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80-732: Belvédère ( French pronunciation: [bɛlvedɛʁ] ; Occitan : Barver ; Italian : Belvedere ) is a commune in the Vésubie valley north of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France . The village of Belvédère is located at the entrance of the Gordolasque valley on the edge of the Mercantour National Park . Over its history the Commune of Belvédère has been part of

160-480: A French village. But for the majority of the period from 1388 until 1713 the successors of the Red Earl, allied themselves with enemies of France. As a result, the "Pays Nicois" was crossed by hostile armies and subjected to incessant devastation, particularly following the battles between Charles V and Francis 1st (1494–1547). This unhappy situation continued off and on until after the war of Spanish Succession when at

240-662: A brigade. See text above. Dick Rivers (born 1945) alias Hervé Forneris French rock star; founder of the "Wild Cats". The film Le Cas du docteur Laurent starring Jean Gabin was made in 1957 largely on location at the nearby town of Saint-Martin-Vésubie and many local scenes are used. Occitan language Italy Occitan ( English: / ˈ ɒ k s ɪ t ən , - t æ n , - t ɑː n / ; Occitan pronunciation: [utsiˈta, uksiˈta] ), also known as lenga d'òc ( Occitan: [ˈleŋɡɒ ˈðɔ(k)] ; French : langue d'oc ) by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal ,

320-553: A common origin (see Occitano-Romance languages ). The language was one of the first to gain prestige as a medium for literature among Romance languages in the Middle Ages. Indeed, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Catalan troubadours such as Guerau de Cabrera , Guilhem de Bergadan, Guilhem de Cabestany, Huguet de Mataplana , Raimon Vidal de Besalú, Cerverí de Girona , Formit de Perpinhan, and Jofre de Foixà wrote in Occitan. At

400-643: A consonant), whereas the southernmost dialects have more features in common with the Ibero-Romance languages (e.g. betacism ; voiced fricatives between vowels in place of voiced stops; - ch - in place of - it -), and Gascon has a number of unusual features not seen in other dialects (e.g. /h/ in place of /f/ ; loss of /n/ between vowels; intervocalic -r- and final -t/ch in place of medieval - ll -). There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there

480-530: A dialect of French spoken by Jews in southern France. Southern Jewish French is now estimated to only be spoken by about 50–100 people. Domergue Sumien proposes a slightly different supradialectal grouping. Army of Italy (France) Poorly supplied (uniforms and shoes were rare), and only getting reinforcements irregularly, the Army of Italy was sometimes reduced to looting to survive. When Bonaparte arrived (he took up command on 27 March 1796), indiscipline

560-505: A foreign flag: however, the Pays Nicois benefited from the general peace and progress. The beautiful countryside, mild climate, and verdant agriculture attracted, all along the coast, rich residents which benefited many of the villages. Cultural life developed, but villages like Belvedere stayed isolated and life remained primitive without passable roads or commerce. Belvedere, like its neighbours, retreated into itself and in effect formed

640-714: A little independent republic. The French Revolution of 1789 brought a disruption, which the people supported without getting any benefits from it. Situated just over the frontier of France, from which it was separated by the Var & the Esteron, the Nicoise region became a refuge and place of conspiracies for the French émigrés: nobles, royal officers & priests who hoped to re-establish the royal family in France. A French army crossed

720-746: A part of a wider Occitano-Romanic group. One such classification posits three groups: According to this view, Catalan is an ausbau language that became independent from Occitan during the 13th century, but originates from the Aquitano-Pyrenean group. Occitan has 3 dialects spoken by Jewish communities that are all now extinct. A sociolect of the Gascon dialect spoken by Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Gascony . It, like many other Jewish dialects and languages, contained large amounts of Hebrew loanwords. It went extinct after World War 2 with

800-540: A second Occitan immigration of this period was assimilated by the similar Navarro-Aragonese language , which at the same time was fostered and chosen by the kings of Aragon . In the 14th century, Occitan across the whole southern Pyrenean area fell into decay and became largely absorbed into Navarro-Aragonese first and Castilian later in the 15th century, after their exclusive boroughs broke up (1423, Pamplona 's boroughs unified). Gascon-speaking communities were called to move in for trading purposes by Navarrese kings in

880-489: A single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect. These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects. According to

