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 General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 407 result was that there were in Germany in the eighteenth century hundreds of nobles dwelling in strong old castles and ruling with a high hand domains which were sometimes no larger than a big American farm. They levied taxes, held courts, coined money, and maintained standing armies of perhaps only a handful of soldiers. 705. The King the Chief Noble. In all the countries of Europe the chief noble was, of course, the monarch himself, to whose favor almost all the lesser nobles owed their titles and rank. On the whole, the king merited the respect paid him. He had put a stop to the private warfare and feudal brigandage which had disgraced the Middle Ages. He it was who had destroyed the power of innumerable lesser despots and created something like a nation. 706. The Clergy a Privileged Class. In addition to the nobles, the clergy, especially in Catholic countries, formed a privileged class, which was even more powerful and better organized than the nobility. They still enjoyed many rights and immunities which set them off from the people at large. We have seen how the government during the Middle Ages depended on the clergy to write out its documents and decrees, for they alone were educated, and how the higher clergy came to play a prominent part in the affairs of state and to act as counselors to the king. Moreover, they controlled the vast wealth of the Church, which had gradually accumulated through gifts of money and lands. The archbishops, bishops, and abbots were in the eighteenth cen- tury fond of living at the king's court, supported in luxury by the income from their great estates, and had in many cases the rights of feudal lords. On the other hand, many of the poor parish priests could hardly subsist on their meager and uncertain in- comes. The Church, however, did not rely for its support en- tirely upon the revenue from its extensive domains, but imposed a regular tax on everyone the tithe, which all were forced to pay whether they wished to or not. 707. Powers of the Church in the Eighteenth Century. In spite of the changes which had overtaken it, the Church remained in the eighteenth century a powerful and impressive institution.