In France under the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien A ''virelai'' is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is ...

, a states provincial or estates provincial (''états provinciaux'') was an assembly of the three estates of a province, "regularly constituted, periodically convoked and possessing certain political and administrative functions, of which the main one was to vote on the '' impôt''". Only the '' pays d'état'' had rights to such estates. This arose from the specific legal conditions of their historical incorporation into the

royal domain Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

(e.g., Burgundy, Foix, Languedoc) or into France itself (e.g., Béarn, Corsica, Dauphiné). Within a ''pays d'état'', regions could have their own particular estates, the ''états particuliers'' ("estates particular"). For example, in Burgundy the counties (''comtés'') of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are ref ...

Bar-sur-Seine Bar-sur-Seine (, literally ''Bar on Seine'') is a commune in the Aube department in the Grand Est region of north-central France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Barrois'' or ''Barroises'' and ''Barséquanais'' or ''Barséquanaise ...

, Charolais and the Mâconnais each had their own ''états particuliers'' in the early modern period. These would send representatives to the Burgundian ''états provinciaux'' in Dijon. Only the Mâconnais retained its own ''états'' in 1789; the rest had been absorbed into the Burgundian estates general.Julian Swann, ''Provincial Power and Absolute Monarchy: The Estates General of Burgundy, 1661–1790'' (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 27–28. The ''impôts'' were the provincial estates' main preoccupation and ''raison d'être'' throughout the ''

ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien A ''virelai'' is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is ...

''. Their formal assent to the ''impôts'' was generally accompanied by the drafting of complaints to send to the king or his councils. In contrast to the ''pays d'état'', any area where ''impôts'' were fixed by the king's representatives (known as the ''élus'') were known as '' pays d'élection''. This distinction was abolished during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

in 1789. A third category, "pays d'imposition" was used for recently conquered lands which had their own local institutions (they were similar to the "pays d'état" under which they are sometimes grouped), although taxation was overseen by the royal intendant.

List of states-provincial and -particular in 1789

* Estates of Artois *

Estates of Béarn The Estates of Béarn are the former Provincial Estates of Béarn. It was formed following the death of Gaston III/X of Foix-Béarn, alias Gaston Phoebus,Barraqué, p. 33(in French)/ref> on 1 August 1391, as a sort of Extraordinary Assembly, regro ...

* Estates of Bigorre * Estates of Bresse *

Estates of Brittany The Estates of Brittany was the States Provincial for the province of Brittany. It gathered members of the high clergy, a large number of nobles and delegates from the 42 towns and cities of Brittany. In 1788 it included nearly 1,000 nobles as opp ...

* Estates of Bugey *

Estates of Burgundy In Burgundy, under the Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien A ''virelai'' is a form of medieval French vers ...

* Estates of Cambrésis * Estates of Charolais * Estates of Corsica * Estates of Dauphiné * Estates of Flanders * Estates of Foix * Estates of Gévaudan * Estates of Hainaut * Estates of Labourd * Estates of Languedoc * Estates of Marsan *

Estates of Navarre Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representati ...

* Estates of Nébouzan * Estates of Provence * Estates of Quatre-Vallées * Estates of Soule * Estates of Velay * Estates of Vivarais

Notes

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