French Absolute Monarchy, Aristocracy Role In Society Study

This dissertation is on the social role of the French nobility during the AbsoluteMonarchy. In this period, French feudalism was declining while its capitalism wasgrowing quickly. At the same time, the political structure, economic system, socialstructure and the ideology of the French people changed a lot. Facing these influentialsocial changes, the French nobility indomitably and successfully adapted to the newsocial circumstance, and could keep considerable power. The nobility reserved sometraditional features to some extent, but its political, economic and cultural roleschanged correspondingly while the noble system declined as time went by. The firstsection of this dissertation mainly deals with the historiography about the Frenchnobility and the origins and their development of the French nobles, including thedefinition, origins, number and structure of the noble as well as the change of thedefinition standard of the noble. In the second, the third and the fourth sections, theauthor discusses the political, economic and the cultural roles of the French nobilityrespectively, and concludes that the nobility still keeps its political power and plays avivid part in the political arena, besides, it has powerful economic strength as a wholeand its education level improves continually. In the last section, the author analysesthe paradox which appeared during the period of the Absolute Monarchy with thedevelopment of the French nobility, that is, on the one hand the nobility continuouslychanged as the society developed, on the other hand the nobility incurred detestationof the middle and lower classes, and ultimately acquired a miserable destiny duringthe French Revolution.