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The French vs the Franks

greg   Monday, June 13, 2005, 07:22 GMT

In French what is called <francique> – including <francique mosellan>, <francique rhénan>, <francique ripuaire> and <francique luxembourgeois> – is now related to a High-German dialect, a member of the West-Middle-German family, spoken in Germany and France’s Germanophone Lorraine (see the region located north of Alsace : http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/francepolminor-cartelng_regionale.htm or http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/francecarte_aires-lng.htm). Otherwise Fr <francique> means Fr <langue franque> = En <frankish language>. Frankish and Gallo-Roman languages coexisted for many centuries in Northern Gaul. ‘Francia’ – meaning Frankland, that is the spatial distribution of foremost Frankish settlements, nothing to do with ulterior dynasties as Merovingians (Regnum Francorum) or Carolingians (Regnum Francorum, Francia Occidentalis, Francia Orientalis) – was used as early as the 2nd century to refer to a Northern-Gaul area coinciding with modern-day Picardy and Flanders. All Frankish kings spoke Frankish and could handle some Latin. Ambitious Gallo-Romans had to learn Frankish to clamber up political hierarchy. Yet Frankish aristocracy started to use Gallo-Roman (first Low Latin, then Protofrench) very early due to demographic imbalance and Gallo-Roman monolingualism. According to Henriette Walter, 544 Frankish words only made their way into today French despite centuries of Frankish rule, that is ½ % of French vocabulary – compare with French loanwords in English : 25 % of English lexicon. 842 is traditionally considered the birth of written French (Oath of Strasbourg). Yet it is likely that spoken Old French was actually older than that. The border between Late Northern Gallo-Roman and Early Old French is hard to tell. The 8th century might be a fair estimate. Charlemagne was born in 742 and died in 814. So he may have ‘witnessed’ the ‘passage’ from Late Low Latin (Lingua Romana Rustica or Li Romanz or Protofrench) to Early Old French. Anyway he spoke Frankish and Latin and could understand Greek. He wanted to promote Classical Latin (or what he perceived it to be) in his realm but also contemplated drawing up a comprehensive Frankish grammar : so he seems not to have been obsessed with either Gallo-Roman nor nascent Old French (this language was to be referred to as, in Latin, Lingua Gallica or Lingua Gallicana at least until the 13th century – the French equivalent being ‘françois’). NORTHERN GALLO-ROMAN (7TH CENTURY) : Por deo amore et por chrestyano poblo et nostro comune salvamento de esto die en avante en quanto Deos sabere et podere me donat, sic salvarayo eo eccesto meon fradre Karlo, et en ayuda et en caduna causa, sic qomo omo per drecto son fradre salvare devet, en o qued illi me altrosic fatsyat, et ab Ludero nullo plagdo nonqua prendrayo, qui meon volo eccesto meon fradre Karlo en damno seat. EARLY OLD FRENCH (842) : Pro deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun saluament d'ist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in aiudha et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son frada salvar dift, in o quid il mi altresi fazet et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindraiqui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit. Hugues Capet (940-996) is the first king known to have been a French-speaking monolingual. He belongs to the Robertian dynasty two members of which became kings of France before Hugues did : Eudes, from 887 to 898, and Robert in 923. Hugues Capet was duke of France from 956 to 987 and king of France from 987 to 996. The Capetian dynasty starts with Hugues and 997 can be deemed the very embryo of modern France – a gradual political construction that ended up in nation-building par excellence. Francia (Frankland or Regnum Francorum) was more often divided than united. During the Merovingian period there wasn’t one kingdom but several. The only times when Merovingian Francia was united were the following : (subject to verification) - the entire reign of Clovis (466-511) : from 481 to 511 - 3 years during the reign of Clotaire I (497-561) : from 558 to 561 - 16 years during the reign of Clotaire II (584-629) : from 613 to 629 - one year during the reign of Dagobert I (610-639) : from 632 to 633 - 4 years during the reign of Dagobert III (699-715) : from 711 to 715 - 3 years during the reign of Chilpéric II (670-721) : from 719 to 721 - the entire reign of Thierry IV (713-737) : from 721 to 737 - the entire reign of Childéric III (714-755) : from 743 to 751. For Frankish kings private and public domains were essentially the same thing. So the sons of a deceased king were given parts of their father’s domain. This is the reason why there could have been up to 4 kingdoms coexisting at a time. The main Frankish kingdoms were : - Neustria : modern Northwestern France (including Paris) - Austrasia : modern Northeastern France (including Rheims) plus Germany’s Rhineland - Aquitaine : modern Southwestern France (including Bordeaux and Toulouse), that is the area taken from the Wisigoths in 507 (Septimany -ie : modern Languedoc-Roussillon- remained Wisigothic until Arab invasions stopped by Charles Martel, a Carolingian, around 732) - Burgundy - Auvergne - Orléans - Paris - Rheims - Soissons. Not all those Frankish kingdoms remained intact during Merovingian times as many were merged or dismantled many times. I think the first king of Austrasia (http://en.moselle.free.fr/Histoire/Images/austrasie.jpg) was Théodebert I (504-548) as he ruled over this area combined with Burgundy from 534 up to 548. Between 555 and 561 Austrasia proper was ruled by Clotaire I (497-561). Childebert III (639-662) – known as The Adopted – was the first Carolingian to rule Austrasia, from 656 to 662 : taking advantage of his position as mayor of the palace of Austrasia, this Pippinid (Carolingian) usurped the throne of Austrasia. In many Frankish realms the men in power were the mayors of the palace, that is Fr <maire du palais> from La <major domus> (see modern acceptation : Fr <majordome> = En <majordomo>). The ‘maire du palais’ was a sort of prime minister and commander-in-chief. The most powerful ‘maires du palais’ were those of Neustria and Austrasia. Still, in 687 Austrasia defeated Neustria and since then there had just been one single ‘maire du palais’ for both Neustria and Austrasia and it was the Carolingian or Pippinid dynasty which took power of the ‘mairie du palais’. The Merovingian Frankish royal dynasties were considered sacred and until Pépin le Bref, a Carolingian or Pippinid, took the throne in 752 (to the exception of Childebert III The Adopted, a Carolingian usurper). The Carolingian dynasty is of Frankish blood but no royal Merovingian lineage. It was founded (as reigning dynasty) by Pépin le Bref (715-768), who reigned from 752 up to 768. Pépin was the son of Charles Martel (688-741), himself son of Pépin d’Héristal (640-714), who got in charge of the ‘mairie du palais’ for both Neustria and Austrasia in 687. Charles Martel was ‘maire du palais’ and duke of Austrasia and had the real power in Francia (Frankland). In 721, Charles Martel nonetheless made sure that the 8-year-old Merovingian Thierry IV (713-737) – a son of Dagobert III (699-715), a previous Frankish king of Francia from 711 up to 715 – succeeded Chilpéric II (670-721), who himself reigned in Neustria and Burgundy from 715 to 721 and in Francia from 719 to 721. Pépin le Bref (715-768) had two sons : Carloman (751-771), co-king of Francia from 768 to 771, Charles I (747-814), later known as Charlemagne, co-king of Francia from 768 to 771, king of Francia from 771 to 814, king of Lombardy from 774 to 781, Emperor of Occident from 800 to 814. I mentioned ‘co-king’ for Carloman and Charles I because the two brothers never agreed on the terms of the partition of Francia : Francia was supposed to have been cut in two between 768 and 771.