French Revolution - Civil Constitution of the Clergy
By making public the document known as the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, in July 1790, the National Constituent Assembly drove away much of the support for the Revolution within France.
It alienated the highly religious Catholic population of France, as priests were now forced to swear oaths of loyalty to the nation, rather than being loyal to the Church and to the Pope. Read the summary at Alpha History, and take note of the 5 key points at the bottom of the page. Then, read through the actual document and highlight the main articles that you think are most controversial. If you were a Catholic priest at the time, would you have taken the oath? Why? |
Summary of the Document: http://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/civil-constitution-of-the-clergy/
Civil Constitution of the Clergy (Translated Document): history.hanover.edu/texts/civilcon.html |