WEBVTT

1
00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:24.679
<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to Western SIEV Episode four hundred and

2
00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:30.640
<v Speaker 1>eighty nine The Estates General. The year was seventeen eighty nine. France,

3
00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.920
<v Speaker 1>as we know, was broke. Louis the sixteenth. Ministers had

4
00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:39.359
<v Speaker 1>spent years trying to patch up the kingdom's finances, taxing nobles,

5
00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:43.280
<v Speaker 1>appealing to the parliaments, summoning the Assembly of notables, but

6
00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:48.799
<v Speaker 1>each effort collapsed against privilege and resistance. Finally, in desperation,

7
00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.799
<v Speaker 1>the king promised to call the Estates General, a representative

8
00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:57.600
<v Speaker 1>body that had not met since sixteen fourteen. Before we

9
00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:02.759
<v Speaker 1>go any further, however's examined the history of the Estates General.

10
00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.280
<v Speaker 1>The Estates General was not a revolutionary invention, nor even

11
00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:12.239
<v Speaker 1>a particularly modern one. Its roots lay deep in the

12
00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:17.040
<v Speaker 1>Middle Ages. In thirteen three, King Philip the Fourth, known

13
00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:20.280
<v Speaker 1>as Philip the Fair, found himself in a bitter struggle

14
00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:25.599
<v Speaker 1>with Pope Boniface the Eighth. To resist papal claims of supremacy,

15
00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.599
<v Speaker 1>he summoned representatives from across his kingdom, nobles, clergy and

16
00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:35.879
<v Speaker 1>commoners alike to meet in Paris. This gathering was not

17
00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:39.920
<v Speaker 1>called the Estates General at the time, but it marked

18
00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:44.599
<v Speaker 1>the first convocation of what would become that body. The

19
00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:50.079
<v Speaker 1>French word atat meant estate or order of society, and

20
00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.879
<v Speaker 1>French society itself was divided into three great estates, the

21
00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:00.239
<v Speaker 1>clergy first estate, the nobility second estate, and the commoners

22
00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:06.400
<v Speaker 1>third estate. Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Estates

23
00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:11.759
<v Speaker 1>General was summoned sporadically, usually in moments of crisis when

24
00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.439
<v Speaker 1>the crown required extraordinary support. They were not a standing

25
00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:21.199
<v Speaker 1>institution like the English Parliament. Rather, they were an occasional

26
00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:25.680
<v Speaker 1>council of the realm. Kings called them whenever they wanted

27
00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.639
<v Speaker 1>to legitimize a new tax or rally the nation behind

28
00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:33.719
<v Speaker 1>a cause. For example, during the One Hundred Years War,

29
00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:38.199
<v Speaker 1>assemblies of the Estates General approved subsidies to fund the

30
00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.800
<v Speaker 1>struggle against England. The Estates did not legislate in the

31
00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:47.439
<v Speaker 1>modern sense. They were an advisory body, and their approval

32
00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:53.000
<v Speaker 1>gave political cover to royal policies. The Estate's general influence

33
00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:58.280
<v Speaker 1>waxed and waned depending upon the monarchy's strength. Under weak

34
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:03.439
<v Speaker 1>kings or during national armorsurgencies, their voices carried weight. In

35
00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.840
<v Speaker 1>the thirteen fifties, during the captivity of King John the

36
00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.199
<v Speaker 1>Second after the Battle of Plotier. In the One Hundred

37
00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:14.080
<v Speaker 1>Years War, the Estates General tried to assert more control

38
00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:19.439
<v Speaker 1>over taxation and governance. Etien Marcel, the provost of the

39
00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.879
<v Speaker 1>Merchants of Paris, pushed for reforms, even donning the red

40
00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:26.840
<v Speaker 1>and blue hood of the Paris Commune as a sign

41
00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:31.199
<v Speaker 1>of popular resistance. But this early bid for parliamentary power

42
00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:37.520
<v Speaker 1>faltered amid division and violence. In the fifteenth century, under

43
00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:41.759
<v Speaker 1>Charles the seventh and Louis the eleventh, the monarchy gradually

44
00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:46.719
<v Speaker 1>reasserted itself, and the Estates General were summoned less frequently.