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960-598: A small French Alpine mountain village on the French side of the border with Italy. The series was translated and broadcast by the BBC. A Japanese anime version, Meiken Jolie was made nearly two decades later and also a feature film in 2017. The Glasgow based pop group, Belle and Sebastian , were named after the original TV series. Andre Laurenti (died 1609) Professor at the University of Montpellier, presented at court by Le comtesse de Tonnerre in 1589, appointed as doctor to

1040-476: A unitary language, as it lacks an official written standard . Like other languages that fundamentally exist at a spoken, rather than written, level (e.g. the Rhaeto-Romance languages , Franco-Provençal , Astur-Leonese , and Aragonese ), every settlement technically has its own dialect, with the whole of Occitania forming a classic dialect continuum that changes gradually along any path from one side to

1120-625: A written account in Occitan from Pamplona centered on the burning of borough San Nicolas from 1258, while the History of the War of Navarre by Guilhem Anelier (1276), albeit written in Pamplona, shows a linguistic variant from Toulouse . Things turned out slightly otherwise in Aragon, where the sociolinguistic situation was different, with a clearer Basque-Romance bilingual situation (cf. Basques from

1200-410: Is "probably not more divergent from Occitan overall than Gascon is". There is no general agreement about larger groupings of these dialects. Max Wheeler divides the dialects into two groups: Pierre Bec divides the dialects into three groups: In order to overcome the pitfalls of the traditional romanistic view, Bec proposed a "supradialectal" classification that groups Occitan with Catalan as

1280-631: Is a Romance language spoken in Southern France , Monaco , Italy 's Occitan Valleys , as well as Spain 's Val d'Aran in Catalonia ; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania . It is also spoken in Calabria ( Southern Italy ) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese ). Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as

1360-411: Is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility . Gascon is the most divergent, and descriptions of the main features of Occitan often consider Gascon separately. Max Wheeler notes that "probably only its copresence within the French cultural sphere has kept [Gascon] from being regarded as a separate language", and compares it to Franco-Provençal, which is considered a separate language from Occitan but

1440-413: Is the other native language. Up to seven million people in France understand the language, whereas twelve to fourteen million fully spoke it in 1921. In 1860 , Occitan speakers represented more than 39% of the whole French population (52% for francophones proper); they were still 26% to 36% in the 1920s and fewer than 7% in 1993. Occitan is fundamentally defined by its dialects, rather than being

1520-467: Is worthier and better suited for romances and pastourelles ; but [the language] from Limousin is of greater value for writing poems and cançons and sirventés ; and across the whole of the lands where our tongue is spoken, the literature in the Limousin language has more authority than any other dialect, wherefore I shall use this name in priority. The term Provençal , though implying a reference to

1600-527: The òc language (Occitan), the oïl language (French), and the sì language (Italian). The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc ("this"), while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud ("this [is] it"). Old Catalan and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc ( òc ). Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the Latin sic , "thus [it is], [it

1680-640: The Romance of Flamenca (13th century), the Song of the Albigensian Crusade (1213–1219?), Daurel e Betó (12th or 13th century), Las, qu'i non-sun sparvir, astur (11th century) and Tomida femina (9th or 10th century). Occitan was the vehicle for the influential poetry of the medieval troubadours ( trobadors ) and trobairitz : At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. It

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1760-595: The Gascon language ) is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, Spain, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken (in the Val d'Aran ). Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be

1840-700: The Kingdom of Burgundy , the Kingdom of Sardinia , the First French Empire , the Duchy of Savoy and since 1860 modern France. The last battle on French soil in the Second World War, the Battle of Authion , was fought on the hills above the village. The world famous novel Darkness at Noon was completed in a villa nearby and the television series Belle and Sebastian was shot in and around

1920-468: The UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages , four of the six major dialects of Occitan (Provençal, Auvergnat , Limousin and Languedocien) are considered severely endangered , whereas the remaining two ( Gascon and Vivaro-Alpine ) are considered definitely endangered . The name Occitan comes from the term lenga d'òc ("language of òc "), òc being the Occitan word for yes. While

