Chamber of Peers (France)

Last updated
Chamber of Peers

Chambre des Pairs
Coat of Arms of the July Monarchy (1831-48).svg
Type
Type
History
FoundedJune 4, 1814 (1814-06-04)
DisbandedFebruary 24, 1848 (1848-02-24)
Preceded by Sénat conservateur
Succeeded by Senate
Structure
Political groups
Ultra-royalists
Liberal royalists
Republicans
Independents
Doctrinaires
Meeting place
Chambre Des Pairs (1841).jpg
Luxembourg Palace, Paris
Constitution
Charter of 1814
Charter of 1815
Charter of 1830

The Chamber of Peers (French : Chambre des pairs) was the upper house of the French parliament from 1814 to 1848.

Contents

History

The Peerage of France was recreated by the Charter of 1814 at the same time as the Bourbon Restoration, albeit on a different basis from that of the ancien regime before 1789. [1] A new Chamber of Peers was created which was similar to the British House of Lords, and it met at the Palais du Luxembourg. This new Chamber of Peers acted as the upper house of the French parliament. Like the House of Lords, the Chamber of Peers also had a judicial function, being authorized to judge peers and other prominent people. As such, it sentenced Marshal Ney to death. [2]

To begin with, the Chamber had 154 members, including the holders of all surviving pre-Revolutionary ecclesiastical (Reims, Langres, and Châlons) and lay peerages, except for the Duchy of Aubigny, which was held by a foreigner, the British Duke of Richmond. Thirteen peers were also prelates.

New members were appointed by the French king, without limit on their numbers. [3] Such a peerage was either granted for life or was heritable, at the king's will. All men of the royal family and all descendants in the male line of previous kings (princes du sang) were members of the chamber by birth (pairs-nés), but nevertheless needed explicit permission from the king to sit at each session of the chamber.

At the outset comprising only hereditary peers and certain prelates of the church, the Chamber became a body to which men were appointed for life following the July Revolution of 1830. In the Revolution of 1848, the Chamber of Peers was disbanded and the peerage of France was abolished.

Famous members

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Marie Jean Jacques Dupin</span>

André Marie Jean Jacques Dupin, commonly called Dupin the Elder, was a French advocate, president of the chamber of deputies and of the Legislative Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peerage of France</span> Title of honor within the French nobility

The Peerage of France was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Laffitte</span> French banker (1767–1844)

Jacques Laffitte was a leading French banker, governor of the Bank of France (1814–1820) and liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy. He was an important figure in the development of new banking techniques during the early stages of industrialization in France. In politics, he played a decisive role during the Revolution of 1830 that brought Louis-Philippe, the duc d'Orléans, to the throne, replacing the unpopular Bourbon king Charles X. Laffitte was named president of the new Citizen King's Council of Ministers and Minister of Finances. After a brief ministry of 131 days, his "Party of Movement" gave way before the "Party of Order" led by the banker Casimir-Pierre Périer. Laffitte left office discredited politically and financially ruined. He rebounded financially in 1836 with his creation of the Caisse Générale du Commerce et de l'Industrie, a forerunner of French investment banks of the second half of the 19th century such as the Crédit Mobilier (1852). The Caisse Générale did not survive the financial crisis caused by the Revolution of 1848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July Monarchy</span> Kingdom governing France, 1830–1848

The July Monarchy, officially the Kingdom of France, was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under Louis Philippe I, starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 February 1848, with the Revolution of 1848. It marks the end of the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830). It began with the overthrow of the conservative government of Charles X, the last king of the main line House of Bourbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senate (France)</span> Upper house of the French Parliament

The Senate is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators elected by part of the country's local councillors, as well as by representatives of French citizens living abroad. Senators have six-year terms, with half of the seats up for election every three years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Étienne-Denis Pasquier</span> French politician (1767–1862)

Étienne-Denis, duc de Pasquier, Chancelier de France,, was a French statesman. In 1842, he was elected a member of the Académie française, and in the same year was created a duke by Louis-Philippe.

