French States-General in the context of Parlements

This article lists Presidents of the French Parliament or, as the case may be, of its lower chamber.

The National Constituent Assembly was created in 1789 out of the Estates-General. It, and the revolutionary legislative assemblies that followed – the Legislative Assembly (1791–1792) and the National Convention (1792–1795), had a quickly rotating Presidency. With the establishment of the Directory in 1795, there were two chambers of the French legislature. The lower, the Council of Five Hundred, also had a quickly rotating chairmanship. Under Napoleon I, the Legislative Corps had all authority to actually enact laws, but was essentially a rubberstamp body, lacking the power to debate legislation. With the restoration of the monarchy, a bicameral system was restored, with a Chamber of Peers and a Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies, for the first time, had presidents elected for a substantial period of time.

A pays d'élection (French pronunciation: [pɛi delɛksjɔ̃]) was one of the three types of généralité, or fiscal administrative region, in France under the Ancien Régime. The representative of the royal government, the intendant, split up the impôts in each region with the aid of the élus, who were for a long time elected by the States General, hence the name of their office and of the pays d'élection. From 1614 to 1789, however, the States General did not meet, and instead the King named the intendants and the élus. This was in contrast to the pays d'état, such as Brittany or Burgundy, where fiscal policy was regulated by local rules and benefited from a certain autonomy, and to the pays d'imposition such as Franche-Comté.

The dual monarchy of England and France existed during the latter phase of the Hundred Years' War when Charles VII of France and Henry VI of England disputed the succession to the throne of France. It commenced on 21 October 1422 upon the death of King Charles VI of France, who had signed the Treaty of Troyes which gave the French crown to his son-in-law Henry V of England and Henry's heirs. It excluded King Charles's son, the Dauphin Charles, who by right of primogeniture was the heir to the Kingdom of France. Although the Treaty was ratified by the Estates-General of France, the act was a contravention of the French law of succession which decreed that the French crown could not be alienated. Henry VI, son of Henry V, became king of both England and France and was recognised only by the English and Burgundians until 1435 as King Henry II of France. He was crowned King of France on 16 December 1431 in Paris.

In practical terms, King Henry's claim to de jure sovereignty and legitimacy as king of France was only recognised in the English and allied-controlled territories of France which were under the domination of his French regency council, while the Dauphin ruled as King of France in part of the realm south of the river Loire.