Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Western SIEV Episode four hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty nine The Estates General. The year was seventeen eighty nine. France,
Speaker 1: as we know, was broke. Louis the sixteenth. Ministers had
Speaker 1: spent years trying to patch up the kingdom's finances, taxing nobles,
Speaker 1: appealing to the parliaments, summoning the Assembly of notables, but
Speaker 1: each effort collapsed against privilege and resistance. Finally, in desperation,
Speaker 1: the king promised to call the Estates General, a representative
Speaker 1: body that had not met since sixteen fourteen. Before we
Speaker 1: go any further, however's examined the history of the Estates General.
Speaker 1: The Estates General was not a revolutionary invention, nor even
Speaker 1: a particularly modern one. Its roots lay deep in the
Speaker 1: Middle Ages. In thirteen three, King Philip the Fourth, known
Speaker 1: as Philip the Fair, found himself in a bitter struggle
Speaker 1: with Pope Boniface the Eighth. To resist papal claims of supremacy,
Speaker 1: he summoned representatives from across his kingdom, nobles, clergy and
Speaker 1: commoners alike to meet in Paris. This gathering was not
Speaker 1: called the Estates General at the time, but it marked
Speaker 1: the first convocation of what would become that body. The
Speaker 1: French word atat meant estate or order of society, and
Speaker 1: French society itself was divided into three great estates, the
Speaker 1: clergy first estate, the nobility second estate, and the commoners
Speaker 1: third estate. Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Estates
Speaker 1: General was summoned sporadically, usually in moments of crisis when
Speaker 1: the crown required extraordinary support. They were not a standing
Speaker 1: institution like the English Parliament. Rather, they were an occasional
Speaker 1: council of the realm. Kings called them whenever they wanted
Speaker 1: to legitimize a new tax or rally the nation behind
Speaker 1: a cause. For example, during the One Hundred Years War,
Speaker 1: assemblies of the Estates General approved subsidies to fund the
Speaker 1: struggle against England. The Estates did not legislate in the
Speaker 1: modern sense. They were an advisory body, and their approval
Speaker 1: gave political cover to royal policies. The Estate's general influence
Speaker 1: waxed and waned depending upon the monarchy's strength. Under weak
Speaker 1: kings or during national armorsurgencies, their voices carried weight. In
Speaker 1: the thirteen fifties, during the captivity of King John the
Speaker 1: Second after the Battle of Plotier. In the One Hundred
Speaker 1: Years War, the Estates General tried to assert more control
Speaker 1: over taxation and governance. Etien Marcel, the provost of the
Speaker 1: Merchants of Paris, pushed for reforms, even donning the red
Speaker 1: and blue hood of the Paris Commune as a sign
Speaker 1: of popular resistance. But this early bid for parliamentary power
Speaker 1: faltered amid division and violence. In the fifteenth century, under
Speaker 1: Charles the seventh and Louis the eleventh, the monarchy gradually
Speaker 1: reasserted itself, and the Estates General were summoned less frequently.
Speaker 1: The growing power of the crown, supported by standing armies
Speaker 1: and regular taxation such as the Tale, made royal reliance
Speaker 1: on the estates less urgent. Indeed, by the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: the Estates General had become almost a relic of an
Speaker 1: earlier age. Still, they had not disappeared entirely. During the
Speaker 1: Wars of Religion in the late sixteenth century, the Estates
Speaker 1: General met again, most notably in fifteen ninety three at
Speaker 1: Blue Law, where the Catholic League attempted to block Angri
Speaker 1: of Navarre from becoming King Henry the fourth. These sessions
Speaker 1: showed that the estates could still serve as a stage
Speaker 1: for national crises, though increasingly they were tools wielded by
Speaker 1: factions rather than by partners and governance. The seventeenth century, however,
Speaker 1: marked their eclipse. Louis the thirteenth summoned the Estates General
Speaker 1: in sixteen fourteen, but this would prove to be their
Speaker 1: last meeting for nearly two centuries. The Assembly of sixteen
Speaker 1: fourteen revealed deep divisions between the Estates, the clergy. The
Speaker 1: nobility resisted reforms well the Third Estate pushed unsuccessfully for
Speaker 1: measures to curb privilege and ease burdens on commoners. When
Speaker 1: the meeting broke up without significant change, it seemed to
Speaker 1: confirm that the Estates General was too fractious to be useful,
Speaker 1: and that brings us to seventeen eighty nine. Louis's announcement
Speaker 1: that he would call the Estates General for the first
Speaker 1: time in over a century electrified the kingdom. Suddenly, a
Speaker 1: political horizon that had been closed for nearly two hundred
Speaker 1: years was open again. Every village, parish and town prepared
Speaker 1: as caher de dolrance grievance books in which subjects put
Speaker 1: down their demands. The complaints filled thousands of pages Hesans
Speaker 1: pleaded for an end to feudal dues. Artisans denounced monopolies,
Speaker 1: merchants called for freer trade. Intellectuals urged constitutional limits on
Speaker 1: royal power. As the preparations began, a slim pamphlet struck
Speaker 1: the public like a bolt of lightning. It was abbe
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Joseph Sias, what is the third est State? When
Speaker 1: writing this, his answer was blunt quote, what is the
Speaker 1: third est state? Everything? What has it been until now?
