Oaths of Strasbourg

The Oaths of Strasbourg were a military pact made on 14 February 842 by Charles the Bald and Louis the German against their older brother Lothair I, the designated heir of Louis the Pious, the successor of Charlemagne. One year later the Treaty of Verdun would be signed, with major consequences for Western Europe's geopolitical landscape.

Louis the German swore his oath in Romance so that the soldiers of Charles the Bald could understand him. Likewise, the latter recited his in Germanic so that Louis's soldiers would understand.

The Romance section of the Oaths is of special importance to historical linguistics, as it is the oldest extant document in France that was written deliberately and consistently in a form of Romance.^[1]^[2]^[3]

^ « Moyen Âge : l'affirmation des langues vulgaires » in the Encyclopædia universalis.
^ Bernard Cerquiglini, La naissance du français, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1991, Que-sais-je ? ; éd. mise à jour, 2007.
^ Conference of Claude Hagège at the historical museum of Strasbourg, p. 5, (read online) Archived 2015-04-08 at the Wayback Machine

[1] « Moyen Âge : l'affirmation des langues vulgaires » in the Encyclopædia universalis.

[2] Bernard Cerquiglini, La naissance du français, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1991, Que-sais-je ? ; éd. mise à jour, 2007.

[3] Conference of Claude Hagège at the historical museum of Strasbourg, p. 5, (read online) Archived 2015-04-08 at the Wayback Machine

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