Oaths of Strasbourg dated 14 February 842 , sign a military alliance between two small son of Charlemagne , Charles the Bald and Louis the German against the imperial ambitions of Lothair ^I. , eldest son of Louis Pius and, as such, claiming only to the throne of Charlemagne. They culminated in the Treaty of Verdun in 843 which ended the hostilities between the three brothers and draw the map of Europe for centuries.

Oaths of Strasbourg were not kept in their original version but are transcribed in the work of Nithard , The History of the son of Louis the Pious. Although they are less important than the Treaty of Verdun which follows shortly, the Oaths of Strasbourg are paramount in terms of story language , for they are one of the first written proof of the existence of a Romance language in Western Francia (here the ancestor of the langue d'oil ) and a Germanic dialect.

Summary 1 The oath of Louis and his troops in Romance 2 The oath of Charles and his troops Teutonic 3 Note on a sentence of Oaths 4 Manuscripts 5 Other contemporary texts of Oaths 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External links

The Oath of Louis and his troops in Romance

The Romance language transcribed here is barely separated from the Latin. That would be one of the first passages in Romance languages to be documented.

The text given by Louis the German is "Pro deo amur poblo and christian and pro nostro common Salvant, ist di in front of, as in deus Savir and podir Dunat me if eo cist meon salvar fradre Karlo and in aiudha and in cadhuna cosa, if his cum om per dreit fradra salvar dist, in o quid he mi altresi Fazette and void ab Ludha plaid Nunquam prindrai which meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit. "

So, in French: "For the love of God and Christian people and our common salvation, from today, as God gives me knowledge and power, I succor this my brother Charles with my help and in all things, as they must rescue his brother, in equity, provided they do the same for me, and I will never stay with any plaid Lothario who, in my will, can be damaging to my brother Charles. "

The troops of Charles the Bald promise "If Lodhuvigs sagra, his fradre iurat Karlo, conservatism, and Karlus meos Sendra of suo lo tanit proportion, if not the int io returnar peas: Do not Neuls io, eo cui returnar int peas , in nulla contra aiudha Lodhuvig nun li iu er. "

Or, in French: "If Louis observed the oath he swore to his brother Charles and Charles, my lord, for his part, does not hold, if I can not dissuade him, neither I nor any of those that I could turn away, we will not help him against Louis. "

The oath of Charles and his troops Teutonic

In the Germanic languages, evolved form of Franconian spoken in the Rhineland, Charles the Bald promises: "In Godes minna ind in thes christiane Folcher ind unser bedhero gealtnissi, his thesemo DAGE frammordes, na fram so mir Got geuuizci Mahd furgibit individual, social haldih Tesan Minani bruodher, soso man mit rehtu sinan bruodher scal, in thiu, thaz er mig sosoma duo; individual put in Ludheren nohheiniu thing does gegango, zhe Minani uuillon imo this scadhen uuerhen. "

Or, in French: "For the love of God and the salvation of Christian people and our hello both, from this day on, much as God will give me knowledge and power, I succor this my brother as we must in equity rescue his brother, provided he does the same for me, and I will in no arrangement with Lothario who, in my will, it can be harmful. "

The troops of Louis the German swear "Oba Karl eid Then, Then st sinemo bruodher Ludhuuuige gesuor, geleistit, indicating Ludhuuuig min Herro, Then st gesuor imo, forbrihchit, ob ih inan es iruuenden do mag noh ih noh nohhein Thero, Then ih es iruuenden mag uuidhar Karle imo what do follusti uuirdit. "

Or, in French: "If Charles observed the oath he swore to his brother Louis and Louis, my lord, he breaks one swore, if I can not dissuade him, neither I nor any of those that I could turn away, we do not lend him no help against Charles. "

Note on a sentence of Oaths

There is a sentence and a single version of the Romanesque that has no equivalent in the Germanic version. It is the one where Louis is committed to supporting his brother Charles "and in aiudha and in cadhuna cosa. Is that a copyist's negligence? It is the most likely explanation.

What exactly does this formula? It noted its parallelism with the Latin: "and consilio auxilio and" meaning "in council and covenant (army)". And even in Homeric Greek: " , " / Oude t hoi balls symphrssomai Oude Ergon men ^Manuscripts

The text is now preserved Nithard in two manuscripts.

The oldest manuscript was copied about AD 1000 , probably to the abbey of St. Medard de Soissons or that of Saint-Riquier. In the fifteenth century, it is in possession of the Abbey of Saint-Magloire in Paris. By 1650 it was bought on behalf of Queen Christina of Sweden and moved to Rome and is acquired after the death of the Queen by the Vatican Library. Following the capture of Rome by the French in 1798 , he moved to Paris with a whole lot of manuscripts seized. Tabled in the National Library of France , there is the Latin symbol 9768. The text of the oaths is at folio 13 .

The other manuscript, also kept in the Bibliothque nationale de France (Latin 14663) is a copy of the above, a fifteenth century.

Other contemporary texts of Oaths

There are older texts proving the existence of a Romance language written in the Carolingian Empire, as the glosses Cassel (around ^eighth or ^ninth century ) or the Glosses of Reichenau (VIII ^century) for the most famous. These, however, are glossaries, word lists, and can not read sentences in Romance. The very term romana lingua is attested from 813 : the deliberations of the Council of Tours (canon 17), we asked the bishops and priests that he translated into the vernacular homilies : the people, in fact, not included plus Latin. The two vernaculars reported rustica romana lingua are, that is to say, "Romance language of the country" and the lingua thiodisca, "Teutonic" (old term for "German").

The second complete text in the history of the French language is the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , which probably dates from 880 or 881. This is the first novel and literary text, as such, the ancestor of French literature.

References