Defunct
150-439: The Boulevards of Paris ( French : Boulevards de Paris ) are boulevards which form an important part of the urban landscape of Paris . The boulevards were constructed in several phases by central government initiative as infrastructure improvements, but are very much associated with strolling and leisurely enjoyment in the minds of Parisians. Parisian boulevards and avenues are usually tree-lined on one or both sides, which
300-597: A "miracle child", Henri , seven months after the duc's death; Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821, and his son, the duc de Reichstadt , remained interned in Austrian hands. Literary figures, most notably Chateaubriand , but also Hugo , Lamartine , Vigny , and Nodier , rallied to the ultras' cause. Both Hugo and Lamartine later became republicans, whilst Nodier was formerly. Soon, however, Villèle proved himself to be nearly as cautious as his master, and, so long as Louis lived, overtly reactionary policies were kept to
450-542: A Bonapartist of the Duc de Berry , the ultrareactionary son of Louis' ultrareactionary brother and heir-presumptive, the future Charles X, triggered Decazes' fall from power and the triumph of the Ultras. Richelieu returned to power for a short interval, from 1820 to 1821. The press was more strongly censored, detention without trial was reintroduced, and Doctrinaire leaders, such as François Guizot , were banned from teaching at
600-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
750-579: A chief minister, Polignac, in November 1829 who was repellent to the liberals and, worse, Chateaubriand. Though Charles remained nonchalant, the deadlock led some royalists to call for a coup , and prominent liberals for a tax strike. At the opening of the session in March 1830, the King delivered a speech that contained veiled threats to the opposition; in response, 221 deputies (an absolute majority) condemned
900-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1050-730: A considerable uproar, particularly among the Doctrinaires . Much more controversial was the introduction of the Jesuits , who set up a network of colleges for elite youth outside the official university system. The Jesuits were noted for their loyalty to the Pope and gave much less support to Gallican traditions. Inside and outside the Church they had enemies, and the king ended their institutional role in 1828. New legislation paid an indemnity to royalists whose lands had been confiscated during
1200-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1350-545: A minimum. The ultras broadened their support, and put a stop to growing military dissent in 1823, when intervention in Spain, in favour of Spanish Bourbon King Ferdinand VII , and against the Liberal Spanish Government , fomented popular patriotic fervour. Despite British backing for the military action, the intervention was widely seen as an attempt to win back influence in Spain, which had been lost to
1500-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1650-548: A relatively powerful liberal bloc into the Chamber of Deputies. The 17-strong liberal bloc of 1824 grew to 180 in 1827, and 274 in 1830. This liberal majority grew increasingly dissatisfied with the policies of the centrist Martignac and the ultra-royalist Polignac, seeking to protect the limited protections of the Charter of 1814. They sought both the expansion of the franchise, and more liberal economic policies. They also demanded
SECTION 10
#17327649343521800-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1950-683: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
2100-530: A series of bad harvests 1827–1830. Workers living on the margin were very hard-pressed, and angry that the government paid little attention to their urgent needs. Charles abdicated in favor of his grandson, the Comte de Chambord , and left for England. However, the liberal, bourgeois-controlled Chamber of Deputies refused to confirm the Comte de Chambord as Henry V. In a vote largely boycotted by conservative deputies,
2250-409: A similar fashion to the 1816 chamber, and fears over the charbonnerie , the French equivalent of the carbonari . In the 1824 election , another large majority was secured. Louis XVIII died on 16 September 1824 and was succeeded by his brother, the Comte d'Artois, who took the title of Charles X . The accession to the throne of Charles X, the leader of the ultra-royalist faction, coincided with
2400-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2550-457: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
2700-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2850-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
3000-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
3150-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
SECTION 20
#17327649343523300-563: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3450-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3600-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3750-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3900-468: Is rarely the case for smaller roads. The Grands Boulevards are the quintessence of the Parisian boulevards. Their origin is a plan initiated by Louis XIV 's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the late 1660s, of comprehensive reforms and remodeling of Paris. Aside of the demilitarization of the former city walls and their replacement with a ring of Grands Boulevards , started in 1670, the plan included
