What oath did the Third Estate swear on a tennis court on June 20, 1789?

The Tennis Court Oath was the pledge sworn by the Third Estate on June 20, 1789.

Representatives of the Third Estate arrived at their usual meeting place and found it closed, apparently because royal preparations were under way for a session of the Estates-General. They gathered instead in an indoor tennis court near Versailles. There, they vowed not to separate until France had a constitution.

The oath transformed a procedural dispute into a direct challenge to royal authority. Although the Third Estate represented commoners, its deputies soon invited members of the clergy and nobility to join them. On June 27, Louis XVI ordered all three estates to meet together, helping create the National Constituent Assembly.

The event is sometimes confused with the Oath of the Ball Game, a literal translation of the French name “Serment du Jeu de paume.” It was not an athletic contest or a separate oath: “jeu de paume” was the predecessor of modern tennis, and the pledge took place in its court.