2000-582: The Val d'Aran cited c.  1000 ), but a receding Basque language (Basque banned in the marketplace of Huesca, 1349). While the language was chosen as a medium of prestige in records and official statements along with Latin in the early 13th century, Occitan faced competition from the rising local Romance vernacular, the Navarro-Aragonese , both orally and in writing, especially after Aragon's territorial conquests south to Zaragoza , Huesca and Tudela between 1118 and 1134. It resulted that

2080-428: The 100 most influential novels of the later half of the 20th century by Le Monde . It was also rated 8th in the modern library's 100 best books of the 20th century. Belvédère together with the Gordolasque valley was used as the location for the 1965 television series Belle et Sébastien based on the novel by Cécile Aubry about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle, a Pyrenean mountain dog, who live in

2160-492: The 1st BIMP made it into the fort and emerged with 38 prisoners. The entire German front collapsed on 24 April 1945. Hundreds of soldiers from both sides died in this battle (273 killed, wounded 644), one of the last on French territory. It allowed French troops to continue to Piedmont following the orders of General de Gaulle's who wished to occupy territory with a view to obtaining border changes in future peace negotiations. This French attitude led to tensions and hostilities with

2240-533: The 1st Regiment fusiliers sailors, supported by artillery and aviation, launched an assault on German positions from the South. After a difficult fight, the Mille Fourches fort fell on 11 April, followed by Forca and Caval. Finally on the 12th, the redoubt of Three Communes was taken by a tank supported by five volunteer soldiers. At the end of a perilous ascent, Corporal Césaire Le Mercier, a Breton belonging to

2320-649: The Alps Maritimes to secure a passage to Nice & Marseilles and to fight in Spain. In 125 BC they annexed the inland areas to found the Roman province of Provence followed by the Alpine regions as far as Tyrol. Belvedere was occupied and noble Romans of Cimez (Nice) who spent summers in the area and developed the thermal baths at the nearby mountain village of Berthemont-les-Bains . Reputedly Conrelia Solenina wife of

2400-719: The American allies, who were keen to prevent the dismemberment of the Italian territories by vengeful victors. Belvédère was at one point evacuated and then reoccupied. On 19 February 1947 the "Big Four" victors signed a peace treaty with Italy finally exorcising the Fascist regime. The relevant Communes regained their territory. Tende and Brigue returned to France. Belvédère returned definitively and completely to her motherland. Arthur Koestler completed his world famous novel, Darkness at Noon , when he stayed just outside Belvédère on

2480-427: The Army of Italy was subsequently the most Jacobin of all the French armies. Its first victories improved things – allowing better resupply and easing pay problems through "war contributions" from the conquered lands – but memoirs (though not official communiques) speak of individual or collective failures right up to 1797. Much of the original Armée d'Italie became the Army of Egypt. Another army, originally called

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2560-571: The Italian nobility turned against him and requested that Hugh of Arles ,Comte d'Arles, the effective ruler of Provence (or Lower Burgundy), rule them instead. Rudolf returned to Upper Burgundy, assuring Hugh's coronation as King of Italy. The Counts would dominate the region for the duration of the Middle Ages. It was the feudal era with a lord or Seigneur for each village, but most areas maintained their autonomy and Luceram, Utelle and Saint Martin Vesubie, like Belvedere, administered themselves. After

2640-613: The Judeo-Occitan dialects, Judeo-Niçard was spoken by the community of Jews living in Nice , who were descendants of Jewish immigrants from Provence, Piedmont, and other Mediterranean communities. Its existence is attested from a few documents from the 19th century. It contained significant influence in both vocabulary and grammar from Hebrew. All three of these dialects have some influence in Southern Jewish French,

2720-616: The King. 1603 appointed chancellor of the faculty of medicine chosen as doctor to Marie de' Medici. 1606 appointed "Archiatre" (doctor to the King) of Henry IV. Honore Laurenti (died 1612) Royal Advocate General for 20 years amongst several important duties he gave a funeral oration for Marguerite of Austria, queen of Spain who died in Paris in 1611. Francois Felix Raynardi (died 1832) Comte de Belvedere. Fought at Massena (aug 1793) as general of

2800-655: The Raynardi family was en-nobled. Francois Felix Raynardi , comte de Belvedere. Capt in Regiment de Nice 1795, was created Baron of the Empire in 1810 and after the restoration created Marechal in 1816. The peace that reigned there favoured peace and prosperity, but many of Belvederois men went to die on the battlefields of Europe. Napoleon was defeated in 1815, the Sardinians represented by Victor Emmanuel 1st restored

