Late Middle Ages

The Estates General and French political life

The Estates General of France was, in the strict constitutional sense, a representative assembly of the three “estates” of the realm — the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The Estates General was called together by the king of France to give advice, to grant taxation, to receive the king’s edicts, and, in moments of political crisis, to give the regime a measure of constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, however, very different from the English Parliament. The English Parliament was, by the late 14th century, a continuing institution: it met regularly, it developed a procedure, and it acquired a constitutional role. The French Estates General was, in the late Middle Ages, an episodic institution: it was called by the king, it met in a specific political context, and it was dissolved when the political context had passed. The history of the Estates General is, in this sense, the history of a succession of assemblies, and the political history of late medieval France is, in large part, the history of the occasions on which the Estates General was called. This article treats the origins of the Estates General in the reign of Philip IV, the politics of the assemblies of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Estates General of 1484, and the long working of the institution in the political life of France.

Origins under Philip IV

The Estates General is conventionally dated to 1302, when Philip IV convened an assembly of the three estates at Notre-Dame de Paris on 10 April 1302. The occasion was the long crisis of the king’s relations with Pope Boniface VIII, and the assembly was called to give the king support in his conflict with the papacy. The assembly was a remarkable event: the first time that the three estates had been called together as a single body, the first time that the commoners (the deputies of the good cities of the kingdom) had been given a constitutional role. The assembly was also a political success: it gave the king the constitutional support he needed, and it produced the Unigenitus (1302) of Boniface and the long struggle of Philip IV and his successors with the papacy.

The Estates General of 1302 is a turning point in French political history. The assembly of 1302 was, however, in many respects, an isolated event. The Estates General was not called again until 1308, when Philip IV convened an assembly of the three estates at Tours in May 1308; the assembly of 1308 was called to deal with the trial of the Templars. The Estates General was called only seven times in the 14th century: in 1302, 1308, 1314, 1315 (the Estates of the second estate, the assembly of the nobility), 1320, 1321, 1326, 1327, 1340, 1343, 1346, 1351, 1352, 1355, 1356, 1357, 1358, 1359, 1363, 1367, 1369, 1380, and so on. The Estates General was, in this sense, an episodic institution, and the politics of the assemblies was the politics of the specific occasions on which they were called. The major assemblies of the 14th century were the assemblies of 1302, 1308, 1314, 1320, 1327, 1340, 1355–1356, 1380, and 1413. The assemblies of 1355–1356, the Grand Ordonnance of December 1355, the Grandes Ordonnances of the regency of Charles, the Ordonnance Cabochienne of 1413, and the assembly of 1439 are the major constitutional documents.

The Crown, the Assemblies, and Taxation

The most important function of the Estates General was the granting of taxation. The French kings of the late Middle Ages had, in principle, the right to raise the customary feudal dues; they did not, in principle, have the right to raise new taxes. The king could, in theory, raise a fouage (a hearth tax) on the peasantry, a taille on the non-nobles, or a gabelle on the salt; he could, in the countryside, raise these taxes only with the consent of the Estates General. The consent of the Estates General was, in the late 14th and 15th centuries, the formal basis of the new system of royal taxation that was, in the long run, the basis of the French nation-state.

The assemblies of 1355–1356 are the political moment in which the Estates General acquired its most important constitutional role. The assembly of 1355 was called in October 1355, in the context of the long crisis of the reign of John II, the defeat of the French nobility at Poitiers on 19 September 1356, and the English occupation of large parts of south-western France. The assembly was called to grant the king a grand fouage — a new direct tax on the population — and the assembly, in return, demanded the reform of the royal government. The Grand Ordonnance of December 1355 was the political document of the moment: the king was to be advised by a council of twelve representatives of the three estates, the taille was to be raised by the assembly, and the royal finances were to be reformed. The assembly of 1356, in the spring of 1356, repeated the demand. The result was the Ordonnance of 1357 and the Ordonnance Cabochienne of 1413, the two most famous constitutional documents of the late medieval Estates General.

The long working of the new fiscal system, however, produced a long working of the political power of the Estates General. The Estates General was, in the long 15th century, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new fiscal system a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was called, in the late 15th century, only once: the Estates General of 1484, called by Anne of Beaujeu and Pierre de Beaujeu, the regents of Charles VIII, in January 1484. The Estates General of 1484 was, in many respects, a political event of the first order: it was the first time that the Estates General had been called since 1480, and it was the first time that the Estates General had been called in the new constitutional context of the late 15th century.

The Estates General of 1484

The Estates General of 1484 was called at Tours on 5 January 1484 by Anne of Beaujeu and Pierre de Beaujeu, the regents of Charles VIII. The political context was the long crisis of the succession of Louis XI, the minority of Charles VIII, the long struggle of the regents with the great princes (the dukes of Orléans, the dukes of Brittany, the dukes of Bourbon), and the long working of the new fiscal system. The assembly was, in this sense, a constitutional moment. The assembly was called to grant the regents a don gratuit of 1.5 million livres tournois, to consider the reform of the royal government, and to receive the regents’ account of the late reign. The assembly met at Tours, in the great hall of the archbishop’s palace, and it sat from 5 January to 14 March 1484.

