First Estate

In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term First Estate (Fr. premier état) indicated the clergy; the Second Estate were the nobility, and the rest of the population constituted the Third Estate. From these terms came the name of the medieval French national assembly: the Estates-General (Fr. Etats-Généraux), the analogue to the British Parliament but with no constitutional tradition of vested powers: the French monarchy remained absolute.

1789: End of The Estates General

See main article Estates-General of 1789.

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In 1789, the First Estate numbered somewhat over 100,000, with about 10% of these being "higher clergy." The lower clergy would have been about equally divided between parish priests on the one hand and monks and nuns on the other. Almost all of the 139 dioceses were controlled by the great nobles in France. http://www.esuhistoryprof.com/france_and_the_old_regime.htm

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In May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General in order to address the financial crisis of the kingdom, which was effectively bankrupt. By this point, however, the French aristocracy has declined in power and influence, while the bourgeoisie had become much more important and conscious of itself as a class. The Third Estate, containing representatives of the bourgeois, asked for greater share of representation than it had possessed in earlier centuries; they were given twice as many representatives, but since voting was to be by the three Estates rather then by individual representatives, this gave them no immediately meanigful advantage. The Third Estate then asked for all estates to meet together as a single body.

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On June 12, 1789 the Communes (the representatives of the Third Estate, including some clergy, notably Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès) invited the other orders to join them. Some clergy who were representatives of the First Estate did so as soon as the following day, and so were among the group that, on June 17, 1789 declared

Related Topics:
June 12 - Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès - June 17

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itself the National Assembly and on June 20 of the same year signed the Tennis Court Oath demanding a constitution for France.

Related Topics:
National Assembly - June 20 - Tennis Court Oath

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Over the next week, most of the First Estate (and some of the Second) joined the National Assembly; on June 27 the king ordered the rest to follow. This was the end of the formal system of Estates of the Realm.

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