2880-571: The Sardinian troops were forced to retreat hastily to Saint-Blaise, Saint-Martin, the Col de fenestration and even Entracque. With Belvedere, the whole valley Vésubie who fell into the hands of Republicans. The success only lasted 6 months. In September 1793, the village suffered violent attacks from the Col de Raus; the redoubts of Saint-Julien, Vesca Del Cairo and Saint-Sauveur was the scene of fierce battles. On September 8, Belvedere fell again, and it

2960-585: The Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. The Franco-Piedmontese coalition consisted in overwhelming majority of French troops (1,100 Piedmontese and 58,000 French). Their victory can, therefore, be considered as mostly a French victory. The French wanted to obtain what the Belvederois and

3040-848: The Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Louis XIV of France and Philip V of Spain, on the one hand, and representatives of Queen Anne of Great Britain, the Duke of Savoy, and the United Provinces on the other and divided up Spain's European empire. Savoy received Sicily and parts of the Duchy of Milan, while Charles VI (the Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, received the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, and

3120-652: The Var in September 1792 and freed the country from the Comte de Nice. Many of the inhabitants, who were secret Francophiles and partisans of the republic welcomed the return to France. This would be the beginning of a bloody confrontation with the Austro-Sardinian armies, which pillaged and caused havoc in many of the villages in the hills and valleys like Belvédère. In The high valleys of the Gordolasque and

3200-558: The Vesubie, the most important battles unfolded, interrupted only by winter and the difficulties of communication. Belvedere was occupied, requisitioned, bombarded, taken and retaken by the French and Austro-Sards alternatively. ........in the case of Belvedere. On 2 March 1793, General Brunet republican troops based in Saint-Julien, assaulted the village: "the soldiers quickly climbed the escaladèrent terraces, planted with olive trees that made them immune artillery fire and musketry"

3280-417: The ancient regime. However, the republican experience had borne fruits. Everywhere voices were raised claiming more liberty and reattachment to France. Victor Emmanuel dreamed of a united Italy and appealed to Napoleon III. Too weak to take on Austria the King of Piedmont allied with France to declare war in 1859. The Austrians were definitively beaten at Vaincue at The Battle of Magenta on 4 June 1859 during

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3360-418: The armée de Réserve, was formed at Dijon on 8 March 1800 (17 ventôse year VIII) and took the title Armée d'Italie on 23 June 1800 (4 messidor year VIII) when it was merged with the remains of the original Armée d'Italie. The new army's first commander was Masséna , followed by Bonaparte (as First Consul and "Commander in person") and général Berthier (its 'Général en chef' from 2 April to 23 June 1800). It

3440-487: The bulk of the Duchy of Milan. The crown of Sardinia was awarded by the Treaty of The Hague to King Victor Amadeus II of Savoy to compensate him for the loss of the crown of Sicily to Austria and enabling him to retain the title of a king. The new kingdom with its capital in Turin included Sardinia, Savoy, Piedmont, and Nice. Belvédère remained part of the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1860. During this period Belvedere lived under

3520-452: The cities in southern France is unlikely to hear a single Occitan word spoken on the street (or, for that matter, in a home), and is likely to only find the occasional vestige, such as street signs (and, of those, most will have French equivalents more prominently displayed), to remind them of the traditional language of the area. Occitan speakers, as a result of generations of systematic suppression and humiliation (see Vergonha ), seldom use

3600-510: The current church, which represent the prehistoric beginnings of the village. In 500 BC the Gauls infiltrated the Ligurian coast and arrived in the mountains around. The inhabitants of Massalia (Marseilles) founded colonies along the coast: Antibes, Monaco, Nice. Farmers spread inland raising vines and olives without however reducing the independence of the mountain dwellers The Romans crossed

3680-652: The death of Queen Jeanne (1382), Amadeus VII Count of Savoy, the Red Earl, taking advantage of a war of succession in Provence negotiated the succession of Nice to Savoy. Ruined by war, the inhabitants of Nice and the countries aligned themselves with the policy of John Grimaldi and accepted the protection of the House of Savoy through the Treaty of Saint Pons, known as the Revocation of Nice to Savoy. The Princes of Savoy were French by race and language and Belvedere remained

