Assembly of Notables

An Assembly of Notables (French: Assemblée des notables) was a group of high-ranking nobles, ecclesiastics, and state functionaries convened by the King of France on extraordinary occasions to consult on matters of state. Assemblymen were prominent men, usually of the aristocracy, and included royal princes, peers, archbishops, high-ranking judges, and, in some cases, major town officials. The king would issue one or more reforming edicts after hearing their advice.^[1]

This group met in 1560, 1575, 1583, 1596–97, 1617, 1626, 1787, and a final brief meeting in late 1788. Like the Estates-General, they served a consultative purpose only. But unlike the Estates-General, whose members were elected by the subjects of the realm, the assemblymen were selected by the king for their "zeal", "devotion", and their "trustworthiness" toward the sovereign.^[2]

In addition, assembly of notables can refer to an expanded version of the King's Council (Curia regis). Several times a year, whenever the king needed to cast a wider net to gather information for making important decisions or preparing edicts and ordinances, he would enlarge his Council with prominent men chosen for their social and professional standing or their skills to give counsel on the matters at hand. The role of the assembly was to advise the king on how to remedy governance issues in conflict with or brought up by the parlements or the Estates-General.