Was the tennis court oath before the meeting of the estate generals in the french revolution?
No. It was a consequence of the Estates General. There were three estates; the clergy, the nobility and the Third Estate. The Third was, of course, much more numerous and representative of far more people than the other two; but each Estate had only one vote. When the representatives of the Third Estate saw clearly that there was no possibility of their voice being heard, and were made to leave their meeting place for ‘redecoration’, they met in the tennis court (tennis was a complicated, aristocratic and above all indoor game) and swore not to disband until they, and they alone, had been recognised as a National Assembly.
