2H - The Assembly of Notables and political developments, February 1787 to May 1789
Learn how a dispute over financial reform opened a struggle over consent, representation and royal authority. Follow the developments from the Notables to the Estates-General, then assess the political, economic and social pressures facing France in May 1789.
The Notables and the problem of consent
The Assembly of Notables opened on 22 February 1787 to consider Calonne's reform programme. It brought together 144 prominent men selected by the crown, including nobles, senior clergy and officials. Calonne expected a prestigious but manageable gathering whose endorsement would help secure a general land tax and restore confidence in royal credit.
Instead, the Notables demanded evidence about the financial position and questioned the minister's proposals. The proposed land tax threatened privilege, but their objections were not simply a united refusal to pay anything. Some accepted the principle of a tax reaching all land while disputing its form, assessment or duration. They also challenged whether a selected assembly could authorise a permanent new tax on behalf of the country.
The committee protests of March 1787 reveal both willingness to consider certain reforms and concern to preserve the hierarchy of the orders. This makes them valuable for distinguishing different kinds of opposition. It would be misleading to use one committee's objection as the opinion of every notable or of France as a whole.
Calonne was dismissed in April. His successor, Brienne, attempted to obtain approval, but the assembly was dissolved in May without providing the broad endorsement the crown needed. The important consequence was political: a financial need had exposed disagreement about who had the authority to consent and whether royal accounts could be trusted. The crown's chosen consultation had increased the visibility of its weakness.
The struggle with the parlements
After the Notables, Brienne confronted the Parlement of Paris. The court resisted fiscal edicts and argued that new taxation required the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Magistrates could present themselves as defenders of national liberties against arbitrary royal power, even though they belonged to privileged institutions and did not represent the whole population democratically.
In August 1787 the king forced registration of fiscal measures and exiled the Parlement to Troyes. A compromise brought it back, but did not remove the conflict. A royal session in November attempted to secure further loans; Louis's assertion of authority and the treatment of opponents reinforced charges of despotism. Coercion could make a law formally effective while damaging the confidence needed to raise money.
In May 1788 the crown tried to reduce the parlements' political role through judicial reforms associated with Lamoignon, including a new body to register edicts. Opposition spread beyond magistrates. Provincial elites defended local rights, and demonstrations brought ordinary people into a struggle initially led by privileged groups.
The Day of the Tiles in Grenoble on 7 June 1788 showed the danger of using soldiers against urban resistance. A gathering at Vizille in July called for an Estates-General and for stronger Third Estate representation. This did not mean that Grenoble dictated policy nationally. It demonstrates how resistance could link defence of local institutions to demands for a broader political settlement.
The parlements' defence of traditional liberties helped open national politics. Their opposition to royal coercion did not guarantee support for equal political representation.
From failed credit to the Estates-General
The decisive pressure was the inability to keep financing government through loans. On 8 August 1788 the crown announced that the Estates-General would meet in 1789. Later in August the treasury suspended normal cash payments, demonstrating the severity of the crisis. Brienne resigned and Necker returned. The parlements were restored, bringing apparent defeat for the attempt to impose reform from above.
Calling the Estates-General offered a route to consent, but also created an institution around which competing expectations could gather. It was an assembly of representatives of clergy, nobility and commoners, not an already functioning sovereign parliament. Louis and his ministers hoped it would authorise a financial settlement; many participants hoped it would also address abuses and establish safeguards against arbitrary government.
The Parlement of Paris's support for the 1614 model exposed a new division. Separate deliberation and voting by order would give each estate one vote, allowing clergy and nobility to combine against the Third. Its earlier reputation as a defender of liberty therefore weakened among commoners demanding political equality.
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