History
article | Reading time6 min
The French language continues to evolve with time, usage and society. Let's take a look back at some of the symbolic moments that have marked its history...
842: The Serments de Strasbourg, the birth of the French language?
The Serments de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Oaths) are the oldest preserved text in French.
It all began with a sombre dispute over inheritance between Charlemagne's grandsons: Lothaire I, Louis the German and Charles the Bald. The latter two decided to unite against their elder brother. To seal their alliance, in February 842 they signed the Strasbourg Oaths, transcribed by their cousin the Frankish chronicler Nithard.
What, you may ask, do these political disputes have to do with the French language?
The Oaths were written in two languages: Romance and Tudesque, the respective ancestors of French and German. It was therefore the first official document written not in Latin, but in Romance.
The manuscript of this major text can be found at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).
© Gallica BnF
12th century: the rise of poetry in Old French
In the Middle Ages, and especially from the 12th century onwards, poetic production in Old French (langue d'oïl in the northern part of France) became increasingly important.
Take Rutebeuf, for example. A 13th-century minstrel and writer, he distinguished himself from the authors of his time by breaking with the tradition of courtly, refined poetry in the langue d'oïl. His highly personal work combines drama, biographies, lyrical and satirical poems...
Rutebeuf has no tongue in cheek: he doesn't hesitate to evoke the miseries of life, to sing of his own misfortunes or to criticize the powerful!
His lyrics continue to inspire French-speaking artists, such as Léo Ferré, who pays tribute to him by reprinting his verses in the song Pauvre Rutebeuf: "Que sont mes amis devenus, que j'avais de si près tenus, et tant aimés, ils ont été trop clairsemés."
© Reproduction Benjamin Gavaudo / CMN
1539: the Villers-Cotterêts decree, a founding text
In August 1539, François I signed the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in his royal residence. Articles 110 and 111 imposed the French language on all legal documents relating to the kingdom's administration and justice, to the detriment of Latin!
This law was the first milestone in the development of the French language, and contributed to the political unification of the country around a single language.
© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux
1549: the poet du Bellay's plea for the French language
Ten years after the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, poet Joachim du Bellay wrote The defense and illustration of the French language. In it, he fervently defends the French language, while expressing his gratitude to François I, protector of the arts and letters.
This text is considered the "manifesto" of the Pléiade poets, a group to which Joachim du Bellay belonged alongside Pierre de Ronsard and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. Their ambition: to enrich and perfect French, making it as "noble" and influential as Latin!
The democratization of printing would enable their ideas (and the French language) to spread far and wide.
© Gallica BnF
1635: the creation of the Académie française
The Académie française was created in 1635 to promote national linguistic unity. Founded by Cardinal de Richelieu, the institution's main mission was to monitor the state of the language and ensure its correct use.
Article XXIV of its statutes states: "The principal function of the Académie will be to work with all possible care and diligence to give certain rules to our language and to make it pure, eloquent and capable of dealing with the arts and sciences".
At the beginning of the 17th century, spelling was far from fixed! To remedy the situation, the Académie established rules and drew up a dictionary, the first edition of which was published in 1694.
© Gallica BnF
1784: Discours sur l'universalité de la langue française by Antoine de Rivarol
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the use of French spread far beyond the borders of the kingdom. Synonymous with refinement, it was spoken by the elite in the greatest courts of Europe.
In his essay De l'universalité de la langue française, Antoine de Rivarol answers three questions posed by the Berlin Academy as part of a competition: "What has made the French language universal? Why does it deserve this prerogative? Is it likely to keep it?
The competition was a great success: he won first prize ex-aequo with the German philosopher Johann Christoph Schwab!
Why such a triumph? The writer brilliantly revisits the history of French and defends the language's "genius". "What isn't clear isn't French," he asserts!
1794: Abbé Grégoire wants to abolish regional languages
Who really spoke French at the end of the 18th century? To find out, Abbé Grégoire conducted a nationwide sociological survey over a period of four years.
His findings were edifying: only one Frenchman in five used the national language. Regional languages and patois predominated.
The man of letters then drew up a report "on the Necessity and Means of Annihilating the Patois and Universalizing the Use of the French Language", justifying his ideas by the need to unify the nation.
© Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris
1882: compulsory primary education for all
In 1881 and 1882, Jules Ferry, Minister of Public Instruction, passed two laws making primary education free, compulsory and secular.
Schooling was to be in French only, in order to spread the language throughout the country, as Abbé Grégoire had wished a century earlier.
Pupils were forbidden to express themselves in regional languages, which contributed to their weakening. It wasn't until the Deixonne law of January 11 1951 that the teaching of France's regional languages was authorized.
© Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris
1992: the "language of Molière" is enshrined in the Constitution
"The language of the Republic is French. Surprising as it may seem, it was only in 1992 that the French language was enshrined in the Constitution, in a paragraph of Article 2.
This change came in the same year as the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the founding treaty of the European Union. Debates in the French National Assembly testified to a determination to protect the "language of Molière" from that of Shakespeare.
"At a time when we are about to ratify a treaty that will see the disappearance of the national currency in favor of a European currency, marking our attachment to the national language is a strong and necessary symbol", declares Alain Lamassoure, Member of Parliament for Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
© Château de Versailles
1994: a law for the French language
The law of August 4, 1994 on the use of the French language, known as the "Toubon Law", implements the principle laid down in Article 2 of the Constitution: "The language of the Republic is French".
It stipulates that French is the language of education, work, trade and public services. It does not prohibit the use of other languages, but guarantees the right to understand and express oneself in our common language. This concerns a large number of everyday situations, including the consumption of goods and services, advertising, employment, access to rights...
Would you like to find out more about the French language? While you're waiting for the Cité internationale de la langue française to open its permanent tour, take a closer look at the project for this unique site.
© Cité internationale de la langue française / Centre des monuments nationaux
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