The storming of the Bastille by 60,000 Parisians on 14 July 1789 liberated four forgers, an Irish lunatic and an incestuous aristocrat. However, the Bastille symbolised the arbitrary powers of the absolute monarch and this was the first act of defiance against King Louis XVI. The Tennis Court Oath (1791) by Jacques Louis David. Locked out of their usual meeting place, the delegates of the Third Estate gathered in an indoor tennis court and proclaimed themselves a National Assembly. They were joined by most members of the Fourth Estate, the Catholic clergy. Le prêtre refractaire, engraving by Léopold Massard, based on Henri Baron. On 12 July 1790, the National Assembly passed a law demanding an oath of loyalty to a Civil Constitution for the clergy. This entailed the election of priests and bishops and a breach with the Pope in Rome. Here a priest refuses to take the oath. Most of the clergy followed suit which led to a brutal persecution of Catholics.
What do You think about The Dreyfus Affair (2011)?
