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Seating Chart at Versailles,
Assemblée des Notables, 1788
Assembly of the Notables 1788
This years' Assembly of the Notables, or in
French
Assemblée des Notables,
was held from November 6 - December 12, 1788, at Versailles.
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Image Above
Seating
chart of the Assembly of Notables 1788 at
Versailles.
Procès-verbal de
l'Assemblée de notables |
Go here for the
Assembly of the Notables
1787, which was held from
February 22 - May 25, last year (1787).
The Issue
The reason for this years' Assembly of
the Notables is the upcoming gathering of the Estates General.
The
three estates have last been summoned in 1614, and with regards to
finding an answer to burning questions of nationwide caliber, it
had not been very successful.
In His Majesty's letter to the
Notables,
Louis XVI outlines his agenda for the 1788 assembly. In a nutshell,
he wanted to
"get their opinion on the fairest and
most appropriate way to proceed with the organization of the
Estates-General that I am determined to convene in 1789."
Signed Louis, October 8, 1788.
The Notables were split into groups
(bureaux). Each bureau that had to answer 54 questions.
Question number five was
"What should
be the respective number of deputies for each order? Should it be an
equal number for each deputation?"
So... In essence, while the 1787 Assembly focused more on financial reforms and exposed
the resistance of the privileged classes, the 1788 Assembly dealt with the structure of representation,
directly influencing the political dynamics that would shape the early stages of the
French Revolution.
Lafayette, by the way, was assigned to
the Second Bureau.
Here are the complete
minutes of the Assembly as PDF (French)
(19.7 MB - might take some seconds to load)
More History
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