Speaker 1: In the political order? Nothing? What does it want to
Speaker 1: be something? Saies argued that the nation was not the
Speaker 1: king nor the privileged orders, but the third est state,
Speaker 1: the common people themselves. His words gave voice to a
Speaker 1: simmering frustration and raised expectations far beyond fiscal reform. On
Speaker 1: May fifth, seventeen eighty nine, Versailles glittered with pomp as
Speaker 1: Louis the sixteenth opened the Estates. General Hall was filled
Speaker 1: with nearly twelve hundred deputies, two hundred and ninety one
Speaker 1: clergy in their black robes, two hundred and seventy nobles
Speaker 1: adorned with swords and embroidery, and of course, five hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy eight deputies of the Third Estate mostly lawyers
Speaker 1: officials today we would call men of letters. The King
Speaker 1: Solomon's ceremonial dress promised to restore prosperity, but poignantly, he
Speaker 1: offered no plan. Crucially, he gave no guidance as to
Speaker 1: the rules of voting. It had been almost two hundred
Speaker 1: years no one knew exactly how the Estates General was
Speaker 1: supposed to function. Remember this had never been a formal body.
Speaker 1: It was called in times of crises, and nobody knew
Speaker 1: exactly how it was supposed to operate. And this was
Speaker 1: to prove the fault line. Would the estates vote separately,
Speaker 1: as they had in sixteen fourteen, giving the clergy and
Speaker 1: nobility two votes to the third estates one, or would
Speaker 1: they vote head to head, which would give the more
Speaker 1: populous Commons a majority the nobility and the higher clergy.
Speaker 1: They clung to tradition well, of course, the commons demanded equality.
Speaker 1: Weeks dragged on in fruitless ceremony, Each estate withdrew to
Speaker 1: its chamber, refusing to yield. Meanwhile, bread prices soared, unrest
Speaker 1: stirred in Paris, and the grievances hung over Versailles like
Speaker 1: a storm cloud. On June the seventeenth. Weary of stalemate,
Speaker 1: the deputies of the Third Estate acted, Led by Abby Sayes,
Speaker 1: They declared themselves the National Assembly, claiming to represent the
Speaker 1: French nation itself. They decreed no taxes would be legitimate
Speaker 1: unless approved by them. It was a breathtaking as sovereignty
Speaker 1: lay not in the king but in the nation. The
Speaker 1: King's reaction was swift but indecisive. On June the twentieth,
Speaker 1: the deputies arrived at their hall, only to find the
Speaker 1: doors barred and guards posted with the excuse of quote
Speaker 1: unquote repairs. Whether by accident or by design, the message
Speaker 1: was clear they were not welcome, but the deputies refused
Speaker 1: to disperse. Searching for a space large enough to hold
Speaker 1: the Third Estate, they marched through Versailles until they came
Speaker 1: to an indoor tennis court, a plane echoing hall used
Speaker 1: for an old fashioned game. There, five hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: six deputies gathered beneath a bare roof, their voices rising
Speaker 1: with determination. The mood was electric. Jeane Sylvan Baye, a
Speaker 1: scholar and astronomer, presided. One by one, the deputies raised
Speaker 1: their arms and together they swore the tennis court oath.
Speaker 1: The National Assembly shall never disperse, and shall meet wherever
Speaker 1: circumstances demand, until the Constitution of the Kingdom is established
Speaker 1: and consolidated upon firm foundations. This Tennis Court Oath was
Speaker 1: more than a declaration. It was a covenant, an unbreakable
Speaker 1: bond that turned a divided chamber of orders into a
Speaker 1: unified political nation. In the sketch later john by Jacques
Speaker 1: Louis da Vide, deputies stretched out their arms in unison,
Speaker 1: a sea of outstretched hands symbolizing civic unity and defiance.
Speaker 1: The oath shocked Versailles. Louis the sixteenth declared the Assembly's
Speaker 1: axe void and ordered the Estates to deliberate separately. Yet
Speaker 1: the pressure mounted. Crowds in Paris celebrated the deputies. Then
Speaker 1: more clergies and nobles defected to join them. On June
Speaker 1: the twenty seventh, the King capitulated reluctantly. He ordered all
Speaker 1: three Estates to unite, in effect recognizing the National Assembly.
Speaker 1: By then, the tide of events was unstoppable. The Estates General,
Speaker 1: summoned to resolve a fiscal crisis, had now given birth
Speaker 1: to a sovereign National Assembly. The Tennis Court Oath transformed
Speaker 1: the struggle from a question of simple procedure into a
Speaker 1: total constitutional revolution. There was truly now no going back.
Speaker 1: One fiery deputy, Marribu expressed the assemblies resolve when royal
Speaker 1: officers demanded dispersal, saying quote, we are the people and
Speaker 1: we will not leave except at the points of Bayonets.
Speaker 1: Now within weeks, as we'll see next time, the political
Speaker 1: drama at Versailles would merge with hunger and unrest nearby Paris.
Speaker 1: Soon the Bastille will fall. But the spark had already
Speaker 1: been lit in June in a converted tennis court, where
Speaker 1: men of law and letters swore an oath that they
Speaker 1: would create a new France.