page_title: History of Catalan
section_title: 18th century to the present: France
hierarchical_section_title: History of Catalan / 18th century to the present: France
caption_attribution_description: English: A 1700 decree by Louis XIV (the Sun King) that forbade the use of Catalan in French-controlled part of Catalonia (Northern Catalonia). Català: Decret de prohibició de fer servir el català a Catalunya de Lluís XIV de França Français&#160;: L'interdiction de la langue catalane en Roussillon («&#160;Catalogne-Nord&#160;») par Louis XIV: [...] depuis plus de quarante ans que Nous possedons en pleine Souveraineté les Comtés &amp; Vigueries de Roussillon &amp; Conflans [Conflent], qui nous ont été cédés avec une partie du Comté de Cerdaigne [Cerdagne], par le Traité de Paix des Pirenées, [...] ont continué à y être couchés en Langue Catalane, par un usage que l’habitude seule a autorisé: Mais outre que cet usage répugne &amp; est en quelque façon contraire a Notre Autorité [...] (Texte intégrale)
context_page_description: The Catalan language originated from Vulgar Latin in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. It diverged from the other Romance languages in the 9th century. At that time, Catalan spread quickly throughout the Iberian peninsula when the Catalan counts conquered Muslim territory. By the 11th century, the Catalan language was present in several feudal documents. Catalan was present throughout the Mediterranean by the 15th century. At that time, the city of Valencia was thriving.
  In 1659, the Treaty of Pyrenees was signed, beginning a suppression of the Catalan language. Louis XIV issued a decree that prohibited the use of the Catalan language in Northern Catalonia. The repression continued during the French Revolution when the First French Republic prohibited the usage of Catalan in linguistic education. The repression continued until recently, when finally the French government in 2007 promoted the usage of Catalan publicly and in education.
  In Spain, the usage of Catalan was also prohibited. In Francoist Spain, Catalan was prohibited in government and education. It was initially prohibited in mass media, but then allowed during the early 1950s.
context_section_description: After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, a royal decree by Louis XIV of France on April 2, 1700 prohibited the use of the Catalan language in present-day Northern Catalonia. The decree forbade use in any official document, under the threat of being invalidated.
  Shortly after the French Revolution, the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the nonstandard languages of France (patois), such as Catalan, Breton, Occitan, Flemish, and Basque.
  The deliberate process of eradicating non-French vernaculars in modern France and dismissing them as mere local and often strictly oral dialects was formalized with Abbé Grégoire's Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language, which he presented on June 4, 1794 to the National Convention; thereafter, all languages other than French were officially banned in the administration and schools for the sake of linguistically uniting post-Bastille Day France.
  To date, the French government continues its policy of recognizing French as the country's only official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales recognized Catalan as one of its official the languages in the Article 1 (a) of its Charte en faveur du Catalan and sought to promote it in public life and education.
  Article 1: "The General Council of Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognizes, along with the French language, Catalan as a language of the department."
  ("Le Conseil Général des Pyrénées-Orientales reconnaît officiellement, au côté de la langue française, le catalan comme langue du département)."
caption: Official Decree Prohibiting the Catalan Language in France.
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