3760-490: The early 12th century to the coastal fringe extending from San Sebastian to the river Bidasoa , where they settled down. The language variant they used was different from the ones in Navarre, i.e. a Béarnese dialect of Gascon. Gascon remained in use in this area far longer than in Navarre and Aragon, until the 19th century, thanks mainly to the fact that Donostia and Pasaia maintained close ties with Bayonne . Though it

3840-921: The end of the 11th century, the Franks , as they were called at the time, started to penetrate the Iberian Peninsula through the Ways of St. James via Somport and Roncesvalles , settling in various locations in the Kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon enticed by the privileges granted them by the Navarrese kings . They settled in large groups, forming ethnic boroughs where Occitan was used for everyday life, in Pamplona , Sangüesa , and Estella-Lizarra , among others. These boroughs in Navarre may have been close-knit communities that tended not to assimilate with

3920-482: The geographical territory in which Occitan is spoken is surrounded by regions in which other Romance languages are used, external influences may have influenced its origin and development. Many factors favored its development as its own language. Catalan in Spain's northern and central Mediterranean coastal regions and the Balearic Islands is closely related to Occitan, sharing many linguistic features and

4000-476: The language at the beginning of the 13th century by Catalan troubadour Raimon Vidal de Besalú(n) in his Razós de trobar : La parladura Francesca val mais et [es] plus avinenz a far romanz e pasturellas; mas cella de Lemozin val mais per far vers et cansons et serventés; et per totas las terras de nostre lengage son de major autoritat li cantar de la lenga Lemosina que de negun'autra parladura, per qu'ieu vos en parlarai primeramen. The French language

4080-460: The language in the presence of strangers, whether they are from abroad or from outside Occitania (in this case, often merely and abusively referred to as Parisiens or Nordistes , which means northerners ). Occitan is still spoken by many elderly people in rural areas, but they generally switch to French when dealing with outsiders. Occitan's decline is somewhat less pronounced in Béarn because of

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4160-480: The language. Following the pattern of language shift , most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called Occitanists ) have attempted, in particular with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the Calandretas ), to reintroduce the language to the young. Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan is thought to be dropping precipitously. A tourist in

4240-528: The larger collection of dialects grouped under the name langues d'oïl ) should be used for all French administration. Occitan's greatest decline occurred during the French Revolution , in which diversity of language was considered a threat. In 1903, the four Gospels ( "Lis Evangèli" , i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were translated into Provençal as spoken in Cannes and Grasse. The translation

4320-406: The last speakers being elderly Jews in Bayonne . About 850 unique words and a few morphological and grammatical aspects of the dialect were transmitted to Southern Jewish French. Judeo-Provençal was a dialect of Occitan spoken by Jews in Provence . The dialect declined in usage after Jews were expelled from the area in 1498, and was probably extinct by the 20th century. The least attested of

4400-772: The latter term for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal . One of the oldest written fragments of the language found dates back to 960, shown here in italics mixed with non-italicized Latin: De ista hora in antea non decebrà Ermengaus filius Eldiarda Froterio episcopo filio Girberga ne Raimundo filio Bernardo vicecomite de castello de Cornone ... no·l li tolrà ni no·l li devedarà ni no l'en decebrà  ... nec societatem non aurà , si per castellum recuperare non o fa , et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo lo tornarà , per ipsas horas quæ Froterius et Raimundus l'en comonrà . Carolingian litanies ( c.  780 ), though

4480-440: The leader sang in Latin , were answered to in Old Occitan by the people ( Ora pro nos ; Tu lo juva ). Other famous pieces include the Boecis , a 258-line-long poem written entirely in the Limousin dialect of Occitan between the year 1000 and 1030 and inspired by Boethius 's The Consolation of Philosophy ; the Waldensian La nobla leyczon (dated 1100), Cançó de Santa Fe ( c.  1054 –1076),

4560-475: The loss of territory of all of the north part of the Gordolasque valley from the Cascade du ray between the Cime de la Valette and the Celle du south Capelet. This territory was reserved for royal hunts until it was submitted by the Italians in 1947 and re-established under the title of the Commune of Belvedere. With the rise of fascism in Italy a new menace arrived at the frontier as the Italians, encouraged by Hitler, made their presence felt. Their occupation only

