established by the French king Philip IV in 1302. This was done in order to gain support in the face of influential estates to fight against Pope Boniface VIII. The States General consisted of three chambers, in which the townspeople, the clergy and the nobility sat. At first, the last two were recruited by the king. However, by the end of the 15th century, they became elective.

Decision-making principle

The history of France says that each question was considered by each of the houses of the assembly separately. The decision was made by majority vote. It was finally approved at a joint meeting of the three chambers. And each of them had only one vote. Under such conditions, the privileged classes (the nobility, the clergy) always received the majority. They didn't have to agree with each other.

Convening frequency

The Estates General in France was not a permanent body, like Parliament in Britain. The frequency of their convocation has not been established. The king assembled the states at his own discretion. The convocation of the Estates-General most often occurred at times of various upheavals and political instability. The list of issues to be discussed and the duration of the meetings were determined by the king.

Main reasons for convocation

States-General were convened in order to express the opinion of the estates on such issues as declaring war, making peace, and other important topics. The king sometimes consulted, found out the position of the assembly on various bills. However, the decisions of the States General were not binding and were advisory in nature. Most common cause convening meetings was an urgent need of the Crown in money. French kings often turned to the estates for financial assistance. The meetings discussed the next taxes, which at that time were introduced only for one year. Only in 1439 did the king receive the go-ahead to collect a permanent fee - the royal talis. However, if it came to any additional taxes, it was necessary to collect the Estates General again.

Relationship between the Crown and the Assembly

The estates-general often turned to the kings with complaints, protests and requests. It was customary for them to make various proposals, to criticize the actions of royal officials and the administration. But since there was a direct connection between the requests of the States General and the results of their votes on the funding requested by the king, the latter often yielded to them.

The assembly as a whole was not the usual tool of royal power, although it helped her to strengthen her position in the country and strengthen herself. The states often opposed the Crown, not wanting to make the decisions it needed. When the class assembly showed character, the monarchs stopped its convocation for a long time. For example, for the period 1468-1560. the states were assembled only once, in 1484.

Conflict between royalty and the Estates General

The royal power almost always sought the necessary decisions from the States General. But this does not mean that the assembly has always unconditionally submitted to the kings. The most serious conflict between royalty and states dates back to 1357. It happened during the urban uprising in Paris, when King Johann was a prisoner of the British.

The work of the Estates General was attended mainly by representatives of the townspeople. They developed a program of reforms, which was called the "Great March Ordinance". In exchange for the funding provided to the authorities, they demanded that the collection of taxes and spending of funds be controlled by an assembly that was supposed to discuss these issues three times a year without the permission of the king. Reformers were elected from the participants, who were endowed with emergency powers: the right to control the activities of royal officials, dismiss them and punish them (up to the death penalty). But the attempt of the States General to subjugate the finances was not successful. After the suppression of the uprising in Paris and the peasant uprisings of Jacquerie, the crown rejected all reformist demands.

Powers of deputies

Elected deputies had their position on all issues was clearly regulated by the instructions of the voters. After the deputy returned from this or that meeting, he was obliged to report to his electorate.

local meetings

In certain regions of the country (Flanders, Provence) at the end of the XIII century. local class meetings. At first they were called councils, parliaments, or simply representatives of the three estates. However, in the 15th century, the term "states" was firmly entrenched in them. By this time they were already available in almost all provinces. And in the 16th century, the word “provincial” began to be added to the term “states”. The peasant class was not allowed in the meetings. It was not uncommon for kings to oppose certain regional states when they were over-influenced by the local feudal nobility. For example, in Languedoc, Normandy, etc.

Reasons for the loss of importance by the Estates General

States-General were created in conditions when the powers of the great feudal lords were not much less than the power of the king himself. The assembly was a convenient counterbalance to local rulers. At that time, they had their own armies, minted their own coins and depended little on the Crown. However, royal power grew stronger over time. The French monarchs gradually increased their influence, building a centralized vertical.

In the 15th century, on the basis of the royal curia, a Grand Council was created, which included legalists, as well as 24 highest representatives of the spiritual and secular nobility. It met every month, but the decisions were advisory in nature. In the same century, the post of lieutenant general appeared. They were appointed by the king from among the representatives of the highest nobility to govern provinces or groups of bailjas. Centralization also affected cities. The kings were given the opportunity to restrict citizens in various rights, to change previously issued charters.

