Treaty of Athis-sur-Orge
95-650: The Franco-Flemish War ( French : Guerre de Flandre ; Dutch : Vlaamse opstand ) was a conflict between the Kingdom of France and the County of Flanders between 1297 and 1305. Philip IV became king of France in 1285, determined to strengthen the French monarchy at any cost. The County of Flanders had been nominally part of the kingdom since the Treaty of Verdun in 843 but had maintained its de facto independence from
190-677: A French army against the Flemish main army at the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle , here William of Jülich met his death. After further minor battles, eventually the Treaty of Athis-sur-Orge was signed on 23 June 1305 which recognised Flemish independence as a fief , but at the cost of the cities of Lille , Douai and Bethune, which were transferred to the French crown-lands, and the paying of exorbitant fines to Philip IV. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
285-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
380-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
475-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
570-470: A formal siege, lasting ten weeks, began. During the siege, French raiding parties marched through the Flemish countryside, burning or conquering the towns of Komen, Waasten, and Kortrijk , which surrendered to Valois. In August 1297, the French troops were reinforced when Robert of Artois returned from his successful campaign against Edward in Aquitaine. Artois' troops marched upon Cassel , which, except for
665-639: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
760-541: A powerful French army led by Count Robert II of Artois arrived to crush the rebellion. The two forces clashed on 11 July in an open field near the city in a battle that became known as the Battle of the Golden Spurs . The Flemish prevailed against all expectations. The renowned French cavalry was stopped by the tactically sound position of the Flemish militia and the muddy terrain and many French knights were slaughtered. This battle returned full independence to Flanders for
855-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
950-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1045-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
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#17328475718841140-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
1235-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
1330-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
1425-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
1520-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
1615-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
1710-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
1805-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
1900-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
1995-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
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#17328475718842090-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
2185-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
2280-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
2375-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
2470-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
2565-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
2660-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
2755-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
2850-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
2945-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
Franco-Flemish War - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-607: The County of Zeeland , and was part of the House of Avesnes , the hereditary enemy of the Flemish House of Dampierre . Zealand had been contested between the Count of Flanders and the Count of Holland since the early 11th century and had become part of Holland by 1076. The Flemish invaded Hainaut in 1302 and conquered Lessines . Guy of Namur , son of the Count of Flanders, formed a fleet at Sluis and sailed on 23 April 1303 to claim Zeeland for
3135-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
3230-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
3325-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
3420-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
3515-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
3610-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
3705-502: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
3800-750: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
3895-682: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
Franco-Flemish War - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-886: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
4085-456: The Crown, occasioning the 1294–1303 Gascon War . Count Guy attempted to join his fortunes with King Edward in 1294, betrothing his daughter Philippa to Prince Edward , the future Edward II. Philip then ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Guy and two of his sons; the marriage was called off and Philippa was brought to Paris, where she remained until her death in 1306. Guy was summoned before
4180-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
4275-448: The English nobility against a Flemish enterprise and was faced with the First War of Scottish Independence . This meant that Count Guy effectively faced the French alone. The count's eldest son Robert of Bethune speedily occupied Mortagne , at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Scarpe , and the castle of Helkijn. In March 1297 King Phillip IV arrested all partisans of Count Guy and seized all their property. Philip IV then occupied
