Estates-General

Estates-General, in France of the pre-Revolution monarchy, the representative assembly of the three “estates,” or orders of the realm: the clergy (First Estate) and nobility (Second Estate)—which were privileged minorities—and the Third Estate, which represented the majority of the people.

The origins of the Estates-General are to be found in traditions of counsel and aid and the development of corporate representation in the 13th century. The first national assembly of representatives of the three estates met at Notre-Dame in Paris on April 10, 1302, to discuss the conflict between Philip IV (the Fair) and Pope Boniface VIII. The assembly stood firmly by the king, and the meeting was followed by a nationwide survey of public opinion. In 1308 the three estates were assembled in Tours to consider the suppression of the Templars, and they were convened repeatedly over subsequent years, notably after Louis X’s death in 1316, when the royal succession and fiscal matters dominated the agenda. In 1320 the estates gathered at Pontoise and Poitiers, on both occasions refusing to grant Philip V a subsidy to bolster the royal coffers.

The Hundred Years’ War brought representative institutions to the fore on both sides of the English Channel, but by that time it had become clear that the estates were too unwieldy (and too unyielding) to become an organ of consent for the French monarchy. In 1355 the Estates-General was convened in Paris by John II to raise funds to continue the war against England. That phase of the war concluded when France suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Poitiers (September 19, 1356), and John was captured by the English. Tasked with raising the funds to pay the king’s ransom, the Estates-General seized the opportunity to propose reforms, but those efforts were rebuffed by the dauphin, Charles (later Charles V). Étienne Marcel, a prominent Paris merchant, launched an ill-fated bid to compel Charles to submit to the Estates-General. Marcel’s machinations culminated in the Jacquerie, a peasant uprising that was brutally suppressed in 1358. Marcel was assassinated in July of that year. Absolutism was in the ascent as the crown resumed complete control. The little power that remained with the estates was wielded at the local level, as provincial assemblies were easier to attend and manage as well as better at adhering to regional custom. Louis XI convened the Estates-General only once, at Tours in 1468. After his death, the Estates-General met at Tours in 1484. This was an important assembly, comprising more than 250 people and including for the first time representatives of rural areas. It achieved little, however, and the crown failed to keep its promise to assemble the estates again in 1486. Louis XII summoned the Estates-General just once during his 17-year reign.

By the end of the 15th century the Estates-General could be said to have acquired its main characteristics, but it was not, nor would it ever become, an institution. Because the kings had already levied a permanent direct tax throughout France (the taille), they were able to get along without the Estates-General in normal times after 1500. Francis I, who reigned from 1515 to 1547, never summoned the Estates-General, which thereafter met only in times of crisis, such as during the Wars of Religion in the late 16th century. The Estates-General of 1614, held during the minority of Louis XIII, revealed one of the body’s major weaknesses—the inability of the three orders to agree because of conflicting interests. The Third Estate refused to consent to the abolition of the sale of offices unless the nobles surrendered some of their privileges, and the meeting ended without action. Moreover, the Third Estate had been undermined by its members’ tendency to enter the nobility through the magistracy or through official functions (noblesse de robe).

The next and last meeting of the Estates-General was at the beginning of the French Revolution (1789), in the face of a financial crisis, widespread agitation, and the weakening power of the king. The deputies of the Third Estate, fearing that they would be overruled by the two privileged orders in any attempt at reform, led in the formation of the revolutionary National Assembly (June 17), signaling the end of representation based on the traditional social classes.