The crown also unified the judiciary. This made it possible to reduce the influence of the clergy. The right to collect a permanent tax further strengthened the royal power. Charles VII organized regular army with a clear hierarchy of subordination and centralized leadership. And this led to the fact that medieval France became less dependent on large feudal lords.

Permanent garrisons and military formations appeared in all regions. They were supposed to stop any disobedience and speeches of local feudal lords. Significantly increased the influence on public affairs of the Paris Parliament. The crown also established the Council of Notables, in which only the highest representatives of the estates (except the peasantry) sat. With his consent, new taxes could be introduced. As a result of the strengthening of royal power, the States General in France gradually lost their importance.

States General in France (fr. Etats Genéraux) - the highest estate-representative institution in the years 1302-1789.

The emergence of the States General was associated with the growth of cities, the aggravation of social contradictions and class struggle, which necessitated the strengthening of the feudal state.

The forerunners of the Estates General were extended meetings of the royal council (with the involvement of the city leaders), as well as provincial assemblies of the estates (which laid the foundation for the provincial states). The first Estates-General were convened in 1302, during the conflict between Philip IV and Pope Boniface VIII.

The States General was an advisory body convened at the initiative of the royal power in critical moments to help the government. Their main function was the quota of taxes. Each estate - the nobility, the clergy, the third estate - sat in the States General separately from the others and had one vote (regardless of the number of representatives). The third estate was represented by the top of the townspeople.

The importance of the States General increased during the Hundred Years' War of 1337-1453, when the royal power was in particular need of money. During popular uprisings XIV century (Paris uprising 1357-1358, Jacquerie 1358) The States General claimed to be actively involved in the government of the country (the States General of 1357 expressed similar requirements in the "Great Ordinance of March"). However, the lack of unity between the cities and their irreconcilable enmity with the nobility made fruitless the attempts by the French States-General to achieve the rights that the English Parliament managed to win.

At the end of the 14th century, the Estates General were convened less and less often and were often replaced by assemblies of notables. From the end of the 15th century, the institution of the States General fell into decline due to the beginning of the development of absolutism, during the years 1484-1560 they did not convene at all (a certain revival of their activity was observed during the Religious Wars - the States General were convened in 1560, 1576, 1588, and 1593 years).

From 1614 to 1789 the Estates General never met again. Only on May 5, 1789, in the conditions of an acute political crisis on the eve of the French Revolution, did the king convene the Estates General. On June 17, 1789, the deputies of the third estate declared themselves the National Assembly; on July 9, the National Assembly proclaimed itself Constituent Assembly, which became the highest representative and legislative body of revolutionary France.

In the 20th century, the name States General was adopted by some representative meetings that considered current political issues and expressed broad public opinion (for example, the Assembly of the States General for Disarmament, May 1963).

Essay
By discipline: History of the state and law of foreign countries

Related: States General in France

Completed by: student of the group SWVDs+v 7.1/0-10
Rassakhatsky I.S.
Checked: Rev. Chemnitz Vadim Ernestovich

Introduction 3
Period of the Hundred Years War 5
During the Huguenot wars 8
Dominance of absolutism 9
References 12

Introduction
General states in France (fr. Etats Generaux) - in France, the highest class-representative institution in 1302-1789, which had the character of an advisory body. States-General were convened by the king at critical moments in French history and were supposed to secure the support of society for the royal will. In its classic form, the French Estates-General consisted of three chambers: representatives of the nobility, the clergy, and the third taxable estate. Each estate sat separately in the Estates General and issued a dissenting opinion on the issue under discussion. Most often, the Estates General approved decisions on the collection of taxes.
The emergence of the States General was associated with the growth of cities, the aggravation of social contradictions and class struggle, which necessitated the strengthening of the feudal state.
The forerunners of the Estates General were extended meetings of the royal council (with the involvement of the city leaders), as well as provincial assemblies of the estates (which laid the foundation for the provincial states). The first Estates-General were convened in 1302, during the conflict between Philip IV and Pope Boniface VIII.
Wanting to prevent confusion, Philip IV convened a meeting to which he invited not only church and secular feudal lords, but also two deputies from each city. The meeting took place in main church Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral. According to eyewitnesses, the king "asked as a friend and demanded as a master" the help of the estates in his struggle against the claims of the pope. City deputies spoke for him. They declared that they were ready to die for the king's cause.
The convocation of the States General defused the situation in the country and prevented a possible open rebellion against the central government. But there was no agreement between the estates. Unlike the English feudal lords, the French nobility not only did not engage in farming and trade, but also did not allow townspeople into their midst.

