Arrieta, Francisco History 408 February 2, 2011

The Tennis Court Oath and the Bastille: A Rebellion on Two Fronts

The French Revolution was an event whose shockwaves reverberated worldwide. No event had a greater effect on European history, excepting the Second World War. It marked the end of feudalism and monarchical absolutism in France and in continental Europe. Succumbing to severe financial, social, and political crises, the French Crown gave way from a dictatorial kingship to the formation of the French Republic. Two important events that inaugurated revolt in France were the Tennis Court Oath and the Storming of the Bastille. Shortly after the formation of the Estates General, the Commons, or the members of the Third Estate, began a struggle to double the Third.1 This movement for the doubling of the Third, lead by Abbe Siyes, sought to expand the influence of the Third Estate, which represented the interests of 96% of the population of France, yet only held one-third of the vote within the Estates General.2 The Estate General was told that the Crown would not consider voting in common unless such a procedure were supported by the Estates General as a whole.3 This meant that the first two Estates, the nobility and the clergy, effectively controlled the Estates General, as voting on legislation occurred as a vote by Estate; the First and Second Estates would oftentimes band together against the Third. The Crown supported this, as it kept the peasants and many bourgeoisie under a heavy burden of taxes. Inspired by Abbe Siyes' argument that the Third Estate was, in fact, the nation, members of the Commons began to meet, extending an invitation to the nobility. 4 The nobility ignored these invitations,
1 2 3 4 Leo Gershoy, The Era of the French Revolution 1789 1799 (Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Co., 1984) 27. Gershoy, French Revolution, 14. Gershoy, French Revolution, 30. Gershoy, French Revolution, 31.

and the Commons initiated assemblies on the notion that the peasants and the bourgeoisie made up the nation, and that the First and Second Estates leeched upon them. Accordingly, King Louis XIV gave the order to close the hall in which Commons was meeting. Commons instead convened in the king's tennis court, where they swore to never separate . . . until the Constitution of the kingdom was established and affirmed upon a solid basis.5 In doing so, members of the Commons formally defied the king. This was an act of open rebellion from within the government. Members of the now called National Assembly would continue to meet, despite being forbidden by the king's orders, until a national constitution was drafted and ratified. While the Tennis Court Oath was an act of open defiance to the French monarchy from within the halls of government, the activities of a Paris mob on July 14, 1789 were more akin to a popular uprising. Years of rising food prices and unemployment had the Parisians acerbated.6 When the king attempted to station troops in and around Paris, the mob gathered at an old bastion called the Bastille, seeking the weapons and munitions within. Authorities refused to surrender the fortress, and either through panic or confusion the troops garrisoned inside fired upon the crowd that was becoming more and more agitated.7 Enraged, the mob laid siege to the prison and carried it by storm.8 The legend was born that a heroic, freedom-loving people had risin in their might against despotism.9 This victory was widely hailed as a blow against absolutism in France, as the Bastille was viewed as a symbol of royal power in Paris. The storming of the Bastille, which is now a national holiday in France, had important consequences. Primarily, the Third Estate, which would now be known as the National Constituent Assembly,10 was saved. King Louis XVI furthermore recognized the Commune de Paris, a new revolutionary municipal government. The successful insurgence in Paris spread throughout the French
5 6 7 8 9 10 Gershoy, French Revolution, 32. Gershoy, French Revolution, 34. Gershoy, French Revolution, 35. Gershoy, French Revolution, 35. Gershoy, French Revolution, 35. Gershoy, French Revolution, 35.

countryside, and a Great Fear spread throughout France.11 In this Great Fear, mobs of peasants and brigands assaulted the homes of nobles, and many nobles fled as emigres, due to the lack of any capable authority to deal with these hooligans. These two events seem as if they were orchestrated to kick off the French Revolution in the summer of 1789, however the two were separate. That they both worked to curtail the power of the French monarchy, each in their own right, can be viewed as a lucky coincidence. Such was the spirit of revolution of the time that members of the Estates General were willing to revolt against the king in the way they saw fit. Similarly, the Paris mob revolted against the symbol of monarchical oppression by laying siege to and assaulting the Bastille. There was no leader directing the two events. These two events unfolded as a result of decades of political and social inequality in the government, as well as poverty, unemployment, and rising food prices in the towns and villages all across France. When the time came for revolution, the two events occurred independently; they did not need a leader to organize them. Two important events that commenced the French Revolution were the Tennis Court Oath and the storming of the Bastille. Commons refused to comply with the king and instead chose to meet in the interests of the constituents of the Third Estate. Parisian bourgeoisie and peasants rose against royal power by seizing a prison fortress, as well as the weapons and ammunition inside. The subsequent events of the French Revolution would not have been the same if these two events had not happened, or if they had happened differently.

11 Gershoy, French Revolution, 35.