The Estates General of 1789 (French: États Généraux de 1789) was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.
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.
Opening session of the General Assembly, 5 May 1789, by Auguste Couder (1839) shows the inauguration of the Estates-General in Versailles
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and evolved over time.The best known system is the French Ancien Régime, a three-estate system which was made up of clergy, nobles, peasants and bourgeoisie.
In some regions, notably Sweden and Russia, burghers and rural commoners were split into separate estates, creating a four-estate system with rural commoners ranking the lowest as the Fourth Estate.
In Norway, the taxpaying classes were considered as one, and with a very small aristocracy; this class/estate was as powerful as the monarchy itself. In Denmark, however, only owners of large tracts of land had any influence. Furthermore, the non-landowning poor could be left outside the estates, leaving them without political rights.
In England, a two-estate system evolved that combined nobility and clergy into one lordly estate with "commons" as the second estate. This system produced the two houses of parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
In southern Germany, a three-estate system of nobility, knights, and burghers was used.
In Scotland, the Three Estates were the Clergy, Nobility, and Shire Commissioners, or "burghers", representing the bourgeois, middle class, and lower class. The Estates made up a Scottish Parliament.
A 13th-century French representation of the tripartite social order of the Middle Ages – Oratores ("those who pray"), Bellatores ("those who fight"), and Laboratores ("those who work").
Satire of the three estates from 1789; the hard-working Third Estate carries the lazy nobility and clergy. The legend reads A faut espérer q[u]'eu jeu là finira b[i]entôt ("Hopefully, this game will be over soon"), prefiguring the French Revolution.
Representation of the Three Estates under the lordship of Jesus Christ. They are labeled Tu supplex ora (you pray), Tu protege (you protect), Tuque labora (and you work).
Image of the Three Estates under the Trinity in heaven (Tyrol, 1800)