Meeting of the Estates General.

Only the king could give the title of nobleman, and he did this not so much for money as rewarding for service. The nobility and the townspeople were very far from each other, and it is no coincidence that the townspeople more often preferred to negotiate with the king.
The absence of an alliance between nobles and townspeople was reflected in the structure of the Estates General. Unlike parliament, they were divided into three chambers (according to the number of estates). In the first, the highest churchmen sat - archbishops, bishops, abbots. In the second - representatives of the nobility. The third chamber was made up of messengers from the cities.
The strife of the estates in the Estates-General deprived them of the influence that the English Parliament had acquired. States-General were convened irregularly, they could not approve laws.
The States General were an advisory body convened at the initiative of the royal power at critical moments to assist the government. Each estate sat in the States General separately from the others and had one vote (regardless of the number of representatives).

Period of the Hundred Years War
The forerunners of the French General States were extended meetings of the royal council with the involvement of the city leaders, as well as assemblies of representatives from various estates in the provinces, which laid the foundation for the provincial states. The emergence of the institution of the States General was due to the situation that developed after the creation of the French centralized state. In addition to the royal domain, the state included vast lands of secular and spiritual feudal lords, as well as cities that had numerous and traditional liberties and rights. For all his power, the king did not yet have sufficient rights and authority to single-handedly make decisions affecting these traditional liberties. In addition, the still fragile royal power on a number of issues, including foreign policy, needed the visible support of the entire French society.
The first Estates-General on a national scale were convened in April 1302, during the conflict between Philip IV the Handsome and Pope Boniface VIII. This assembly rejected the claims of the pope to the role of supreme arbiter, declaring that the king in secular affairs depends only on God. In 1308, preparing to massacre the Templars, the king again considered it necessary to rely on the support of the Estates General. On August 1, 1314, Philip IV the Handsome convened the States General to approve the decision to collect taxes to finance a military campaign in Flanders. Then the nobility made an attempt to unite with the townspeople to repel the king's excessive monetary demands.
During the years of the decline of the Capetian dynasty, the importance of the Estates General increases. It was they who decided to remove the daughter of King Louis X from the throne in 1317, and after the death of Charles IV the Handsome and the suppression of the Capetian dynasty, they transferred the crown to Philip VI of Valois.
Under the first Valois, and especially during the years of the Hundred Years War of 1337-1453, when the royal power needed emergency financial support and the consolidation of all the forces of France, the Estates General achieved the greatest influence. Using the right to approve taxes, they tried to initiate the adoption of new laws. In 1355, under King John II the Brave, the States General agreed to allocate funds to the king only if a number of conditions were met. In an effort to avoid abuse, the States General themselves began to allocate trustees to collect taxes.
After the Battle of Poitiers (1356), King John II the Brave was captured by the British. Taking advantage of the situation, the Estates General, led by the Prevost of Paris, Etienne Marcel and the Llan Bishop Robert Lecoq, launched a program of reforms. They demanded that the Dauphin Charles of Valois (the future Charles V the Wise), who took over the administration of France, replaced his advisers with representatives from the three estates and did not dare to make independent decisions. These demands were supported by the provincial states. The States General expressed their claims to power in the Great Ordinance of March 1357. According to according to its provisions, only those taxes and fees that were approved by the States General were recognized as legal.The ordinance proclaimed the rigor of the principle of class courts (according to feudal norms, everyone could be convicted only of equal status), which narrowed the prerogatives of royal power in the judicial sphere.
Dauphin Charles was forced to accept the terms of the Great Ordinance of March, but immediately began to fight for its abolition. A cunning and dodgy politician, he managed to win over the majority of the nobles and the clergy. Already in 1358, the Dauphin announced the abolition of the ordinance, which caused indignation among the Parisian townspeople, led by Etienne Marcel and the Parisian uprising was put down.
Having achieved the obedience of the estates, the Dauphin Charles, who from 1364 became the king of France, preferred to solve financial problems with meetings of notables, leaving only the problems of consolidating the forces of France in the fight against the British to the share of the Estates General. His successors followed a similar policy. However, during the period of rivalry between the Bourguignons and Armagnacs, it was the States General who supported Charles VII of Valois in strengthening royal power. In the 1420s and 1430s they again played an active political role. Of particular importance were the states of 1439, assembled in Orleans. They forbade the lords to have their own army, recognizing such a right only for the king; established a talyu tax on the maintenance of the standing army of the king.
At the same time, the enmity of the townspeople with the nobles, the disunity of the cities did not allow the States General to achieve the expansion of their rights, like the English Parliament. Moreover, by the middle of the 15th century, most of French society agreed that the king had the right to introduce new taxes and fees without asking the permission of the Estates General. The widespread introduction of talya (permanent direct tax) provided the treasury with a solid source of income and relieved the kings of the need to coordinate financial policies with representatives of the estates. Charles VII did not fail to take advantage of this. Having strengthened himself on the throne, from 1439 until the very end of his reign in 1461, he never collected the Estates General.

