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Estates of the realm
 
 
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The Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility
Nobility

Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
, clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, and commoner
Commoner

In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the British monarchy nor a peerage. Therefore, any member of the British Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince William of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title, such as the Earl of Arund...
s recognized in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 and later in some parts of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. While various realms inverted the order of the first two, commoners were universally tertiary, and often further divided into burghers (also known as bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie is a classification used in analyzing human societies to describe a social class of people. Historically, the bourgeoisie comes from the middle or merchant classes of the Middle Ages, whose status or power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those whose power came from being born into an aristocrati...
) and peasant
Peasant

A peasant is an agriculture worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French language pa?sant meaning one from the pays, or rural, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district ....
s, and in some regions, there also was a population outside the estates. An estate was usually inherited and based on occupation, similar to a caste
Caste

Castes are hereditary systems of wikt:occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power, the assignment of individuals to places in the social hierarchy is determined by social group and culture....
.

Legislative
Legislature

Legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to create and change laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law....
 bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch
Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged in an individual, who is the head of state, often for Life tenure or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state." The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch....
 were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch above all three estates.






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The Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility
Nobility

Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
, clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, and commoner
Commoner

In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the British monarchy nor a peerage. Therefore, any member of the British Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince William of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title, such as the Earl of Arund...
s recognized in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 and later in some parts of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. While various realms inverted the order of the first two, commoners were universally tertiary, and often further divided into burghers (also known as bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie is a classification used in analyzing human societies to describe a social class of people. Historically, the bourgeoisie comes from the middle or merchant classes of the Middle Ages, whose status or power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those whose power came from being born into an aristocrati...
) and peasant
Peasant

A peasant is an agriculture worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French language pa?sant meaning one from the pays, or rural, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district ....
s, and in some regions, there also was a population outside the estates. An estate was usually inherited and based on occupation, similar to a caste
Caste

Castes are hereditary systems of wikt:occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power, the assignment of individuals to places in the social hierarchy is determined by social group and culture....
.

Legislative
Legislature

Legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to create and change laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law....
 bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch
Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged in an individual, who is the head of state, often for Life tenure or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state." The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch....
 were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch above all three estates. Meetings of the estates of the realm became early legislative and judicial parliament
Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom....
s (see The States
The States

The States or the Estates signifies, in different countries and dominions, the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, called together for purposes of legislation or deliberation....
). Two medieval parliaments derived their name from the estates of the realm: the primarily tricameral Estates-General
French States-General

In France under the Ancient Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French nationalitys....
  of the Kingdom of France (the analogue to the bicameral Parliament of England
Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period. In a series of developments, it came increasingly to constrain the power of the King of England, and went on after the Act of Union 1707 to merge with the Parliament of Scotland and form the main basis of the Pa...
 but with no constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
al tradition of vested powers: the French monarchy remaining absolute
Absolute monarchy

Absolute monarchy is a monarchy form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an absolute monarchy there is no constitution or legal...
); and the unicameral Estates of Parliament, also known as the Three Estates , the parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in North-West Europe which existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a Anglo-Scottish border to the south with the Kingdom of England, with which it was united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, in 170...
 (which had more power over the monarch than the French assembly, but less than the English one), and its sister institution the Convention of Estates of Scotland
Convention of Estates of Scotland

The Convention of Estates of Scotland was a sister institution to the Parliament of Scotland which sat from the early sixteenth century. Initially it was only attended by the clergy and nobles, but the burgher commissioners were later added....
.

In France

France under the Ancien Régime
Ancien Régime

Ancien R?gime refers primarily to the aristocracy, sociology, and politics system established in France under the Valois Dynasty and House of Bourbon dynasties ....
 (before the French Revolution
French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudalism for the aristocracy and Roman Catholic Church clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Age of Enlightenment principles of cit...
) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
); the Second Estate (nobility
French nobility

The nobility in France, in the France in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern France period, had specific legal and financial rights, and prerogatives....
); and the Third Estate (commoner
Commoner

In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the British monarchy nor a peerage. Therefore, any member of the British Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince William of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title, such as the Earl of Arund...
s). The king was considered part of no estate.