René Nicolas Charles Augustin De Maupeou
René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou (; 25 February 1714 – 29 July 1792) was a French lawyer, politician, and chancellor of France, whose attempts at reform signalled the failure of enlightened despotism in France. He is best known for his effort to destroy the system of parlements, which were powerful regional courts, in 1770–74. When King Louis XV died in 1774, the parlements were restored and Maupeou lost power. Early life He was born in Montpellier to a family ennobled in the sixteenth century as ''noblesse de robe'', the eldest son of René Charles de Maupeou (1688–1775), who was president of the ''parlement'' of Paris from 1743 to 1757. In 1744 he married a rich heiress, Anne de Roncherolles (1725–1752), a cousin of Madame d'Épinay, the friend of Rousseau who moved in the circles of the '' Philosophes''. Entering public life, he was his father's right hand in the conflicts between the ''parlement'' and Christophe de Beaumont, archbishop of Paris, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pierre Lacour
Pierre Lacour, originally Delacour (15 April 1745 - 28 January 1814) was a French painter. Biography His first artistic studies were in the workshop of the engraver, André Lavau (1722-1808). In 1764, he went to Paris to continue his studies with the painter, Joseph-Marie Vien. He was awarded second place in the Prix de Rome of 1769. He spent some time in Rome sometime around 1771 and became an Agrégé at the in 1772. Two years later, he was named an Academician. In 1778, he married Catherine Chauvet. Documents from that time give his occupation as "history painter". During the Revolution, he was a drawing teacher at the École centrale and maintained the old municipal drawing school at his personal expense. His first exhibit at the Salon came in 1796; the same year he was named a corresponding member of the Académie des beaux-arts. Three years later, he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.. In 1801, he founded the Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux and became its first C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parlement
A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern French term ''parlement'' (for the legislature) and the English word ''parliament'' derive from this French term, the Ancien Régime parlements were not legislative bodies and the modern and ancient terminology are not interchangeable. History Parlements were judicial organizations consisting of a dozen or more appellate judges, or about 1,100 judges nationwide. They were the courts of final appeal of the judicial system, and typically wielded power over a wide range of subjects, particularly taxation. Laws and edicts issued by the Crown were not official in their respective jurisdictions until the parlements gave their assent by publishing them. The members of the parlements were aristocrats, called nobles of the robe, who had bought or i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Madame Du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last '' maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being suspected of assisting ''émigrés'' flee from the Revolution. In order for the king to take Jeanne as a ''maîtresse-en-titre'', she had to be married to someone of high rank so she could be allowed at court; she was hastily married on 1 September 1768, to Comte Guillaume du Barry. The marriage ceremony was accompanied by a false birth certificate, created by Jean du Barry. The certificate made Jeanne younger by three years and dissimulated her “poor” background. Henceforth, she was deemed as an official ''maîtresse-en-titre'' to the king. Her arrival at the French royal court was considered scandalous by some, as she had been a prostitute and a commoner. For these reasons, she was disliked by many, including Marie Antoinette. M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Emmanuel-Armand De Richelieu, Duc D'Aiguillon
Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis-Richelieu, Duke of d'Aiguillon (31 July 17201 September 1788), was a French soldier and statesman, and a nephew of Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duke of Richelieu. He served as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under King Louis XV. Early life and intrigue He was the son of Armand-Louis de Vignerot du Plessis, duc d'Aiguillon (1683–1750), and until the death of his father, he was known at court as the duc d'Agénois. He entered the army at the age of seventeen, and at the age of nineteen was made colonel of the Régiment de Brie, which he would hold until 1748. His marriage in 1740 with Louise Félicité de Brehan, daughter of the Comte de Plélo, coupled with his connection with the Richelieu family, gave him an important place at court. Citations: *''Mémoires du ministère du duc d'Aiguillon'' (2nd ed., Paris and Lyons, 1792), probably written by J. L. Soulavie *On d'Aiguillon's governorship of Brittany: **Henri Carré, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French States-General
In France under the Ancien Régime, the Estates General (french: États généraux ) or States-General was a legislative and consultative assembly of the different classes (or estates) of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates (clergy, nobility and commoners), which were called and dismissed by the king. It had no true power in its own right as, unlike the English Parliament, it was not required to approve royal taxation or legislation. It served as an advisory body to the king, primarily by presenting petitions from the various estates and consulting on fiscal policy. The Estates General first met in 1302 and 1303 in relation to King Philip IV's conflict with the papacy. They met intermittently until 1614 and only once afterward, in 1789, but were not definitively dissolved until after the French Revolution. The Estates General were distinct from the ''parlements'' (the most powerful of which was the Parliament of Paris), which started as a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tax Farm
