What happened
Representatives of the three estates (the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners) met under royal authority to address the fiscal and political crisis of the French monarchy. The meeting created a formal arena in which disputes over representation, taxation, and sovereignty could escalate rapidly.
Why it matters
This event marks the opening of the revolutionary process because it made the monarchy's fiscal and political crisis public, procedural, and politically contestable.
Notes
Use this as an anchor point for the transition from regime crisis to revolutionary sequence.