4640-415: The modern Occitan-speaking area. After Frédéric Mistral 's Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. According to Joseph Anglade , a philologist and specialist of medieval literature who helped impose the then archaic term Occitan as the standard name, the word Lemosin was first used to designate

4720-422: The negative sense: for example, "Vous n'avez pas de frères?" "Si, j'en ai sept." ("You have no brothers?" "But yes, I have seven."). The name "Occitan" was attested around 1300 as occitanus , a crossing of oc and aquitanus ( Aquitanian ). For many centuries, the Occitan dialects (together with Catalan ) were referred to as Limousin or Provençal , after the names of two regions lying within

4800-488: The officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran. Across history, the terms Limousin ( Lemosin ), Languedocien ( Lengadocian ), Gascon , in addition to Provençal ( Provençal , Provençau or Prouvençau ) later have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, the term "Provençal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in Provence , in southeast France. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish , Occitan does not have

4880-532: The other inhabitants of the comte de Nice and wished for so long. By the treaty of Turin on 24 March 1860 the King of Piedmont ceded to Napoleon III Savoy and the Comte de Nice on condition of a favourable plebiscite. On 15 April there was a triumphant result for France. Of 89 communes, 79 replied unanimously in 10 only where there some nos. On 14 June the Sardinian flag was replaced by the French. Belvedere retrieved its nationality, lost in 1713, found in 1794, lost again in 1815 and retrieved definitively in 1860. There

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4960-424: The other. Nonetheless, specialists commonly divide Occitan into six main dialects: The northern and easternmost dialects have more morphological and phonetic features in common with the Gallo-Italic and Oïl languages (e.g. nasal vowels ; loss of final consonants; initial cha/ja- instead of ca/ga- ; uvular ⟨r⟩ ; the front-rounded sound /ø/ instead of a diphthong, /w/ instead of /l/ before

5040-431: The predominantly Basque -speaking general population. Their language became the status language chosen by the Navarrese kings, nobility, and upper classes for official and trade purposes in the period stretching from the early 13th century to the late 14th century. Written administrative records were in a koiné based on the Languedocien dialect from Toulouse with fairly archaic linguistic features. Evidence survives of

5120-555: The province's history (a late addition to the Kingdom of France), though even there the language is little spoken outside the homes of the rural elderly. The village of Artix is notable for having elected to post street signs in the local language. The area where Occitan was historically dominant has approximately 16 million inhabitants. Recent research has shown it may be spoken as a first language by approximately 789,000 people in France , Italy , Spain and Monaco . In Monaco, Occitan coexists with Monégasque Ligurian , which

5200-408: The raiding Sassanids (Arabs) in the 7th & 8th centuries, whose attacks penetrating as far as the Vesubie. At the dawn of the millennium during the chaotic period at the end of the Carolingian era the area was part the kingdom of Burgundy. Rudolf II (880–937), was ruler of Upper Burgundy (912–937), Lower Burgundy (Provence) (933–937) and also ruled Italy for nearly four years (923–926). In 926

5280-466: The region of Provence , historically was used for Occitan as a whole, for "in the eleventh, the twelfth, and sometimes also the thirteenth centuries, one would understand under the name of Provence the whole territory of the old Provincia romana Gallia Narbonensis and even Aquitaine ". The term first came into fashion in Italy . Currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitan, using

5360-415: The road to old Roquebillière . He visited the area with his companion, Daphne Hardy Henrion , in the summer 1939 staying first at the San Sebastian Hotel and then renting a villa nearby until they were forced to return to Paris by the German invasion of France. He wrote about his experiences in the Vesubie valley in the first chapter of his novel, Scum of the Earth (book) Darkness at Noon was rated one of

5440-525: The term would have been in use orally for some time after the decline of Latin, as far as historical records show, the Italian medieval poet Dante was the first to have recorded the term lingua d'oc in writing. In his De vulgari eloquentia , he wrote in Latin, "nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil" ("for some say òc , others sì , yet others say oïl "), thereby highlighting three major Romance literary languages that were well known in Italy, based on each language's word for "yes",