45
00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:51.319
<v Speaker 1>The growing power of the crown, supported by standing armies

46
00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:56.360
<v Speaker 1>and regular taxation such as the Tale, made royal reliance

47
00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:01.319
<v Speaker 1>on the estates less urgent. Indeed, by the sixteenth century,

48
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.800
<v Speaker 1>the Estates General had become almost a relic of an

49
00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:10.520
<v Speaker 1>earlier age. Still, they had not disappeared entirely. During the

50
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:14.280
<v Speaker 1>Wars of Religion in the late sixteenth century, the Estates

51
00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:18.160
<v Speaker 1>General met again, most notably in fifteen ninety three at

52
00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.759
<v Speaker 1>Blue Law, where the Catholic League attempted to block Angri

53
00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:27.120
<v Speaker 1>of Navarre from becoming King Henry the fourth. These sessions

54
00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.920
<v Speaker 1>showed that the estates could still serve as a stage

55
00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:35.600
<v Speaker 1>for national crises, though increasingly they were tools wielded by

56
00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:41.800
<v Speaker 1>factions rather than by partners and governance. The seventeenth century, however,

57
00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:46.199
<v Speaker 1>marked their eclipse. Louis the thirteenth summoned the Estates General

58
00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.279
<v Speaker 1>in sixteen fourteen, but this would prove to be their

59
00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:55.040
<v Speaker 1>last meeting for nearly two centuries. The Assembly of sixteen

60
00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:00.160
<v Speaker 1>fourteen revealed deep divisions between the Estates, the clergy. The

61
00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:05.680
<v Speaker 1>nobility resisted reforms well the Third Estate pushed unsuccessfully for

62
00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:11.360
<v Speaker 1>measures to curb privilege and ease burdens on commoners. When

63
00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:14.720
<v Speaker 1>the meeting broke up without significant change, it seemed to

64
00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.800
<v Speaker 1>confirm that the Estates General was too fractious to be useful,

65
00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:25.079
<v Speaker 1>and that brings us to seventeen eighty nine. Louis's announcement

66
00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.439
<v Speaker 1>that he would call the Estates General for the first

67
00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:32.439
<v Speaker 1>time in over a century electrified the kingdom. Suddenly, a

68
00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.160
<v Speaker 1>political horizon that had been closed for nearly two hundred

69
00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:41.079
<v Speaker 1>years was open again. Every village, parish and town prepared

70
00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:46.000
<v Speaker 1>as caher de dolrance grievance books in which subjects put

71
00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:51.680
<v Speaker 1>down their demands. The complaints filled thousands of pages Hesans

72
00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:56.399
<v Speaker 1>pleaded for an end to feudal dues. Artisans denounced monopolies,

73
00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:03.279
<v Speaker 1>merchants called for freer trade. Intellectuals urged constitutional limits on

74
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:10.160
<v Speaker 1>royal power. As the preparations began, a slim pamphlet struck

75
00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:14.519
<v Speaker 1>the public like a bolt of lightning. It was abbe

76
00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:19.600
<v Speaker 1>Emmanuel Joseph Sias, what is the third est State? When

77
00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:23.240
<v Speaker 1>writing this, his answer was blunt quote, what is the

78
00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.360
<v Speaker 1>third est state? Everything? What has it been until now?

79
00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:31.160
<v Speaker 1>In the political order? Nothing? What does it want to

80
00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:37.120
<v Speaker 1>be something? Saies argued that the nation was not the

81
00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.439
<v Speaker 1>king nor the privileged orders, but the third est state,

82
00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.720
<v Speaker 1>the common people themselves. His words gave voice to a

83
00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:51.600
<v Speaker 1>simmering frustration and raised expectations far beyond fiscal reform. On

84
00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:56.600
<v Speaker 1>May fifth, seventeen eighty nine, Versailles glittered with pomp as

85
00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.839
<v Speaker 1>Louis the sixteenth opened the Estates. General Hall was filled

86
00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:04.879
<v Speaker 1>with nearly twelve hundred deputies, two hundred and ninety one

87
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:09.319
<v Speaker 1>clergy in their black robes, two hundred and seventy nobles

88
00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.959
<v Speaker 1>adorned with swords and embroidery, and of course, five hundred

89
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.199
<v Speaker 1>and seventy eight deputies of the Third Estate mostly lawyers

90
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:22.839
<v Speaker 1>officials today we would call men of letters. The King

91
00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:28.720
<v Speaker 1>Solomon's ceremonial dress promised to restore prosperity, but poignantly, he

92
00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:33.879
<v Speaker 1>offered no plan. Crucially, he gave no guidance as to

93
00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:37.600
<v Speaker 1>the rules of voting. It had been almost two hundred

94
00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:42.439
<v Speaker 1>years no one knew exactly how the Estates General was

95
00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:47.519
<v Speaker 1>supposed to function. Remember this had never been a formal body.

96
00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.600
<v Speaker 1>It was called in times of crises, and nobody knew

97
00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.560
<v Speaker 1>exactly how it was supposed to operate. And this was

98
00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.920
<v Speaker 1>to prove the fault line. Would the estates vote separately,

99
00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:02.439
<v Speaker 1>as they had in sixteen fourteen, giving the clergy and

100
00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:06.519
<v Speaker 1>nobility two votes to the third estates one, or would

101
00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.360
<v Speaker 1>they vote head to head, which would give the more

102
00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:14.160
<v Speaker 1>populous Commons a majority the nobility and the higher clergy.

103
00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:18.639
<v Speaker 1>They clung to tradition well, of course, the commons demanded equality.

