Abolishing Church Authority, 1789

Entitled: Le mea culpa du Prince Lambesc - sans restitution point de salut. Shows three men representing the nobility, the clergy, and the third estate meeting beneath a tree against which is sitting Prince de Lambesc, while workmen demolish the Bastille in the background. May symbolize the renunciation of feudal and signeurial rights in the National Assembly on August 4, 1789. The Church composed the First Estate with 130, 000 members of the clergy. When the National Assembly was later created in June 1789 by the Third Estate, the clergy voted to join them, which perpetuated the destruction of the Estates General as a governing body. The National Assembly began to enact social and economic reform. Legislation sanctioned on August 4, 1789 abolished the Church's authority to impose the tithe. In an attempt to address the financial crisis, the Assembly declared, on November 2, 1789, that the property of the Church was at the disposal of the nation. They used this property to back a new currency, the assignats. Thus, the nation had now also taken on the responsibility of the Church, which included paying the clergy and caring for the poor, the sick and the orphaned. Legislation abolished monastic vows and on February 13, 1790 all religious orders were dissolved. Monks and nuns were encouraged to return to private life and a small percentage did eventually marry. No artist credited, dated 1789

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13345601

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47788082

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3498px x 4050px (4.9MB)

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