5520-406: The third century emperor Galienus (c. 218 – 268) and mother of Valerian II , Saloninus , and Marinianus visited the baths. . In the 5th century, the Germans finally overwhelmed the Western Roman Empire. They disputed Provence with the Visigoths , then the Ostrogoths installed themselves, followed by the Lombards and finally the Francs , who organised and administered the region and repulsed

5600-422: The treaty of Turin on 15 May 1796, Savoy and the comté de Nice were returned to France. Belvedere was back in France. The empire was accepted by Plebiscite. The Nice Arrondissement voted yes by 3,488 to 2 nos, while Puget Theniers had 2,818 yes to 3 no votes. The department was enriched by the addition of the arrondissement of San Remo ( Saorge, La Brigue, Perinaldo, Taggia, Ventimille and Bordighera) In Belvedere

5680-406: The village. Belvédère lies immediately to the west of Mont Bégo , known as the sacred mountain in Mercantour National Park . For thousands of years, from the Stone Age till the Iron Age, the first inhabitants of Europe carved more than thirty thousand graffiti on the stones of the Vallée des Merveilles on the slopes of the mountain. There are some vestiges of ancient fortifications behind

5760-444: Was done], etc.", such as Spanish sí , Eastern Lombard sé , Italian sì , or Portuguese sim . In modern Catalan, as in modern Spanish, sí is usually used as a response, although the language retains the word oi , akin to òc , which is sometimes used at the end of yes–no questions and also in higher register as a positive response. French uses si to answer "yes" in response to questions that are asked in

5840-484: Was given the official Roman Catholic Imprimatur by vicar general A. Estellon. The literary renaissance of the late 19th century (in which the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Frédéric Mistral, among others, was involved) was attenuated by World War I , when (in addition to the disruption caused by any major war) many Occitan speakers spent extended periods of time alongside French-speaking comrades. Because

5920-584: Was not until April 1794, with the Vésubie, the village was retaken" The fall of Robespierre brought the fighting to an end in May 1794, but the comté de Nice was back in French hands. After the Austrians lost at Mondovi, which was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The French won the battle and quickly forced King Victor Amadeus III to sue for peace. The Sardinians capitulated and at

6000-515: Was one shadow, which was not removed until victory in WWII. Several communes in the high vesubie remained an Italian enclave for another 87 years until 1947 as a hunting reserve for his majesty the king of Italy. There is no war, which does not leave sad souvenirs. The Communes of Saint Sauveur, Isola, Rimplas, Valdeblore, Saint MartinVesubie and Belvedere were part of the southern side of a remarkable line of frontier forts of 1860. Belvedere had to accept

6080-488: Was rife. Chouan songs were sung by the troops, and a company of the Dauphin was formed. All the while improving the supply system as much as possible, Bonaparte also reestablished discipline. He condemned officers who had cried Vive le roi ! , (English: "Live the king!"), dismissed the 13th regiment of hussards for indiscipline and dissolved an entire regiment when it revolted at the end of March. Purged in this way,

6160-543: Was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of southern France well into the 20th century, it is now spoken by about 100,000 people in France according to 2012 estimates. There is a movement in regions of France where Occitan was widely spoken to introduce educational programs to encourage young people in these regions to learn the language. According to the 1999 census, there were 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom were also native French speakers) and perhaps another million people with some exposure to

6240-613: Was terminated by the final defeat of the German army. In the spring of 1945 the Authion massif above Belvédère was occupied by the 34th DI and troops of German mountain brigade in a network of fortifications: Forca (2078 m), Three Communes redoubt (2080 m), Plan Caval (1932 m) and fort Mille Fourches (2042 m). On 10 April 1945 the French 1st free French division (MFO) (BIMP), Pacific marine infantry battalion units and mechanized elements of

6320-521: Was the maternal language of the English queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and kings Richard I (who wrote troubadour poetry) and John . With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) decreed that the langue d'oïl (French – though at the time referring to the Francien language and not

6400-609: Was under Berthier that this army beat the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800 (25 prairial year 8). Armée d'Italie participated in the war of the Third Coalition (1805), in the battles of Verona and Caldiero in northern Italy, under André Massena. During the war of the Fifth Coalition (1809), Armée d'Italie was commanded by Eugène de Beauharnais , and fought the Austrians at Sacile , Caldiero , Piave , and Raab . In 1813–1814 Eugéne fought

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