4050-639: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4200-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4350-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4500-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4650-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
Boulevards of Paris - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-497: The Verdets because of their green cockets, which was the colour of the comte d'Artois – this being the title of Charles X at the time, who was associated with the hardline ultra-royalists , or Ultras. After a period in which local authorities looked on helplessly at the violence, the King and his ministers sent out officials to restore order. A new Treaty of Paris was signed on 20 November 1815, which had more punitive terms than
4950-459: The 1814 treaty . France was ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities, and the country's borders were reduced to their 1790 status, rather than 1792 as in the previous treaty. Until 1818, France was occupied by 1.2 million foreign soldiers, including around 200,000 under the command of the Duke of Wellington , and France was made to pay the costs of their accommodation and rations, on top of
5100-528: The Aide-toi, which backed liberals, constitutionnels , and the contre-opposition (constitutional monarchists). The new chamber did not result in a clear majority for any side. Villèle's successor, the vicomte de Martignac , who began his term in January 1828, tried to steer a middle course, appeasing liberals by loosening press controls, expelling Jesuits, modifying electoral registration, and restricting
5250-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5400-590: The Declaration of Saint-Ouen , granted a written constitution, the Charter of 1814 , which guaranteed a bicameral legislature with a hereditary/appointive Chamber of Peers and an elected Chamber of Deputies – their role was consultative (except on taxation), as only the King had the power to propose or sanction laws, and appoint or recall ministers. The franchise was limited to men with considerable property holdings, and just 1% of people could vote. Many of
5550-609: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5700-517: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
5850-533: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
6000-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
6150-490: The French conquest of Algeria ; victory was announced over the Dey of Algiers in early July. Plans were drawn up to invade Belgium, which was shortly to undergo its own revolution . However, foreign policy did not prove sufficient to divert attention from domestic problems. Charles's dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, his July Ordinances which set up rigid control of the press, and his restriction of suffrage resulted in
Boulevards of Paris - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
6450-554: The July Revolution of 1830. The major cause of the regime's downfall, however, was that, while it managed to keep the support of the aristocracy, the Catholic Church and even much of the peasantry, the ultras' cause was deeply unpopular outside of parliament and with those who did not hold the franchise, especially the industrial workers and the bourgeoisie. A major reason was a sharp rise in food prices , caused by
6600-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6750-561: The Ottoman Empire , restoring the friendships that had prevailed until 1792. Politically, the period was characterized by a sharp conservative reaction, and consequent minor but persistent civil unrest and disturbances. Otherwise, the political establishment was relatively stable until the subsequent reign of Charles X. It also saw the reestablishment of the Catholic Church as a major power in French politics. Throughout
6900-654: The Société des amis de la liberté de la presse ; Choiseul-Stainville , Salvandy and Villemain were among the contributors. Another influential society was the Société Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera , which worked within the confines of legislation banning the unauthorized meetings of more than 20 members. The group, emboldened by the rising tide of opposition, was of a more liberal composition (associated with Le Globe ) and included members such as Guizot , Rémusat , and Barrot . Pamphlets were sent out which evaded
7050-713: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
7200-589: The Wall of the Farmers-General , with boulevards running along its exterior. This wall was built to collect the octroi , a tax on goods entering the city which was hated by Parisians. Although it was almost completely razed by Haussman in 1860 as part of his transformation of Paris, some parts remain. The surviving boulevards were subject to urban planners' failed attempts in the 1950s to transform them into urban freeways. Haussmann's renovation of Paris brought
7350-775: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
7500-497: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
