On this day in 842 Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages. It’s the oldest extant French text.
On this day in 842 Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages. It’s the oldest extant French text.
2 comments
The Oaths of Strasbourg were a military pact made on 14 February 842 by Charles the Bald and Louis the German against their older brother Lothair I, the designated heir of Louis the Pious, the successor of Charlemagne.
One year later the Treaty of Verdun would be signed, with major consequences for Western Europe’s geopolitical landscape.
Louis the German swore his oath in Romance so that the soldiers of Charles the Bald could understand him. Likewise, the latter recited his in Germanic so that Louis’ soldiers would understand.
Although the Oaths are of little political importance, given that they were superseded by the more comprehensive Treaty of Verdun, they are of significant importance to the field of linguistics.
As the scholar Philippe Walter wrote:
>This is the oldest extant French text. It is political in nature, not literary, and is important in that it marks the written debut of the ‘vulgar’ tongue.
Louis the German’s oath is recorded as follows:
>Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d’ist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo, cist meon fradre Karlo, et in aiudha, et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dift, in o quid il mi altresi fazet, et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai, qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit.
>For the love of God and Christiandom and our joint salvation, from this day onward, to the best of my knowledge and abilities granted by God, I shall protect my brother Charles by any means possible, as one ought to protect one’s brother, insofar as he does the same for me, and I shall never willingly enter into a pact with Lothair against the interests of my brother Charles
The army of Charles the Bald swore that:
>Si Lodhuvigs sagrament, que son fradre Karlo iurat conservat, et Karlus meos sendra de suo part non los tanit, si io returnar non l’int pois, ne io ne neuls, cui eo returnar int pois, in nulla aiudha contra Lodhuvig nun li iv er.
>If Louis keeps the oath which he has sworn to his brother Charles, and my lord Charles on the other hand breaks it, if I cannot dissuade him from it—neither I nor anyone else whom I could dissuade from it—then I shall render him no aid against Louis.