4370-415: The Flemish Army, consisting of German hired troops, which was beaten back. After this setback Orchies surrendered to France. Valois' troops raided and burned the countryside up to Lille , but then returned to the French main army. On 16 June 1297 the entire French Army entered Flanders marching upon Lille and burning the towns of Seclin and Loos on the way. On 17 June the city of Lille was invested and
4465-439: The Flemish occupied castle, was burned, and to Sint-Winoksbergen , which surrendered. By 20 August, Artois' troops had reached Veurne . The Flemish counter-attack on Artois ended in a French victory at the Battle of Furnes (20 August 1297). Five days later Lille surrendered to King Philip and the 3,000-man strong Flemish Army, led by Robert of Bethune, was allowed to march out to Roeselare . Although facing problems at home, at
4560-412: The Flemish. After some initial successes, Guy was defeated on 10 and 11 August 1304 in the Battle of Zierikzee by a combined Franco-Hollandic fleet under Rainier Grimaldi , who had been sent by Philip IV of France to aid the Count of Holland. Guy of Namur was captured and Zeeland remained firmly in the hands of the Count of Holland. One week after this naval battle, on 18 August Philip IV personally led
4655-420: The Flemish. Soon the urban guilds forged an alliance with the Flemish nobles supporting the count. They were called Liebaarts or Klauwaards (after the Claws of the Flemish Lion). On 19 May 1302, a rebellion broke out in Bruges where the Flemish populace killed every Frenchmen they could find, including the French garrison. This event was called the Bruges Matins . De Châtillon escaped with his life. Now
4750-453: The French King were called Leliaards (supporters of the French Lily), and also included a part of the rural aristocracy. The urban proletariat hoped for more justice and a better distribution of wealth under the new ruler, but Philip IV appointed Jacques de Châtillon as governor of the county, a very bad choice. Together with the Leliaards , this undiplomatic soldier imposed a very repressive government, raising new taxes, which infuriated
4845-424: The French besieged Damme and Ypres, where the defences respectively was led by the Count's sons William of Dendermonde and Guy of Namur . At the end of April William surrendered Damme, Aardenburg and Sluis . Ghent surrendered to the French on 8 May, Oudenaarde on 11 May, and Ypres on 21 May 1300. By mid-May the old count, his sons Robert and William and several Flemish nobles were led into captivity in France, and
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#17328475718844940-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
5035-480: The Germans . Philip responded by declaring Guy's titles forfeit, annexing Flanders to the royal domain , and sending a French army under Robert II of Artois to conquer it. The Count of Flanders received little support from his allies: an invasion of Champagne by the Count of Bar (June 1297) was easily beaten back, the German King encountered opposition from a French backed rival Albert I of Habsburg and fell in battle in 1298, and King Edward encountered opposition by
5130-458: The Upper Scarpe ( Scarpe supérieure , 23 km, 9 locks) from Arras to Courchelettes , the Middle Scarpe through Douai, and the Lower Scarpe ( Scarpe inférieure , 36 km, 6 locks) from Douai to the Escaut. The Middle Scarpe is no longer navigable, bypassed by the high-capacity Canal Dunkerque-Escaut . This river was navigated from the Escaut up to Douai as early as 638, but improvements with flash locks were required to give access to
5225-411: The castle of l’Ecluse near Douai . In June 1297 Philip IV gathered an army of about 3,000 knights at Compiegne . The French Army marched on Arras (6 June), Lens (12 June) and reached the Franco-Flemish border near Douai on 14 June 1297. The next day part of the French cavalry, led by the king's brother Charles of Valois and by Raoul de Nesle crossed the border near Râches and encountered part of
5320-433: The city to him. The city was occupied by French troops led by Raoul de Nesle and Guy IV, Count of Saint-Pol but its port Damme was retaken by troops led by Robert of Bethune. Papal mediation led to an armistice in October 1297, which was generally upheld until 1300. During this period, negotiations between the French and English kings and the other warring parties—including Count Guy—took place before papal envoys , while
5415-490: The combatants simultaneously strengthened the defences of the Flemish towns in their hands. Having reached an agreement with his barons to fight the Scottish threat, Edward and his forces left Flanders in March 1298. The 1299 Treaty of Montreuil established peace between Edward and Philip and betrothed the English crown prince to Philip's daughter Isabella ; the same year, Edward himself married Philip's sister Margaret . King Edward thereafter largely left Guy to his fate. By
5510-452: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Scarpe (river) The Scarpe ( French pronunciation: [skaʁp] ) is a river in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It is a is 94 km (58 mi) long left-bank tributary of the river Escaut ( Scheldt ). The source of the river is at Berles-Monchel near Aubigny-en-Artois . It flows through
5605-488: The crown. Flanders had some of the richest cities of that time, including Bruges , Ghent , Ypres , Lille , and Douai . These cities tried to keep their independence from the Count of Flanders and from the rural aristocracy but were themselves divided between their rich patricians and the urban tradesmen , united in guilds . In 1288, Philip IV used complaints over taxes to tighten his control over Flanders. Tension built between Guy of Dampierre , count of Flanders, and
5700-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