7650-404: The white flag , the titling of Louis as the "XVIII" (as successor to Louis XVII , who never ruled) and as "King of France" rather than "King of the French", and the monarchy's recognition of the anniversaries of the deaths of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were significant. A more tangible source of antagonism was the pressure applied to possessors of biens nationaux (the lands confiscated by
SECTION 50
#17327649343527800-430: The École Normale Supérieure . Under Richelieu, the franchise was changed to give the wealthiest electors a double vote, in time for the November 1820 election . After a resounding victory, a new Ultra ministry was formed, headed by Jean-Baptiste de Villèle , a leading Ultra who served for six years. The ultras found themselves back in power in favourable circumstances: Berry's wife, the duchesse de Berry , gave birth to
7950-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
8100-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
8250-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
8400-400: The Bourbon Restoration, France experienced a period of stable economic prosperity and the preliminaries of industrialisation. The eras of the French Revolution and Napoleon brought a series of major changes to France which the Bourbon Restoration did not reverse. Administration: First, France was now highly centralised, with all important decisions made in Paris. The political geography
8550-436: The British under Napoleon. The French expeditionary army, called the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis , was led by the duc d'Angoulême , the comte d'Artois's son. The French troops marched to Madrid and then to Cádiz , ousting the Liberals with little fighting (April to September 1823), and would remain in Spain for five years. Support for the ultras amongst the voting rich was further strengthened by doling out favours in
8700-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
8850-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
9000-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
9150-399: The First French Empire was succeeded by the Kingdom of France. This Kingdom existed until the popular uprisings of the July Revolution of 1830. At the peace Congress of Vienna , the Bourbons were treated politely by the victorious monarchies, but had to give up nearly all the territorial gains made by revolutionary and Napoleonic France since 1789. Unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime ,
SECTION 60
#17327649343529300-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
9450-407: The Guard was disbanded. Pamphlets continued to proliferate, which included accusations in September that Charles, on a trip to Saint-Omer , was colluding with the Pope and planned to reinstate the tithe, and had suspended the Charter under the protection of a loyal garrison army. By the time of the election, the moderate royalists (constitutionalists) were also beginning to turn against Charles, as
9600-410: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
9750-402: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
9900-470: The Restoration Bourbon regime was a constitutional monarchy , with some limits on its power. The new king, Louis XVIII, accepted the vast majority of reforms instituted from 1792 to 1814. Continuity was his basic policy. He did not try to recover land and property taken from the royalist exiles. He continued in peaceful fashion the main objectives of Napoleon's foreign policy, such as the limitation of Austrian influence. He reversed Napoleon regarding Spain and
10050-457: The Revolution. Although this law had been engineered by Louis, Charles was influential in seeing that it was passed. A bill to finance this compensation, by converting government debt (the rente ) from 5% to 3% bonds, which would save the state 30 million francs a year in interest payments, was also put before the chambers. Villèle's government argued that rentiers had seen their returns grow disproportionately to their original investment, and that
10200-416: The actions of préfects , who began removing certain voters who had failed to provide up-to-date documents since the 1824 election. 18,000 voters were added to the 60,000 on the first list; despite préfect attempts to register those who met the franchise and were supporters of the government, this can mainly be attributed to opposition activity. Organization was mainly divided behind Chateaubriand's Friends and
10350-446: The beltway surrounding Paris, was built on the site of the ruins of the Thiers wall , a short distance 'outboard' from the Boulevards of the Marshals. However, it is more like a motorway than a boulevard. Île-de-France tramway Lines 3a and 3b run along the Boulevards of the Marshals, nearly encircling Paris since 3b opened in December 2010, on the sixth anniversary of the opening of 3a along the southern section. The boulevards provided
10500-404: The body declared the French throne vacant, and elevated Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans , to power. There is still considerable debate among historians as to the actual cause of the downfall of Charles X. What is generally conceded, though, is that between 1820 and 1830, a series of economic downturns combined with the rise of a liberal opposition within the Chamber of Deputies, ultimately felled
