French peasants

The word peasant, while having no universally accepted meaning, is used here to describe subsistence farming throughout the Middle Ages, often smallholders or those paying rent to landlords, and rural workers in general.

Rising inequality and financial management in France during the late 18th century eventually motivated peasants to revolt and destroy the feudal system.

By the middle of the 16th century, France's demographic growth, its increased demand for consumer goods, and its rapid influx of gold and silver from Africa and the Americas led to inflation (grain became five times as expensive from 1520 to 1600), and wage stagnation.

The monetary crisis led France to abandon (in 1577) the livre as its money of account, in favor of the écu in circulation, and banning most foreign currencies.

Financial crises hit the royal household repeatedly, and so in 1523, Francis I established a government bond system in Paris, the "rentes sure l'Hôtel de Ville".

[9] Modernization of the traditional/subsistence farming sector began in the 1940s, and resulted in a rapid depopulation of rural France, although protectionist measures remained national policy.

By 1978, France was the world leader in per capita ownership of second homes and L’Express reported an "irresistible infatuation of the French for the least Norman thatched house, Cévenol sheep barn or the most modest Provençal farmhouse.

"[11] Numerous organizations since the 1930s have emerged to preserve and enhance the position of the small farm in France, with a wide range of ideological approaches from far left to far right.

Documentaries celebrated the enormous power of modern machinery and electrification, while fictional dramas portrayed the joy of city dwellers who returned to the wholesome atmosphere of the country.