5:40 am Yesterday I finally returned to the book "Citizens" by Simon Schama. I was delighted with my approach to note-taking, particularly the use of Inspiration to create a chart of the overall situation of Learning about the French Revolution. For me, it is important to play with alternative representations of my understanding. Thus the chart provides a visual overview of the topic and reminds me of the overall situation, focusing on the key people and events as well as on a triparte structure of causes-description-results. Another feature of this chart is that it will show my growth in understanding over time as each day will highlight the new additions in bold.

Now for a comment on memory. Mine is not so good when it comes to topics that I do not use regularly (such as history). When I began making my notes yesterday I could not recall much of what I had read a few months ago. I also could not locate a table that I remembered creating that provided a form of time map of events. Late yesterday evening I located the table which I should have been able to find easily by simply referring to my Notes index. My problem was that I assumed that my notes from before had been created using a different structure and a separate web site for each topic. But it turns out that my new approach to the web site began at the beginning of June of this year and coincided with my earlier attempt to begin reading "Citizens". In any event, the real issue is how little I remembered about the book. And the remedy is equally obvious. I need to establish some form of regular review.

Further to this, I need to recognize the huge difference between recognition and recall. It is easy to reread something and say, "I remember this." It is much more difficult, and much more important, to be able to recreate totally from memory, the important points. Thus I should begin each session with an attempt to identify the key people and events as well as important points about the historical setting (aka causes of the Revolution). And by making this explicit, I will also have an audit trail of my Learning path. To begin, totally from memory:

• Key people
  • Lafayette
  • Talleyrand
  • Louis XVI
  • Vergennes (Foreign Minister)
  • Turgot (Controller-General) [Finance]
• Key events
  • Seven Years War (Dates?)
  • Coronation of Louis XVI in 1763 (?)
• Setting
  • France's economy is very weak. It has spent a huge amount of money supporting the American War of Independence and has committed itself to having both a large army and a large navy.
  • The American War of Independence had a large influence on the French idea of fighting for liberty.

Now to "mark"the above effort by comparing it with my notes as well as with a quick skim of the first chapter. Excellent! I have all of the important names from the first chapter and have actually added 2 events and one setting that are not on my chart.

I need to check the dates for the Seven Years War as well as the coronation of Louis XVI. Using Google and the Web makes this easy.

Google: "Seven Years War" France Britain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years'_War This occurred from 1756 - 1763.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007300

Google: Louis XVI coronation France

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/browse/timeline/ The coronation took place in 1775, one year after he became king following the death of Louis XV.

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/235/

I am having difficulty getting some of my dates firmly in mind. The Seven Years War was from 1756 to 1763. This was the war that is critical to Canadian history, as this was when Britain took control of the French colonies in North America. Wolfe defeats Montcalm at Quebec in 1759. Louis XVI becomes king in 1774 and has his coronation in 1775. This is the same year that the American War of Independence began.

Finally, after reading the chapter yesterday and making my notes, I then located the table that I recalled making in June. I will copy & paste it into my notes at this point as I feel it provides an excellent time chart for the events leading up to the Revolution. I will then continue to add to it as I continue reading the book. The table originally appeared in the June 21 journal entry and includes notes for the first 4 chapters of "Citizens". I have changed the background of some entries to yellow to highlight those as "more important".

"The Parlements were 13 sovereign courts of law, sitting in Paris and provincial centers, each comprising a body of noble judges that, in different Parlements, numbered from 50 to 130."

They handled both criminal and civil cases and acted as censors of theatre and literature and as guardians of social and moral propriety. "they also shared with the King's bureaucrats ... administrative responsibility for provisioning cities, setting prices in times of dearth and policing markets and fairs."

The robins (the judicial nobility of the 'robe') `were intensely self-concious of their collective dignity and jealous of any attempts to encroach on their local authority.'

105

106

indecisive and unpopular

his fiscal policies became more aggressive following each of his major wars

"Since the 1750's the tone of Parlementaire resistance to royal policy had been irate vehemence. ... it represented a concerted effort to replace the unconfined absolutism of Louis XIV with a more 'constitutional' monarchy."

"As the disputes with the Parlements over religious and tax policies at the end of his reign became more acrimonious, so the King became more adamantly absolutist."

100

103

Malesherbes and Turgot were 2 of the most powerful men in France.

He was very popular.

he tried to constrain rather then enforce the authority of absolutism and supported fundamental liberties such as freedom of the press and unfair taxation

"Much of Malesherbes' urging that the King should give public demonstrations of a new candor and public-spiritedness fell on deaf ears, or was defeated by the claims of traditional decorum..."

100

102

Privilege was defined as various forms of tax exemption.

Under Louis XVI "the crown's own position with regard to privilege was deeply ambiguous" On one hand it wanted to extend its control over the bureaucrats but on the other it wanted to extend the number of privileges because of the money it received.

"Privilege was not a monopoly of the nobility."

"the reasons for promotion were service, talent and merit. ... At the very heart of the French elite, then, was a capitalist nobility of immense significance to the future of the national economy."

115

118

Venality was the sale and purchase of office. This was "more deeply and broadly rooted in France than in any other major power in Europe."

emphasized the value of the spoken word over that of the printed word and this became highly prized during the Revolution.

the Revolutionaries emulated the great Roman orators (Cicero, Senaca, Cato)

"... the costs of Vergennes global strategy policy brought on the terminal crisis of the French monarchy"

"No other European power attempted to support both a major continental army and a transcontinental navy at the same time."

"More than any inequity in a society based on priviledge, or the violent cycles of famine that visited France in the 1780's, the Revolution was occasioned by these decisions of state."

"The causes of the French Revolution were located deep within the structure of the society that preceded it."

It is at the top, rather than in any imaginary middle of French society, that the cultured roots of the revolution should be sought."

The revolution did not create French patriotism, rather it gave the patriotism an opportunity to define itself in terms of 'liberty'."

6

40

The above table contains information on the first 4 chapters of "Citizens" which I first created in June. At the moment I am rereading the book and am about to begin chapter 2. I have three different forms of notes: an Inspiration chart, the above table, and a set of important quotations from the book.

While Googling "French Revolution" in order to get the dates, I noticed this web site:

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/

This contains a set of notes which closely parallels the notes that I am creating. I might take that as a sign that I am on the right track. But this does raise the question of whether it makes sense to create my own notes or should I simply read the notes that have been prepared by others.

This chapter focuses on the economic difficulties of France in the period when Louis XVI first became king. It describes the efforts of Turgot and Necker to rectify matters, but they both were relieved of their office after a short, unpopular term.

Now to add a few items to my Inspiration chart.

9:15 am