10650-406: The boulevard to the heart of Paris, whereas they had hitherto been limited to uninhabited or sparsely inhabited zones. Le boulevard, whose initial function was to go around the capital, became structural urban thoroughfares. The boulevards from Haussmann and before now define Paris, with uniform façades and overhanging balconies stretching along them. These are immediately recognisable, and are under
10800-662: The censorship laws, and the group provided organizational assistance to liberal candidates against pro-government state officials in the November 1827 election . In April 1827, the King and Villèle were confronted by an unruly National Guard . The garrison which Charles reviewed, under orders to express deference to the king but disapproval of his government, instead shouted derogatory anti-Jesuit remarks at his devoutly Catholic niece and daughter in law, Marie Thérèse, Madame la Dauphine . Villèle suffered worse treatment, as liberal officers led troops to protest at his office. In response,
10950-477: The chamber had the right to approve state expenditure. However, they were unable to gain a guarantee from the King that his cabinets would represent the majority in parliament. In September 1816, the chamber was dissolved by Louis for its reactionary measures, and electoral manipulation resulted in a more liberal chamber in 1816 . Richelieu served until 29 December 1818, followed by Jean-Joseph, Marquis Dessolles until 19 November 1819, and then Decazes (in reality
11100-552: The conservative Bourbons. Between 1827 and 1830, France faced an economic downturn, industrial and agricultural, that was possibly worse than the one that sparked the revolution. A series of progressively worsening grain harvests in the late 1820s pushed up the prices on various staple foods and cash crops . In response, the rural peasantry throughout France lobbied for the relaxation of protective tariffs on grain to lower prices and ease their economic situation. However, Charles X, bowing to pressure from wealthier landowners , kept
11250-702: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Bourbon Restoration in France Defunct The Second Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the fall of Napoleon in 1815. The Second Bourbon Restoration lasted until the July Revolution of 26 July 1830. Louis XVIII and Charles X , brothers of
11400-523: The criminal acts portrayed there by stage actors. According to the Almanach des Spectacles , "Tautin was stabbed 16,302 times, Marti poisoned 11,000 times, Fresnoy set on fire 27,000 times in countless ways..., Mademoiselle Adèle Dupuis was seduced, kidnapped or drowned 75,000 times". Although the "boulevard du Crime" fell victim to Haussmann 's transformation, the boulevardier spirit lives on in " théâtre de boulevard ". From 1784 to 1791, Ledoux built
11550-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
11700-488: The dominant minister from 1818 to 1820) until 20 February 1820. This was the era in which the Doctrinaires dominated policy, hoping to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revolution and power with liberty . The following year, the government changed the electoral laws, resorting to gerrymandering , and altering the franchise to allow some rich men of trade and industry to vote, in an attempt to prevent
11850-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
12000-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
12150-501: The establishment of the Lieutenant général de police [ fr ] in 1667; the destruction of all gates of the ancient Wall of Philip II Augustus on the left bank, started in 1673 and completed in 1783; the unification of professional regulations in the city and its outskirts ( French : faubourgs in 1673; the termination of lingering feudal authority over criminal justice in a number of mostly ecclesiastical enclaves that
12300-640: The executed King Louis XVI , successively mounted the throne and instituted a conservative government intended to restore the proprieties, if not all the institutions, of the Ancien régime . Exiled supporters of the monarchy returned to France but were unable to reverse most of the changes made by the French Revolution . Exhausted by the Napoleonic Wars , the nation experienced a period of internal and external peace, stable economic prosperity and
12450-693: The expression "Grands Boulevards" should only follow the thoroughfares along the former Wall of Charles V and Wall of Louis XIII [ fr ] on the right bank, namely the Boulevard Beaumarchais , Boulevard des Filles-du-Calvaire , Boulevard du Temple , Boulevard Saint-Martin , Boulevard Saint-Denis , Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle , Boulevard Poissonnière , Boulevard Montmartre , Boulevard des Italiens , Boulevard des Capucines and Boulevard de la Madeleine . However, Parisian habit also includes Boulevard Haussmann , with its department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette , among
12600-482: The fact that the Charter was a condition of the Restoration, the preamble declared it to be a "concession and grant", given "by the free exercise of our royal authority". After a first sentimental flush of popularity, Louis' gestures towards reversing the results of the French Revolution quickly lost him support among the disenfranchised majority. Symbolic acts such as the replacement of the tricolore flag with
