The Pre-Revolution (1787 - 1789)

About the lecture

In this module, Tom explores the two years immediately preceding the start of the Revolution, a period sometimes known as the 'Pre-Revolution'. The period is characterised by increasingly desperate attempts by the King and his financial advisors to balance the books, culminating in the summoning of the Estates-General in 1789. It's at this point that the Third Estate (who represent the common people) take an oath of allegiance (The Tennis Court Oath, 20 June 1789) and unilaterally declare themselves to be the National Assembly. Fearing repercussions from the King, the people begin to arm themselves - and on 14 July 1789 attack and ransack the Bastille for weapons, the first act of the French Revolution.

About the lecturer

Tom Stammers is a cultural historian of France from the Revolution down to the end of the nineteenth century. His PhD thesis and forthcoming book explore questions of collecting, material culture and heritage in post-revolutionary Paris. He is currently finishing research related to early collectors of revolutionary prints, the afterlives of Rococo artefacts, clandestine worker theatres and the political controversies surrounding the antiques trade. Future research projects include a study of artisans and connoisseurs in the nineteenth-century museum, entitled the 'untutored eye'. Tom is interested in a wide range of historiographical and theoretical controversies related to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe.