What led to the Great Fear of 1789 in the countryside, and what was the role/significance of the peasantry in the events?
Introduction
The impact of the lower classes on historical events is often overlooked or incorrectly attributed to other factors. The prevailing view seems to suggest that the significant events in history were not correlated with the peasantry and common people, but a result of policies and efforts by the elite, educated and wealthy. The disregard of and exploitation of the lower class(es) is characteristic of European (and, for the most part, world) history. However, the French Revolution, and particularly the Great
Fear, challenged this view, and forced leaders at the time to acknowledge the power of the people, and work to satisfy their demands. The impacts of the Great Fear were significant, and could only be attributed to the peasants who rioted in the countryside. This project explores the factors which led to the Great Fear in the countryside, primarily the fear of aristocratic conspiracy, a crumbling agricultural economy, and the mounting hatred for feudalism.
The Great Fear
The ‘Great Fear’ was a series of local panics and their subsequent reactions which were closely related to and inspired by the Agrarian revolts which preceded it. Contrary to the implications of its name, the 'Great Fear' was not particularly violent. The ultimate purpose of the actions taken by the peasants during the riots was to bring about an end to the feudal system which oppressed and exploited them. (Popkin, p. 30) This goal, the demolishment of the seigneurial system, was shared by most peasants universally, regardless of economic status; the economic disparity across the peasantry was quite vast, but insignificant in this fight. (Jones, p. 17) This unification across social and economic classes was critical in sufficiently motivating the peasantry towards action and set these revolts as separate from others because of the scale on which they operated. The abolition of the feudal system completed the collapse of royal authority and forced the National Assembly to acknowledge the power of the people: “This rural insurrection, the largest outbreak of peasant revolt in France in many centuries, completed the breakdown of royal authority.” (Popkin, p. 30)
The map shows the spread of movements throughout the Great Fear. It shows individual riots in certain centers spread outwards elsewhere in the countryside throughout the vast majority of the country. The Great Fear spread through all different carriers travelling across France who would repeat and elaborate on rumors they’d heard. Rumors were easily spread and believed; terror became common and those who didn’t believe would often become suspect themselves. (Lefebvre, 149) Literacy and rationalism helped certain areas protect themselves from the rapidly spreading paranoia. (Markoff, p. 411) (Literacy, it should be noted, came primarily through church-provided education, which served initially to sway much of the French catholic peasantry to the side of the King, primarily because of his expressed sympathy for Church amid new restrictions, which the peasants also viewed as unjust.) Most riots were not violent; the goal of the rioters was always the destruction of manorial house ledgers detailing tax documents.
Feudalism
Before one can comment on the outcomes of the Fear, one must acquaint themselves with the political, social, and economic realities which prevailed in France in the latter half of the 18th century. The years immediately prior to the Great Fear were fraught with natural disasters and economic struggles. In 1785 wages began to decline, and while the cost of living had gone up, wages had stayed down, making life even harder for the peasantry. The population of France was booming; the 18th century saw a 33 percent increase in population, meaning by 1789, there were roughly 28 million French citizens, a majority of whom, were peasants. (Jones, p.15) The sudden rise in labor supply led to a spike in unemployment, which was only aggravated by a series of droughts, torrential rains, and cold weather. Many farmers couldn’t afford to farm the land, pay their dues, and have enough to feed their family on the income from farming along, and often sought other means of employment, all of which had disappeared in the economic crisis. (Jones, p. 15, 16) As farmers repeatedly lost their crops and were forced to slaughter their livestock, the agricultural economy weakened, and the widespread hatred for feudalism, particularly manorial dues, was inflamed. (Jones, p. 16) Beggars became a commonplace occurrence, and in some places were feared more so than the brigands (see: Aristocratic Conspiracy) because of their affinity for torching crops if farmers denied them assistance. (Lefebvre, p. 144-145) The cessation of food shipments to the countryside became frequent, and food shortages and starvation became the norm across the countryside. (Lefebvre, 144) Furthermore, April of 1789 saw a wildfire of agrarian revolts, insurrections and uprisings of the lower class across the countryside in protest of the aristocracy, who they blamed for the increasing manorial dues. (Lefebvre, 146) While on the most part not violent, these revolts saw the emergence of the trend of burning manorial houses which dominated the Fear. The significant result of these uprisings was not only that the peasantry were politically aware and frustrated with their situation, but that they were finally willing/able to do something to change it. (Lefebvre, 142). The immediate effect of all these hardships was instability, which quickly began to run rampant and characterize the experience of many in the French countryside, (and cities, though in a different manner).
