What were the features of estate general
Answers
Estates-General, also called States General, French États-Généraux, in France of the pre-Revolutionary monarchy, the representative assembly of the three “estates,” or orders of the realm: the clergy and nobility—which were privileged minorities—and a Third Estate, which represented the majority of the people.
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When was the Estates-General created?
What were the three “estates” of the Estates-General?
What is the Fourth Estate?
What led to the end of the Estates-General?
The origins of the Estates-General are to be found in traditions of counsel and aid and the development of corporate representation in the 13th century. The first national assembly of representatives of the three estates met at Notre-Dame in Paris on April 10, 1302, to discuss the conflict between Philip IV (the Fair) and Pope Boniface VIII. The assembly stood firmly by the king, and the meeting was followed by a nationwide survey of public opinion. In 1308 the three estates were assembled in Tours to consider the suppression of the Templars, and they were convened repeatedly over subsequent years, notably after Louis X’s death in 1316, when the royal succession and fiscal matters dominated the agenda. In 1320 the estates gathered at Pontoise and Poitiers, on both occasions refusing to grant Philip V a subsidy to bolster the royal coffers.
They always included representatives of the First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (the nobility), and Third Estate (commoners: all others), and monarchs always summoned them either to grant subsidies or to advise the Crown, to give aid and counsel.