*The Cake of the Kings*, caricature, 1815

Order & differentiate

To differentiate means to divide into categories. People were assessed according to many different critieria: by sex, class, religion, property or ethnicity. The levels of significance attributed to the various categories changed over time: sometimes they were more, sometimes less relevant, but they always had an effect on many aspects of a person’s life. Whole territories were also categorized and shared out.