Apparently the king was
at last preparing to intervene in the contest himself. Then the
commoners precipitated a veritable revolution. Led by Mirabeau and
Sieyes, they proceeded to a great public building in the vicinity,
which was variously used as a riding-hall or a tennis court. There,
amidst intense excitement, with upstretched hands, they took an oath as
members of the "National Assembly" that they would not separate until
they had drawn up a constitution for France. The "Oath of the Tennis
Court" was the true beginning of the French Revolution. Without royal
sanction, in fact against the express commands of the king, the ancient
feudal Estates-General had been transformed, by simple proclamation of
the nation's representatives, into a National Assembly, charged with
the duty of establishing constitutional government in France. The "Oath
of the Tennis Court" was the declaration of the end of absolute divine-
right monarchy and of the beginning of a limited monarchy based on the
popular will.
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