The Tennis Court Oath was a pledge taken by members of the Third Estate, who had declared themselves the National Assembly, in an indoor tennis court at Versailles. They had been locked out of their regular meeting hall by the king's order and moved to the court nearby. Led by figures such as Jean-Sylvain Bailly, the deputies swore not to separate until a written constitution for France had been established. Nearly all of the deputies present signed it, with one exception. The act challenged the authority of Louis XVI and the old order and was an important early step in the French Revolution, and it was later immortalised in a painting by Jacques-Louis David.
Before and after
- 1789Discovery of carbon
- 1789Lavoisier publishes his Elementary Treatise on Chemistry
- 16 March 1789Birth of Georg Simon Ohm
- 28 April 1789Mutiny on the Bounty
- 20 June 1789Tennis Court Oath
- from 14 July 1789 to 9 November 1799French Revolution
- 21 August 1789Birth of Augustin-Louis Cauchy
- 28 August 1789Discovery of Enceladus
- from 15 September 1789 to 8 October 1789Siege of Belgrade
More in Wars, politics & history
- 1790Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- from 18 March 1839 to 29 August 1842First Opium War
- from 1 August 1894 to 17 April 1895First Sino-Japanese War
- from August 1899 to September 1901Boxer Rebellion
- from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
- from 8 October 1912 to 30 May 1913First Balkan War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.