History glossary
clergy
the ordained religious officials of the Church, including priests, bishops, monks, and nuns.
- Category
- Social group
- Region
- France
- Date range
- Old regime and Revolution
What it means
The clergy were the religious officials of the Catholic Church. In old-regime France they formed the First Estate, held major privileges, and became divided during the Revolution over loyalty to the state and the pope.
Related terms
Stories using this term
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The Holocaust
From legal discrimination to genocide, the Holocaust traces twelve years of escalating persecution that killed six million Jews and millions of others across Nazi-occupied Europe.
The Roman Empire
From Augustus to the fall of the Western Empire, Rome built a vast imperial system whose law, cities, armies and ideas shaped the ancient and medieval worlds.
The Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were the peoples and kingdoms that shaped Anglo-Saxon England after the end of Roman rule in Britain. From migration and settlement in Anglo-Saxon Britain to Christian conversion, Viking attacks, Alfred the Great, and the road to 1066, Anglo-Saxon history explains how early medieval England took form. Their language, laws, kingdoms, monasteries, and political traditions left a lasting mark on English identity before the Norman Conquest transformed the realm.
The Elizabethan Age
Elizabeth I’s reign brought stability, cultural flourishing, exploration, and victory over the Spanish Armada.
The English Civil War
Civil war between king and Parliament led to regicide, a republic, and lasting constitutional change.
The English Reformation
Henry VIII’s break with Rome reshaped religion, politics, and identity through decades of upheaval.