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or national), and tax compliance refers to policy actions and individual behaviour aimed at ensuring that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax at the right time and securing the correct tax allowances and tax reliefs. The first known taxation took place in Ancient Egypt around 3000–2800 BC. A failure to pay in a timely manner (non-compliance), along with evasion of or resistance to taxation, is punishable by law. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labor equivalent. Most countries have a tax system in place, in order to pay for public, common societal, or agreed national needs and for the functions of government. Some levy a flat percentage rate of taxation on personal annual income, but mos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Arthur, Comte De Lally
Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally, baron de Tollendal (13 January 17029 May 1766) was a French general of Irish Jacobite ancestry. Lally commanded French forces, including two battalions of his own red-coated Regiment of Lally of the Irish Brigade, in India during the Seven Years' War. After a failed attempt to capture Madras he lost the Battle of Wandiwash to British forces under Eyre Coote and then was forced to surrender the remaining French post at Pondicherry. After time spent as a prisoner of war in Britain, Lally voluntarily returned to France to face charges where he was beheaded for his alleged failures in India. Ultimately the jealousies and disloyalties of other officers, together with insufficient resources and limited naval support prevented Lally from securing India for France. In 1778, he was publicly exonerated by Louis XVI from his alleged crime. Life He was born at Romans-sur-Isère, Dauphiné, the son of Sir Gerald Lally, an Irish Jacobite from Tuam, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Calas Affair
Jean Calas (1698 – 10 March 1762) was a merchant living in Toulouse, France, who was tried, tortured and executed for the murder of his son, despite his protestations of innocence. Calas was a Protestant in an officially Catholic society. Doubts about his guilt were raised by opponents of the Catholic Church and he was exonerated in 1764. In France, he became a symbolic victim of religious intolerance, along with François-Jean de la Barre and Pierre-Paul Sirven. Background Calas, along with his wife, was a Protestant. France was then a Catholic country; Catholicism was the state religion, with no legal right for individuals to practice different faiths. While the harsh oppression of Protestantism initiated by King Louis XIV had largely receded, Protestants were, at best, tolerated. Louis, one of Calas' sons, converted to Catholicism in 1756. Death of Marc-Antoine Calas left, The arrest of Calas. On 13–14 October 1761, another of the Calas sons, Marc-Antoine, was found ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Archbishop Of Paris
The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on October 20, 1622. Before that date the bishops were suffragan to the archbishops of Sens. History Its suffragan dioceses, created in 1966 and encompassing the Île-de-France region, are Créteil, Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes, Meaux, Nanterre, Pontoise, Saint-Denis, and Versailles. Its liturgical centre is at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The archbishop resides on rue Barbet de Jouy in the 6th arrondissement, but there are diocesan offices in rue de la Ville-Eveque, rue St. Bernard and in other areas of the city. The archbishop is ordinary for Eastern Cathol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christophe De Beaumont
Christophe de Beaumont du Repaire (19 June 1703– 12 December 1781) was a Kingdom of France, French cleric who belonged to a cadet branch of the Les Adrets and Saint-Quentin branches of the illustrious Dauphin family of Beaumont. He became Bishop of Bayonne in 1741, then Archbishop of Vienne in 1745, and in 1746, at the age of forty-three, Archbishop of Paris. An austere man with no wish for glory, had to be summoned three times by Louis XV before he would leave his diocese of Vienne and move to Paris. History The Struggle Against Jansenism Beaumont is noted for his struggle with the Jansenism, Jansenists. To force them to accept the papal bull, bull Unigenitus (1713) which condemned their doctrines, he ordered the priests of his diocese to withhold sacraments from those who would not recognize the bull, and to deny funeral rites to those who had confessed to a Jansenist priest. This measure had severe, damning implications for Jansenists, provoking widespread outcry against su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philosophes
The ''philosophes'' () were the intellectuals of the 18th-century Enlightenment.Kishlansky, Mark, ''et al.'' ''A Brief History of Western Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy, volume II: Since 1555.'' (5th ed. 2007). Few were primarily philosophers; rather, philosophes were public intellectuals who applied reason to the study of many areas of learning, including philosophy, history, science, politics, economics, and social issues. They had a critical eye and looked for weaknesses and failures that needed improvement. They promoted a "republic of letters" that crossed national boundaries and allowed intellectuals to freely exchange books and ideas. Most philosophes were men, but some were women. They strongly endorsed progress and tolerance, and distrusted organized religion (most were deists) and feudal institutions. Many contributed to Diderot's ''Encyclopédie''. They faded away after the French Revolution reached a violent stage in 1793. Characterization ''Philosophe'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought. His '' Discourse on Inequality'' and ''The Social Contract'' are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. Rousseau's sentimental novel '' Julie, or the New Heloise'' (1761) was important to the development of preromanticism and romanticism in fiction. His ''Emile, or On Education'' (1762) is an educational treatise on the place of the individual in society. Rousseau's autobiographical writings—the posthumously published '' Confessions'' (composed in 1769), which initiated the modern autobiography, and the unfinished ''Reveries of the Solitary Walker'' (composed 1776–1778)—exemplified the late 18th-century " Age of Sensibility", and featured ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |