Estates General of 1789

Estates General of 1789
Coat of arms or logo
Opening of the Estates-General in Versailles 5 May 1789. Engraving (1790) by Isidore Stanislas Helman [fr] following a sketch by Charles Monnet. The engraving was one of Helman's series Principales Journées de la Révolution.[1]
History
Founded5 May 1789
Disbanded27 June 1789
Preceded byEstates General of 1614
Succeeded byNational Assembly
Meeting place
Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs, Versailles

The Estates General of 1789 (French: États Généraux de 1789) was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.[2]

Summoned by King Louis XVI, the Estates General of 1789 ended when the Third Estate, along with some members of the other Estates, formed the National Assembly and, against the wishes of the King, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.[3]

  1. ^ Portalis & Béraldi 1881, p. 397.
  2. ^ "Estates-General | Definition, Significance, Meaning, Meeting, & History | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Summoning of the Estates General, 1789". Palace of Versailles. 23 August 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.