What was the cause of the tensions and conflicts within the Old Regime on the eve of the revolution?
             Tensions and conflicts within the Old Regime had developed over the many centuries of its use, and originated from many different areas. Perhaps most importantly, tensions arose from the complex set of privileges and rights that were enforced by the monarchy, nobility and clergy.
             These privileges were extensive, and were divided very unfairly. The nobility gained the most from the system of privilege under the ancien regime, and by the time of the revolution were the most powerful Estate in France; not just financially, but politically and geographically dominant.
             With rare exceptions, nobles were exempt from or managed to evade most taxes. They got special treatment in the courts of law, and if found guilty of a capital offence a noble had the 'right' to be beheaded. In civil suits, nobles were given the benefit of the doubt. They also enjoyed the right of chasse (hunting), which meant they could ride over the peasant's crops at will. Most importantly, nobles received feudal dues from the peasants on their land. Some peasants were exempt, but in general the rule was "No land without a Lord"1.
             These privileges made the nobility the most hated and despised Estate. This hatred between the peasantry and the nobles was very important, as it was the violent protests and riots by the peasantry that truly fuelled the revolution.
             There was also much tension between the nobles and the richer middle-class; the bourgeoisie. The nobles by the time of the revolution had a "de facto monopoly on office in the royal administration and the judiciary"2. The parlements were entirely staffed by nobles of the robe (noblesse de robe), and all the members of the upper clergy were nobles. They also had an exclusive right to officer's commissions in the army. This was the subject of ...