Editing History of France (section)

=== Ancien Regime ===
{{Main|Ancien Régime}}

France's population was 13 million people in 1484 and 20 million in 1700. It had the second largest population in Europe around 1700. France's lead slowly faded after 1700, as other countries grew faster.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goubert |first=Pierre |title=The Ancien Régime |date=1973 |pages=2–9 |author-link=Pierre Goubert}}</ref>

Political power was widely dispersed. The law courts ("Parlements") were powerful. However, the king had only about 10,000 officials in royal service – very few indeed for such a large country, and with very slow internal communications over an inadequate road system. Travel was usually faster by ocean ship or river boat.<ref name="autogenerated5"/> The different [[estates of the realm]] — the clergy, the nobility, and commoners — occasionally met together in the "[[Estates General (France)|Estates General]]", but in practice the Estates General had no power, for it could petition the king but could not pass laws.

[[Catholic Church in France|The Catholic Church]] controlled about 40% of the wealth. The king (not the pope) nominated bishops, but typically had to negotiate with noble families that had close ties to local monasteries and church establishments. The nobility came second in terms of wealth, but there was no unity. Each noble had his own lands, his own network of regional connections, and his own military force.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{Cite book |last=Baumgartner |first=Frederick J. |title=France in the Sixteenth Century |date=1995 |pages=4–7}}</ref>

The cities had a quasi-independent status, and were largely controlled by the leading merchants and guilds. Peasants made up the vast majority of the population, who in many cases had well-established rights that the authorities had to respect. In the 17th century peasants had ties to the market economy, provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town).<ref name="amazon1991">{{Cite journal |last=Collins |first=James B. |title=Geographic and Social Mobility in Early-modern France |journal=[[Journal of Social History]] |date=1991 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=563–577 |doi=10.1353/jsh/24.3.563 |jstor=3787815 |issn=0022-4529}} For the ''Annales'' interpretation see {{Cite book |last=Goubert |first=Pierre |title=The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century |date=1986 |author-link=Pierre Goubert}}</ref>
Although most peasants in France spoke local dialects, an official language emerged in Paris and the [[French language#Modern French|French language]] became the preferred language of Europe's aristocracy and the [[lingua franca]] of diplomacy and international relations. Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] quipped, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Santayana |first1=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCobBRiv3_MC&pg=PA299 |title=The letters of George Santayana |last2=Holzberger |first2=William G. |date=31 July 2008 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-2621-9571-3 |volume=1948–1952, Book 8 |page=299 |author-link=George Santayana}}</ref>