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Coldest winter ever recorded, food shortages
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Rules and instructions for electing delegates to the Estates General are finalised and sent out to districts.
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Elections for delegates to the Estates General commence across France.
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Elections for delegates to the Estates General commence across France.
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Delegates to the Estates General are now present at Versailles and are presented to the king at a formal gathering.
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The Estates General opens at Versailles.
The opening session is addressed by the king, minister for justice Barentin and Necker, who expresses the king’s desire that voting be conducted by order rather than by head. -
The First Estate (voting 134 to 114) and Second Estate (voting 188 to 46) both endorse voting by order. The Third Estate refuses to meet separately or vote on the issue.
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Sieyes pushes the representents to act
Sieyes moves that delegates for the Third Estate affirm their right to political representation. -
Death of Louis XVII
Louis XVI’s seven-year-old son, Louis Joseph Xavier, dies of tuberculosis. His younger brother Louis-Charles becomes Dauphin of France. -
1rst 2nd estate join 3rd estate
Sieyes proposes that representatives of the First and Second be invited to join the Third Estate, in order to form a national assembly.