5795-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
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#17328475718845890-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
5985-471: The end of 1299 Count Guy had turned over the government to his eldest son Robert. After the expiration of the armistice in January 1300, the French invaded Flanders again, starting skirmishes alongside the armistice line of 1298. A French detachment led by Wale Paièle plundered and burned the countryside around Ypres and Cassel, and Charles of Valois marched from Bruges to the outskirts of Ghent, burning Nevele and twelve other towns and hamlets. From March 1300
6080-400: The end of August 1297 King Edward eventually moved an army of 895 knights and 7,560 infantry and bowmen to Flanders. Finding no support in Bruges, the king moved to Ghent and made that city his base of operations in Flanders. After the fall of Lille, the French main army marched upon Kortrijk and Ingelmunster . On 18 September 1297 Philip was met with a delegation from Bruges which surrendered
6175-406: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
6270-439: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
6365-715: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
6460-453: The important town of Arras, reached in 1613. This remained a shallow navigation, with locks of varying width and length, until it was improved to the Becquey gauge in the 1840s. The enlargement to Freycinet gauge was completed by about 1890. Today the Lower Scarpe is closed from the Douai junction to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux pending dredging and identification of a new owner and operator. The river and its valley were important battlegrounds in
6555-442: The king in 1296 and the principal cities of Flanders were taken under royal "protection" until he paid an indemnity and surrendered his territories, to hold them thenceforth at the grace of the King. In January 1297, Count Guy formally renounced his vassalage to King Philip IV and allied himself with Edward I, king of England; John I , count of Holland ; Henry III , count of Bar ; and Adolf of Nassau , king of
6650-543: The king. Meanwhile, despite having been forced to accept the loss of Normandy , Maine , Anjou , and Poitou in the 1259 Treaty of Paris after a century of conflict , the Kingdom of England continued to hold the Channel Islands and the massive Duchy of Aquitaine in nominal vassalage to the French king. Personal disputes between English and French sailors in the early 1290s caused Philip to make demands that prompted King Edward I to renounce his fealty and Philip to declare his Continental holdings forfeit to
6745-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
6840-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
6935-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
7030-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
7125-478: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
7220-520: The next two years. Two attempts by the French King to take revenge for this embarrassing defeat were averted by a Flemish army under William of Jülich at the 1303 Battle of Arques , followed by a Flemish incursion into France which led to the Siege of Tournai . In the meantime Flanders was again at war with the Count of Holland. John II, Count of Holland since 1299, also ruled over the County of Hainaut and
7315-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
7410-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
7505-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
7600-467: The rebellion became general. William of Jülich , the grandson of Count Guy, arrived in Bruges, and became the leader of the Flemish uprising. He was supported by his uncles John I, Marquis of Namur and Guy of Namur . Soon, most of Flanders was under their control. Only Cassel and Kortrijk remained in French hands and the city of Ghent remained neutral. When the Flemish besieged Kortrijk on 9 and 10 July,
7695-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
7790-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
7885-534: The towns of Arras , Douai and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux . The river ends at Mortagne-du-Nord , where it flows into the Scheldt. Scarpe Mountain in Alberta , Canada , was named after the river. The navigable waterway and its coal barges also feature in the novels by 19th century author Émile Zola . The river was made navigable by 15 weirs and locks over about two thirds of its length (67 km (42 mi)), divided into
7980-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
8075-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
8170-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
8265-544: The whole of Flanders was under French control. The conquest of Flanders had been relatively easy, because the Flemish cities had remained neutral up to then. The patricians had a long history of conflict with the Count of Flanders over the level of control the count had over the (financial) affairs of the cities. The patricians had turned to the French King for support, who had thankfully intervened in their favour, thus increasing his influence in Flanders. The Flemish supporters of
8360-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
8455-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
8550-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
8645-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
8740-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
8835-684: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
8930-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
9025-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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