The image by Basset, entitled, in English, Born for Pain, depicts a peasant toiling in the fields to support himself, and pay his taxes to his lord. Taxes imposed on the peasantry were harsh, took most of their harvest, and rose significantly in the last years of the Ancien Regime. Many peasants grew increasingly angry at the lords for collecting the dues despite a starving populace. This anger would ultimately cumulate in riots which targeted manorial houses to burn ledgers and documents containing the records of due collections and payments.
The increasing taxes in the last years of the Ancien Regime were particularly influential in shaping and promotingthe growing hatred of the seigneurial system. (Jones, p. 15-16) Arthur Young, an Englishman who traversed the countryside on the eve of its revolution, and documented his findings, reported on the abysmal condition’s peasants worked in on the farms. (Young, Métayers) His reports detail the experience of a French peasant working the land in a way that contrasts that of English workers; French farms are divided into much smaller parcels so as to keep the workers oppressed.
“At the first blush, the great disadvantage of the métaying system is to landlords; but, on a nearer examination, the tenants are found in the lowest state of poverty, and some of them in misery. …[I] pity sincerely the poor people… with all this misery among the farmers, the landlord's situation may be estimated by the rents he receives…In Limousin, the métayers [person who works the land] are considered as little better than menial servants, removable at pleasure, and obliged to conform in all things to the will of the landlords; it is commonly computed that half the tenantry are deeply in debt to the proprietor, so that he is often obliged to turn them off with the loss of these debts, in order to save his land from running waste.” (Young, V. Métayers)
Young demonstrates how the system in France was designed to deliberately oppress and marginalize the peasant class. His writings come at a time where antagonistic sentiments towards feudalism were reaching their height, spurred on by a crowd upset at the lack of governmental acknowledgement and support. The peasants had reported their grievances with the seigneurial system, in great detail. (Kessel, Cahiers from Rural Districts: Attack on Seigneurial Dues) Their most significant grievance was primarily with the lords, who were supposed to be their protectors, but were now their creditors. (Kessel) Silence from the government only left the peasantry more desperate, and angry. Now, however, both the government and the lords felt the brunt of their anger, and the Great Fear proved to be just the beginning of the introduction of the peasantry into the Revolution.
The “Aristocratic Conspiracy”
The idea of an ‘aristocratic conspiracy’ was just that: peasants grew increasingly paranoid that bands of brigands, sponsored by foreign powers, were coming to torch their lands, destroy their livelihoods, and starve them out. (Lefebvre, p. 143) Riding high on the back of a wave of anti-government sentiment, the economic crisis and inaction on the part of the government to address the concerns of the peasants only reinforced the hatred for the aristocracy. (Lefebvre, p. 143) Furthermore, upon news that the King had given his support for resistance against the aristocrats, throughout the duration of the attacks on the manorial houses, the peasants believed they were acting on the wishes of the King, who they viewed as also ‘good’, and therefore also deceived by the lords and aristocrats. (Lefebvre,p. 143) Their problem was not with the King, but with the manorial lords who were seen as deceitful and greedy. Faced with inaction on the part of the government and lords supposed to protect them, peasants took matters into their own hands. Bands of armed peasant men went out in search of brigands, and mistook each other for the feared enemy, returning to their village to verify existing and create new rumors about the plot.
Works Cited
Basset, Paul-André. Né pour la peine. 1789, Etching. Vinck collection, Stanford Digital Repository. From: Stanford Digital Repository, From https://purl.stanford.edu/ , (accessed 21 April 2020).
Lefebvre, G. and Palmer, R., 1975. "The Agrarian Revolts and the Great Fear." In: The Coming Of The French Revolution. Princeton (N.J.): Princeton University Press, pp.142-150, From https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs32r9b.16.
Llewellyn, Jennifer, and Steve Thompson. “The Great Fear.” French Revolution, Alpha History, 22 Sept. 2019, From alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/great-fear/.
Jones, Peter. 1989. “The Peasants’ Revolt? (Cover Story).”History Today 39 (5): 15–19. From: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csbsju.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=8908280542&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Markoff, J., 1996. The Abolition Of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords, And Legislators In The French Revolution. Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press. From: https://csbsju.on.worldcat.org/oclc/33897568, (Accessed: 4 May, 2020).
Popkin, J., 2015. A Short History Of The French Revolution. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Young, Arthur. Travels during the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789, vol. 1. 1787, 402–17. From: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: Exploring the French Revolution, https://revolution.chnm.org/items/show/495 (accessed 21 April 2020).