3. Social divisions in France The French people were divided into ‘Three Estates’ or groups:
First Estate Clergy (priests and bishops) Nobility
(wealthy landowners who controlled the government and the army)
Approximately 100,000 people Approximately 400,000 people Did not pay taxes
Did not pay taxes Owned 10% of the land Owned 60% of the land
Second Estate
Third Estate
The common people: everyone from well-off doctors, lawyers, teachers and merchants to poor peasants and workers
Approximately 25 million people Paid taxes
Many peasants still lived under feudal law
The Third Estate, especially its wealthy and educated members, fi ercely resented paying taxes when the other estates did not. The Third Estate had to pay all the taxes for the country. These included:
• The taille: a land tax • The gabelle: a salt tax • The corvée: members of the Third Estate had to work for free repairing roads • The tithe: one-tenth of earnings or produce went to the Catholic Church
They also resented having to pay taxes while they had no say in running the country.
