First Estate
From Conservapedia
The First Estate was a social level in pre-revolutionary France. It consisted of the "higher" and "lower" clergy, and owned about 10% of the land,[1] upon which no property tax was payable.
Their responsibilities included the registration of births, marriages and deaths; collecting tithes; they censored books and served as the moral police; ran schools and hospitals; and distributed relief to the destitute.
See Also