what were the issues between the first,second,and third estates?

Question

Explain please.im lost on this ques.

Answer 1

Feudal society was traditionally divided into three "estates" (social classes). The "First Estate" was the Church (clergy = those who prayed). The "Second Estate" was the Nobility (those who fought = knights). It was common for aristocrats to enter the Church and thus shift from the second to the first estate. The "Third Estate" was the Peasantry (everyone else, at least under feudalism: those who produced the food which supported those who prayed and those who fought, the members of the First and Second Estates). Note that these "estates" are defined primarily by what one does (as well as by the social class one is born into).

Women were classified differently. Like men, medieval women were born into the second or third estate, and might eventually become members of the first (by entering the Church, willingly or not). But women were also categorized according to three specifically "feminine estates": virgin, wife and widow. It is interesting to note that a woman's estate was determined not by her profession but by her sexual activity: she is defined in relationship to the men with whom she sleeps, used to sleep, or never has slept.

The rigid division of society into the three traditional "estates" begins to break down in the later Middle Ages. By the late fourteenth century, we see the rise of a mercantile class (mercantile = merchants) in the cities, i.e. an urban middle-class, as well as a new subdivision of the clergy: intellectuals trained in literature and writing (and thus "clerics" like Chaucer's Clerk), but who were not destined to a professional career within the Church. Chaucer arguably belonged to both of these new categories. What biographical details may have made him particularly sensitive to issues of social class? (Review the lyric poem "Gentilesse"; what does the line repeated at the end of each verse have to say about this issue?)

Answer 2

In France:

1st Estate - Clergy
2nd Estate - Nobility
3rd Estate - Everyone else, INCLUDING wealthy businessmen and the middle class.

The 3rd Estate had problems with the first two estates primarily because the first two estates were the minority of France and in charge of the country itself (plus, nobility and some high ranking clerics were immune to taxation). The 3rd Estate was the overwhelming majority of France; not just the peasants but of all classes of society. If you can do this, read Abbe Seyes' essay "What is the Third Estate?" Yes, there were lower clerics who were grouped into the 3rd Estate.