Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts is an extensive piece of reform legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

signed into law by Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

on August 10, 1539 in the city of Villers-Cotterêts

Villers-Cotterêts

Villers-Cotterêts is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-Geography:It is located NE of Paris via the RN2 facing Laon...

.

Largely the work of Chancellor Guillaume Poyet

Guillaume Poyet

Guillaume Poyet was a French magistrate born in Angers. After practising successfully as a barrister at Angers and Paris, he was instructed by Louise of Savoy, mother of the king Francis I, to uphold her rights against the constable de Bourbon in 1521. This was the beginning of his fortunes...

, this legislative edict, in 192 articles, dealt with a number of governmental, judicial and ecclesiastic matters (ordonnance générale en matière de police et de justice).

Articles 110 and 111, the most famous, prescribed the use of French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

in all judicial acts, notarized

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

s and official legislation in order to avoid any linguistic confusion:

Nous voullons et ordonnons qu’ilz soient faictz et escrits si clerement qu’il n’y ait ne puisse avoir aucune ambiguïté ou incertitude, ni lieu à en demander interpretacion.

We wish and command that [judicial acts] be made and written so clearly that there be neither ambiguity or uncertainty nor possibility of ambiguity or uncertainty, nor cause to ask interpretation thereof.

Et pour ce que telles choses sont souventesfoys advenues sur l'intelligence des motz latins contenuz esdictz arretz, Nous voulons que doresenavant tous arretz ensemble toutes autres procedeures, soyent de nous cours souveraines ou aultres subalternes et inferieures, soyent de registres, enquestes, contractz, commissions, sentences, testamens et aultres quelzconques actes et exploictz de justice ou qui en dependent, soient prononcez, enregistrez et delivrez aux parties en langage maternel francoys et non autrement.

The major goal of these articles was the discontinuation of the use of Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

in official documents (although Latin continued to be used in church registers in some regions of France), but they also had an effect on the use of those other languages and dialects spoken in many regions of France

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

(see Languages of France).

Other articles enforced the recording, by priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s, of baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

s (necessary for determining the age of candidates for ecclesiastical office) and burials, and required these acts to be signed by notaries.

Another article prohibited artisanal and trade federations (toute confrérie de gens de métier et artisans) in an attempt to suppress workers' strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

s (although mutual-aid groups were unaffected).

Many of these clauses reveal a drive towards an expanded, unified and centralized state, and the clauses on the use of French mark a major step towards linguistic and ideological unification in France in a time of growing national identity.

See also