12750-632: The faithful. Education: Public education was centralised, with the Grand Master of the University of France controlling every element of the national educational system from Paris. New technical universities were opened in Paris which to this day have a critical role in training the elite. The aristocracy: Conservatism was bitterly split into the returning old aristocracy and the new elites arising under Napoleon after 1796. The old aristocracy
12900-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
13050-608: The formation of Catholic schools. Charles, unhappy with the new government, surrounded himself with men from the Chevaliers de la Foi and other ultras, such as the Prince de Polignac and La Bourdonnaye . Martignac was deposed when his government lost a bill on local government. Charles and his advisers believed a new government could be formed with the support of the Villèle, Chateaubriand, and Decazes monarchist factions, but chose
13200-463: The former Emperor than to stop him. Louis fled from Paris to Ghent on 19 March. After Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo and sent again into exile, Louis returned. During his absence a small revolt in the traditionally pro-royalist Vendée was put down but there were otherwise few subversive acts favouring the Restoration, even though Napoleon's popularity began to flag. Talleyrand
13350-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
13500-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
13650-416: The government maintained the religious buildings. The Church was allowed to operate its own seminaries and to some extent local schools as well, although this became a central political issue into the 20th century. Bishops were much less powerful than before, and had no political voice. However, the Catholic Church reinvented itself with a new emphasis on personal piety that gave it a hold on the psychology of
13800-626: The government to introduce a bill to restrict the press in December, having largely withdrawn censorship in 1824. This only inflamed the opposition even more, and the bill was withdrawn. The Villèle cabinet faced increasing pressure in 1827 from the liberal press, including the Journal des débats , which sponsored Chateaubriand's articles. Chateaubriand, the most prominent of the anti-Villèle ultras, had combined with other opponents of press censorship (a new law had reimposed it on 24 July 1827) to form
13950-543: The government, and Charles subsequently prorogued and then dissolved parliament. Charles retained a belief that he was popular amongst the unenfranchised mass of the people, and he and Polignac chose to pursue an ambitious foreign policy of colonialism and expansionism, with the assistance of Russia . France had intervened in the Mediterranean a number of times after Villèle's resignation, and expeditions were now sent to Greece and Madagascar . Polignac also initiated
14100-406: The growing business and professional class. Citizens' rights: Public anti-clerical sentiment became stronger than ever before, but was now based in certain elements of the middle class and even the peasantry. The great masses of French people were peasants in the countryside or impoverished workers in the cities. They gained new rights and a new sense of possibilities. Although relieved of many of
14250-516: The king and his ministers attempted to manipulate the general election of 1830 through their July Ordinances . This sparked a revolution in the streets of Paris, Charles abdicated, and on 9 August 1830 the Chamber of Deputies affirmed Louis Phillipe d'Orleans as King of the French, ushering in the July Monarchy . Louis XVIII's restoration to the throne in 1814 was effected largely through
14400-652: The king retained extensive power over policy-making, as well as the sole power of the Executive, he was, nonetheless, reliant upon the Parliament to accept and pass his legal decrees. The Charter also fixed the method of election of the Deputies, their rights within the Chamber of Deputies, and the rights of the majority bloc. Thus, in 1830, Charles X faced a significant problem. He could not overstep his constitutional bounds, and yet, he could not pursue his policies with
14550-514: The land they had owned directly. However, they lost all their old seigneurial rights to the rest of the farmland, and the peasants were no longer under their control. The pre-Revolutionary aristocracy had dallied with the ideas of the Enlightenment and rationalism. Now the aristocracy was much more conservative and supportive of the Catholic Church. For the best jobs, meritocracy was the new policy, and aristocrats had to compete directly with
14700-441: The lands and buildings of the Catholic Church , selling them to innumerable middle-class buyers, and it was politically impossible to restore them. The bishop still ruled his diocese (which was aligned with the new department boundaries) and communicated with the pope through the government in Paris. Bishops, priests, nuns and other religious were paid state salaries. All the old religious rites and ceremonies were retained, and
14850-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
