Early Parliament and estates general question.?

Question

How did the early parliament in england and the estates general in france help to increase the kings power?
I thought they helped to limit it.

Answer 1

In England from about 1200, the kings began to summon parliaments to vote them special grants of money. Kings were limited in the ways they could raise revenue. When they ran out of ways, they had to ask for a grant.

You're right that frequent meetings of English parliaments limited the kings' powers, because after awhile, the commons began to ask for concessions in return. In France, the estates general did not meet from the middle ages until 1789. So during those centuries, the kings concentrated their power.

At that moment, the king needed money that was beyond customary revenues. The estates met. They tried to get changes. The king's ministers tried to dissolve the estates. The delegates adjourned from the palace where they were meeting to a tennis court just outside. There they took "the oath on the tennis court" that they would not disband until they had wrested their changes from the government. The rest is the French revolution.