During the Huguenot wars
Having lost the right to vote taxes, the Estates General lose their real political significance, and enter into a period of decline. During the years of his reign, King Louis XI of Valois convened the General States only once in 1467, and then only to receive formal authority to make any decisions for the good of France without convening the States General. In 1484 the States were convened because of the infancy of King Charles VIII of Valois. They are interesting because for the first time in the composition of the deputies of the third estate, not only the urban, but also the rural taxable population was represented. These Estates-General made a number of decisions about the control of royal power, but they all remained good wishes. Subsequently, Charles VIII never convened the Estates General until the end of his reign.
From the end of the 15th century, the system of absolute monarchy finally took shape in France, and the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200blimiting the prerogatives of royal power becomes blasphemous. Accordingly, the institution of the Estates-General fell into complete decline. Louis XII of Valois gathered them only once in 1506, Francis I of Valois - never at all, Henry II of Valois - also once in 1548, and then he appointed many deputies by his own will.
The importance of the States General increases again during the years of the Huguenot wars. Both the weakened royal power, and both hostile religious camps, and the estates themselves were interested in using the authority of the states in their own interests. But the split in the country was so deep that it did not allow to assemble a composition of deputies whose decisions would be legitimate for the warring parties. However, Chancellor Lopital in 1560 gathers the Estates General in Orleans. The following year they continued their work at Pontoise, but without the deputies of the clergy, who sat separately at Poissy in a religious dispute between Catholics and Huguenots. As a result of the work of the deputies, the "Orleans Ordinance" was developed, based on which L'Hopital tried to start reforms in France. In general, the deputies spoke in favor of turning the Estates General into a permanent body of state power, supervising the activities of the king.
It is not surprising that the royal power avoided the convening of new states. But, nevertheless, in 1576 King Henry III of Valois was forced to gather the Estates General again in Blois. Most of the deputies supported the Catholic League, formed in May 1574, which sought to limit royal power. In the legislative sphere, the Estates General demanded that the laws of the realm be placed above the decrees of the king; the decrees of the States General could only be repealed by the States General themselves, and if the law received the unanimous support of all estates, then it entered into force without royal approval. The deputies also demanded participation in the appointment of ministers. Representatives of the third estate demanded the restoration of traditional municipal rights and liberties, constrained by the royal administration in previous decades. With the Ordinance of Blois, Henry III expressed solidarity with the demands of the Estates General, but this step had no real significance due to the general chaos in France during the Huguenot wars.
In 1588 the Catholic League regained its strength and succeeded in convoking the new Estates-General in Blois. And this time the majority of deputies belonged to the Catholic camp. Under the slogans of limiting royal power and recognizing the supreme sovereignty of the States General, they sought to take power away from Henry III and transfer it to the leader of the Catholics, Henry of Giese. This rivalry ended in the tragic death of both Henrys, and the former leader of the Huguenot camp, Henry IV of Bourbon, became king. In 1593, in Paris, the opponents of the new king convened the Estates General, but his deputies did not represent the political forces of all of France and could not prevent Henry IV from taking all power into his own hands.

