page_title: Oaths of Strasbourg
section_title: Sources and contents
hierarchical_section_title: Oaths of Strasbourg / Sources and contents
caption_attribution_description: Latina: Pars extracta e Sacramentis Argentariae English: Extract of the Oaths of Strasbourg Français&#160;: Extrait des Serments de Strasbourg Español: Extracto de los Juramentos de Estrasburgo
context_page_description: The Oaths of Strasbourg were mutual pledges of allegiance between Louis the German, ruler of East Francia, and his half-brother Charles the Bald, ruler of West Francia made on 12 February 842. They are written in three different languages: Medieval Latin, Old Gallo-Romance and Old High German, all in Caroline minuscule. The Romance passages are generally considered to be the earliest texts in a language that is distinctly Gallo-Romance.
context_section_description: The sole source for the text of the oaths is Nithard's Historiae or De dissensionibus filiorum Ludovici pii (On the Dissensions of the Sons of Louis the Pious), where it is found in Chapter V of Book III. Nithard's work is preserved in a manuscript from the 10th or 11th century (Cod. Lat. 9768 in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris) and the text of the oaths is on folios 12ᵛ-13ʳ-13ᵛ. (A later, 14th-century manuscript is a copy of Cod. Lat. 9768 and therefore of no independent value as a source.)
  Both kings first made the same preamble speech, which was a detailed complaint against Lothair. Each king then swore his individual oath in front of their assembled armies, not in Latin nor in his own language, but in the vernacular of the other's kingdom. Finally, the armies swore separate pledges in their respective languages.
  One version of the pledges was written in the Rhine Franconian dialect of Old High German. The second version is in a form of Romance that can be viewed, very approximately, as Proto-French. The preamble was also written in Latin, as were sections to report the ceremonies.
caption: Parchment containing the beginning of the Oaths in Gallo-Romance.
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