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Bygone Is, a royal visitor and a cornerstone decree | |
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King
Francis I stayed in Is-sur-Tille between 2nd and 13th October 1535. This
visit would only be of passing interest if the sovereign’s visit had not
been marked by the promulgation of a decree which was to prepare the
country for a linguistic revolution ; namely the replacing of Latin
by French, which at the time was the common (in both senses of the word)
language spoken by our ancestors. This
royal act, motivated by the fact that some judges abused their knowledge
of Latin (the language of the literate only) to cheat their suppliants,
was to be finalised in August 1539 with the famous decree of
Villers-Cotterêt. |
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However,
the king’s ulterior motive may have been to impose French by opposing
Latin, but also Occitan (a minority language or dialect of south-west
France). An
extract from the Is-sur-Tille decree: “To overcome the abuse of power which has been exercised by judges on our provinces conducting court cases in Latin, let be decreed, so that witnesses may better understand what is said to them and criminals the accusations made against them, that henceforth all court cases and legal proceedings will be conducted in French, or at least in the common parlances of the said district” (Is-sur-Tille, 10th October 1535).
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