104
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:24.279
<v Speaker 1>Weeks dragged on in fruitless ceremony, Each estate withdrew to

105
00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:30.079
<v Speaker 1>its chamber, refusing to yield. Meanwhile, bread prices soared, unrest

106
00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:35.000
<v Speaker 1>stirred in Paris, and the grievances hung over Versailles like

107
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.000
<v Speaker 1>a storm cloud. On June the seventeenth. Weary of stalemate,

108
00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:46.279
<v Speaker 1>the deputies of the Third Estate acted, Led by Abby Sayes,

109
00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:51.200
<v Speaker 1>They declared themselves the National Assembly, claiming to represent the

110
00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:55.759
<v Speaker 1>French nation itself. They decreed no taxes would be legitimate

111
00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:01.919
<v Speaker 1>unless approved by them. It was a breathtaking as sovereignty

112
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:07.519
<v Speaker 1>lay not in the king but in the nation. The

113
00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:12.039
<v Speaker 1>King's reaction was swift but indecisive. On June the twentieth,

114
00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:14.480
<v Speaker 1>the deputies arrived at their hall, only to find the

115
00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:18.639
<v Speaker 1>doors barred and guards posted with the excuse of quote

116
00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:24.000
<v Speaker 1>unquote repairs. Whether by accident or by design, the message

117
00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.480
<v Speaker 1>was clear they were not welcome, but the deputies refused

118
00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.279
<v Speaker 1>to disperse. Searching for a space large enough to hold

119
00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.519
<v Speaker 1>the Third Estate, they marched through Versailles until they came

120
00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:40.279
<v Speaker 1>to an indoor tennis court, a plane echoing hall used

121
00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:44.519
<v Speaker 1>for an old fashioned game. There, five hundred and seventy

122
00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:48.679
<v Speaker 1>six deputies gathered beneath a bare roof, their voices rising

123
00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:54.399
<v Speaker 1>with determination. The mood was electric. Jeane Sylvan Baye, a

124
00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:59.679
<v Speaker 1>scholar and astronomer, presided. One by one, the deputies raised

125
00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:04.039
<v Speaker 1>their arms and together they swore the tennis court oath.

126
00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:10.200
<v Speaker 1>The National Assembly shall never disperse, and shall meet wherever

127
00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:15.200
<v Speaker 1>circumstances demand, until the Constitution of the Kingdom is established

128
00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:21.720
<v Speaker 1>and consolidated upon firm foundations. This Tennis Court Oath was

129
00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:26.480
<v Speaker 1>more than a declaration. It was a covenant, an unbreakable

130
00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:30.000
<v Speaker 1>bond that turned a divided chamber of orders into a

131
00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:34.840
<v Speaker 1>unified political nation. In the sketch later john by Jacques

132
00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:38.799
<v Speaker 1>Louis da Vide, deputies stretched out their arms in unison,

133
00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:44.879
<v Speaker 1>a sea of outstretched hands symbolizing civic unity and defiance.

134
00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:50.399
<v Speaker 1>The oath shocked Versailles. Louis the sixteenth declared the Assembly's

135
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:55.279
<v Speaker 1>axe void and ordered the Estates to deliberate separately. Yet

136
00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:00.279
<v Speaker 1>the pressure mounted. Crowds in Paris celebrated the deputies. Then

137
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.519
<v Speaker 1>more clergies and nobles defected to join them. On June

138
00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:09.080
<v Speaker 1>the twenty seventh, the King capitulated reluctantly. He ordered all

139
00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:13.720
<v Speaker 1>three Estates to unite, in effect recognizing the National Assembly.

140
00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:19.600
<v Speaker 1>By then, the tide of events was unstoppable. The Estates General,

141
00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:23.200
<v Speaker 1>summoned to resolve a fiscal crisis, had now given birth

142
00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:28.679
<v Speaker 1>to a sovereign National Assembly. The Tennis Court Oath transformed

143
00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:32.240
<v Speaker 1>the struggle from a question of simple procedure into a

144
00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:38.000
<v Speaker 1>total constitutional revolution. There was truly now no going back.

145
00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:44.559
<v Speaker 1>One fiery deputy, Marribu expressed the assemblies resolve when royal

146
00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:49.960
<v Speaker 1>officers demanded dispersal, saying quote, we are the people and

147
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:53.799
<v Speaker 1>we will not leave except at the points of Bayonets.

148
00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:58.840
<v Speaker 1>Now within weeks, as we'll see next time, the political

149
00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:03.559
<v Speaker 1>drama at Versailles would merge with hunger and unrest nearby Paris.

150
00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:08.360
<v Speaker 1>Soon the Bastille will fall. But the spark had already

151
00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:11.679
<v Speaker 1>been lit in June in a converted tennis court, where

152
00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.600
<v Speaker 1>men of law and letters swore an oath that they

153
00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.840
<v Speaker 1>would create a new France.