The assembly of 1484 was, in many respects, a remarkable event. The three estates sat separately: the clergy, with the archbishop of Reims, the dean of the cathedral chapter of Saint-Martin de Tours, the bishops of Paris, Beauvais, and Senlis, and the abbots of the great monasteries; the nobility, with the dukes of Orléans, the count of Angoulême, the great territorial lords of the kingdom; and the third estate, with the deputies of the good cities of Paris, Rouen, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, and the other great cities. The most important political figure of the assembly was the duke of Orléans (the future Louis XII), who used the assembly to demand a share in the regency. The most important constitutional document of the assembly was the Cahier de doléances — the grievance book — of the third estate, which set out the grievances of the common people of the kingdom.

The assembly of 1484 was, in the long view, a political failure. The regents were able to manage the assembly, and the duke of Orléans was unable to secure a share in the regency. The assembly was also a constitutional failure: it was not called again for another 130 years. The political work of the assembly of 1484 was, however, the basis of the political practice of the early modern period. The cahier de doléances was the model for the cahier de doléances of the Estates General of 1560, of 1614, of 1789. The political practice of the assembly — the separate sitting of the three estates, the appointment of committees, the formal presentation of the cahier de doléances, the formal response of the king — was the practice of the Estates General until the Revolution.

The slow decline of the summons

The Estates General was called only four times in the 16th century: in 1484, in 1506, in 1527, in 1560. The assemblies of 1484, 1506, and 1527 were the political moments of the early modern period; the assembly of 1560 was the political moment of the Wars of Religion. The assembly of 1614 was the last assembly of the Ancien Régime, called by Louis XIII in 1614; the assembly of 1789 was the assembly of the Revolution. The political work of the assemblies of the 16th century was, in the long view, the work of the early modern French state: the assemblies were called to grant the king a don gratuit, to consider the reform of the royal government, and to give the new fiscal system a constitutional legitimacy. The assemblies of the 16th century were also the political moments of the Wars of Religion, the political moments of the Catholic League, and the political moments of the long struggle of the French state with the papacy.

The slow decline of the summons is the central political fact of the late medieval Estates General. The Estates General was, in the long 15th century, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new fiscal system a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, in the long 16th century, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new religious policy a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, in the long 17th century, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new centralising policy a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, in the long 18th century, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new fiscal reform a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, in the long view, the political institution that the French kings used to give the new state a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General was, in this sense, a political institution of the first order; and the slow decline of the summons is the central political fact of the late medieval French state.

The myth of 1789

The Estates General was called, in the late 18th century, only once: the Estates General of 1789, called by Louis XVI in 1789. The assembly of 1789 was, in many respects, a moment of constitutional reconstruction. The assembly was called to grant the king a don gratuit, to consider the reform of the royal government, and to give the new fiscal system a constitutional legitimacy. The assembly met at Versailles on 5 May 1789, and it sat until 9 July 1789, when the third estate, joined by some of the clergy and some of the nobility, declared itself the National Assembly. The Tennis Court Oath of 20 June 1789 was the political moment of the assembly: the deputies of the third estate, joined by the deputies of the clergy and the nobility, swore not to separate until they had given France a constitution. The Tennis Court Oath was the political moment of the Revolution.

The assembly of 1789 is, in the long view, a political moment of the first order. The assembly was the moment in which the Estates General became the National Assembly; it was the moment in which the three estates became the sovereign nation; it was the moment in which the long working of the new fiscal system was given a constitutional legitimacy. The assembly of 1789 was, in this sense, the political moment of the Revolution. The Estates General of 1789 is, however, a misleading guide to the late medieval Estates General. The Estates General of 1789 was, in many respects, a political event of a different kind: it was a political moment in which the three estates became the sovereign nation, and the long working of the new fiscal system was given a constitutional legitimacy. The Estates General of 1789 was, in the long view, the political moment of the Revolution.

The myth of 1789 is the political moment in which the Estates General became the National Assembly. The myth is a powerful one, and it has been used, in the long view, to give the Revolution a constitutional legitimacy. The myth of 1789 is, however, a misleading guide to the late medieval Estates General. The Estates General of the late Middle Ages was a different institution: it was called by the king, it met in a specific political context, and it was dissolved when the political context had passed. The Estates General of the late Middle Ages was, in this sense, a political institution of the late medieval state, and the slow decline of the summons is the central political fact of the late medieval French state.

Reading the Estates General

The historiography of the late medieval Estates General is a rich one. The standard work in English is now J. R. Strayer’s The Reign of Philip the Fair (1980) and Charles Tilly’s Contentious Performances (2008), but the most useful single-volume introduction in French is still Jean Favier’s Les papes d’Avignon et la cour de France (1973), which is a balanced and useful synthesis. The Cambridge History of Medieval France (2018) has a useful chapter by the late Peter Lewis. The standard work in English on the Estates General of 1484 is the Actes des États Généraux de 1484 of René de Maulde, which is still the most useful edition. The Actes of the 1484 assembly is a remarkable document, and it is the basis of the modern understanding of the late medieval Estates General.

References and further reading

  • J. R. Strayer and Charles H. Taylor, Studies in Early French Taxation (Cambridge, MA, 1939).
  • Joseph R. Strayer, The Reign of Philip the Fair (Princeton, 1980).
  • Sarah Hanley, The Lit de Justice of the Kings of France: Constitutional Ideology in Legend, Ritual, and Discourse (Princeton, 1983).
  • Peter Lewis, Later Medieval France: The Polity (London, 1968).
  • Charles Tilly, Contentious Performances (Cambridge, 2008).