The Ultra-royalists were a French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Catholicism as the state and only legal religion of France, the Bourbon monarchy, traditional hierarchy between classes and census suffrage, while rejecting the political philosophy of popular will and the interests of the bourgeoisie along with their liberal and democratic tendencies.

During the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Doctrinals were a group of French royalists who hoped to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revolution and power with liberty. Headed by Royer-Collard, these liberal royalists were in favor of a constitutional monarchy, but with a heavily restricted census suffrage—Louis XVIII, who had been restored to the throne, had granted a Charter to the French with a Chamber of Peers and a Chamber of Deputies elected under tight electoral laws. The Doctrinaires were a centrist, as well as a conservative-liberal group, but at that time, liberal was considered to be the mainstream political left, so the group was considered a centre-left group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Joseph Maison</span> French military officer

Nicolas Joseph Maison, 1st Marquis of Maison was a French military officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and as commander of the Morea expedition during the Greek War of Independence. He was made a Marshal of France in 1829 and served as Minister of War from 1835 to 1836.

The Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825–1830) was a French law against blasphemy and sacrilege passed in April 1825 under King Charles X. The death penalty provision of the law was never applied, but a man named François Bourquin was sentenced to perpetual forced labour for the sacrilegious burglary of Eucharistic objects; the law was later revoked at the beginning of the July Monarchy under King Louis-Philippe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Harcourt</span> Norman noble family

The House of Harcourt is a Norman family, and named after its seigneurie of Harcourt in Normandy. Its mottos were "Gesta verbis praeveniant", "Gesta verbis praevenient", and "Le bon temps viendra ... de France".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis</span>

Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis, second duke of Lévis, peer of France, was a French politician, aphorist, and soldier. At the French Revolution he was a deputy of the National Constituent Assembly. He published several books and was a member of the Académie française.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second White Terror</span> 1815 persecution of French revolutionaries following the return of King Louis XVIII to power

The Second White Terror occurred in France in 1815–1816, following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the enthronement of Louis XVIII as King of France after the Hundred Days. Suspected sympathizers of the French Revolution, Republicans, Bonapartists and, to a minor degree, Protestants, suffered persecution. Several hundred were killed by angry mobs or executed after a quick trial at a drumhead court-martial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military governor of Paris</span> French army post

The military governor of Paris is a post within the French Army. He commands the garrison of Paris and represents all the military based in Paris at high state occasions. He is also responsible for organizing major national ceremonies such as the Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Élysées.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial</span>

Philibert-Jean-Baptiste François Joseph, comte Curial was a general in the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Mérilhou</span>

Joseph Mérilhou was a French lawyer, magistrate and politician. He was Minister of Public Education and Religious Affairs, and then Minister of Justice in the Cabinet of Jacques Laffitte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambroise-Polycarpe de La Rochefoucauld</span>

Ambroise-Polycarpe, Vicomte de La Rochefoucauld GE, first Duke of Doudeauville, was a French soldier and politician. He was Minister of the Royal Household from 1821 to 1827.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre-François Audry de Puyraveau</span> French politician

Pierre-François Audry, called Audry de Puyraveau was a French politician. He was a deputy during the Bourbon Restoration. He played a key role in the July Revolution, and was a deputy during the July Monarchy. In his old age he was a Representative in the Constituent Assembly after the Revolution of 1848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James</span>

Édouard de Fitz-James, 6th Duke of Fitz-James was a French soldier, politician, Peer of France, and 6th Duke of Fitz-James, who descended from the British House of Stuart.

References

  1. "Constitutional Charter of 1814". www.napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  2. Lefler, Hugh T. (1937). "Review of Marshal Ney: A Dual Life". The North Carolina Historical Review. 14 (4): 395–398. ISSN   0029-2494.
  3. "1814-1830 : La Chambre des Pairs de la Restauration". Sénat (in French). Retrieved 2024-01-23.