the Three Estates

The Three Estates refer to the historical division of society into three social orders: the First Estate (clergy), which included church leaders responsible for spiritual matters; the Second Estate (nobility), comprising aristocrats and landowners with political and military privileges; and the Third Estate (commoners), representing everyone else—peasants, workers, and bourgeoisie—who held the majority of the population and bore most economic burdens. This structure structured social roles and privileges in pre-modern Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, shaping governance, rights, and responsibilities within society.