Dominance of absolutism
The coming to power of Henry IV was largely the result of a compromise between the warring sections of French society. Having taken an openly pro-Catholic position during the years of the Huguenot wars, the States General found themselves out of work in the new political situation. Henry IV ruled as an absolute monarch. Only at the beginning of his reign did he convene a meeting of notables, whose deputies he appointed himself. Notables approved taxes for three years in advance and later asked the king to rule on his own.
During the infancy of King Louis XIII of Bourbon, in 1614, the penultimate Estates General in the history of France took place. They revealed serious contradictions between the interests of the third estate and the upper classes. Representatives of the clergy and the nobility insisted on exemption from taxes, granting new and securing old privileges, that is, they defended not national, but narrow class interests. They refused to see the deputies of the third estate as equal partners, treating them like servants. The humiliated position of the third estate was also supported by the court. If the nobles and the clergy could sit in hats in the presence of the king, then the representatives of the third estate were obliged to stand before the monarch on their knees and with their heads uncovered. Complaints of the third estate about the severity of taxes, legal insecurity did not find understanding. As a result, the states did not make a single significant decision. The only thing that the estates could agree on was a wish for the king to convene the Estates General once every ten years. At the beginning of 1615 the states were dissolved.
Meetings of notables were convened in 1617 and 1626, and in the future, right up to the French Revolution, the state dispensed with a nationwide representative institution. Nevertheless, representative institutions continued to operate on the ground - the provincial states and parliaments, although not in all provinces. And the very idea of ​​the States General was not forgotten and was revived in the conditions of a deep crisis of royal power at the end of the 18th century.
Only the most acute political crisis forced King Louis XVI of Bourbon to convene a new General States. They began their work on May 5, 1789. And already on June 17, the deputies of the third estate declared themselves the National Assembly, responsible for the formation of the legislative power in the country. At the request of King Louis XVI of Bourbon, deputies from the nobility and clergy also joined the National Assembly. On July 9, 1789, the National Assembly proclaimed itself the Constituent Assembly with the aim of developing new legislative foundations for the French state. The events of the first stage of the French Revolution are closely connected with the activities of the Estates General in 1789.
etc.................

Medieval France strengthened its position among European powers through active participation V crusades. Trade and crafts developed, cities grew. Such a rapid development of urban life and separation from agricultural culture exacerbated social contradictions and led to increased confrontation between the classes of townspeople and the nobility. In such conditions, there was a danger to the existence of the entire feudal way of life.

In the XIV century, France was under the rule of King Philip IV the Handsome, grandson of Louis IX Saint.

The assemblies of the provincial estates and the Royal Council, assembled since the time of Saint Louis, could not give legitimacy to the royal policy towards the papacy during the pontificate of Boniface VIII. The conflict arose because of the unwillingness of the king to submit to papal authority in the field of appointing bishops. King Philip foresaw resistance from Rome in his plan to dissolve the Knights Templar and seize all his property.

To give weight to his decisions, the king issued an edict, according to which in 1302 the States General met as an advisory body, designed to help the government in resolving complex and sensitive issues.

Usually, the States General met on the issue of tax quotas. The estates-general, structurally, consisted of three free classes, the lowest of which was the class of wealthy townspeople. It met separately from influential lords and their vassals.

Especially often the States General were convened during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), after the suppression of the Capetian dynasty. At this time, the kings of the Valois dynasty were especially in need of money.

In the twentieth year of the Hundred Years War, an uprising broke out in Paris and Jacquerie in 1358. The states general sought active participation in the administration of the kingdom, by analogy with the Parliament of England. The "Great Ordinance of March" of 1357 failed. The role of the Estates General remained nominal due to animosity between the delegates from the estates.

From 1484 to 1560 not a single meeting of the Estates General is recorded. This was due to the development of absolutism and inexpediency, since the king was content with the advice of notables. The situation changed with the outbreak of religious wars, which required the legalization of new taxes for the war. The States General met 4 times in 1560, 1576, 1588 and 1593.

The next convocation of the States General took place in 1614. After the completion of their work, a long break began again, which lasted 175 years. The situation in France on the eve of the Great French Revolution became the reason for convening the new General States. Louis XV convened the States General on May 5, 1789. Before the completion of the work, the third estate declared itself a new structure - National Assembly On June 17, and on July 9, the Constituent Assembly was proclaimed, which led the revolution in France. This was the last meeting of the States General in the format that was adopted in the time of Philip IV the Handsome.

In the twentieth century, attempts were made to revive the institution of the States General. Some assemblies of the Fourth and Fifth Republics adopted this name when important questions of French policy were decided, when extensive public participation was required. The last meeting under the name of the States General met in May 1963. The question of disarmament of the armed forces of France was discussed.