15000-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
15150-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
15300-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
15450-525: The legal, administrative, and economic reforms of the revolutionary period were left intact; the Napoleonic Code , which guaranteed legal equality and civil liberties, the peasants' biens nationaux , and the new system of dividing the country into départments were not undone by the new king. Relations between church and state remained regulated by the Concordat of 1801 . However, in spite of
15600-514: The most moderate minister, moved to stop the politicisation of the National Guard (many Verdets had been drafted in) by banning political demonstrations by the militia in July 1816. Owing to tension between the King's government and the ultra-royalist Chamber of Deputies, the latter began to assert their rights. After they attempted to obstruct the 1816 budget, the government conceded that
15750-584: The necessary regulations and ordinances for the execution of the laws and the security of the state. Louis was relatively liberal, choosing many centrist cabinets. Louis XVIII died in September 1824 and was succeeded by his brother, who reigned as Charles X . The new king pursued a more conservative form of governance than Louis. His more reactionary laws included the Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825–1830). Exasperated by public resistance and disrespect,
15900-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
16050-405: The new France", was appointed Prime Minister . The chambre introuvable , meanwhile, continued to aggressively uphold the place of the monarchy and the church, and called for more commemorations for historical royal figures. Over the course of the parliamentary term, the ultra-royalists increasingly began to fuse their brand of politics with state ceremony, much to Louis' chagrin. Decazes, perhaps
16200-506: The new law, leading to a sharp rise in its value. On 29 May 1825 the Coronation of Charles X took place at Reims Cathedral , the traditional site of French coronations . In 1826, Villèle introduced a bill reestablishing the law of primogeniture , at least for owners of large estates, unless they chose otherwise. The liberals and the press rebelled, as did some dissident ultras, such as Chateaubriand. Their vociferous criticism prompted
16350-670: The nickname "unobtainable" by Louis, was dominated by an overwhelming ultra-royalist majority which quickly acquired the reputation of being "more royalist than the king". The legislature threw out the Talleyrand-Fouché government and sought to legitimize the White Terror, passing judgement against enemies of the state, sacking 50,000–80,000 civil servants, and dismissing 15,000 army officers. Richelieu, an émigré who had left in October 1789, who " had nothing at all to do with
16500-410: The official government newspaper indicated a general shift in Parisian politics towards the left. And yet, Charles' base of power was certainly toward the right of the political spectrum, as were his own views. He simply could not yield to the growing demands from within the Chamber of Deputies. The situation would soon come to a head. The Charter of 1814 had made France a constitutional monarchy. While
16650-437: The old burdens, controls, and taxes, the peasantry was still highly traditional in its social and economic behaviour. Many eagerly took on mortgages to buy as much land as possible for their children, so debt was an important factor in their calculations. The working class in the cities was a small element, and had been freed of many restrictions imposed by medieval guilds. However, France was very slow to industrialise, and much of
16800-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
16950-439: The political situation to the Parisian public, and can thus be seen as a crucial link between the rise of the liberals and the increasingly agitated and economically suffering French masses. By 1830, the Restoration government of Charles X faced difficulties on all sides. The new liberal majority clearly had no intention of budging in the face of Polignac's aggressive policies. The rise of a liberal press within Paris which outsold
17100-409: The practice of giving civil service employment or promotions to deputies, as the government continued to consolidate its position. By 1820, the opposition liberals —who, with the ultras, made up half the chamber—proved unmanageable, and Decazes and the king were looking for ways to revise the electoral laws again, to ensure a more tractable conservative majority. In February 1820, the assassination by
17250-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
17400-634: The preliminaries of industrialization. Following the French Revolution (1789–1799), Napoleon Bonaparte became ruler of France. After years of expansion of his French Empire by successive military victories, a coalition of European powers defeated him in the War of the Sixth Coalition , ended the First Empire in 1814, and restored the monarchy to the brothers of Louis XVI. The First Bourbon Restoration lasted from about 6 April 1814. In July 1815
17550-596: The quintessential Grands Boulevards. The later opening of other major arteries such as Boulevard Richard-Lenoir and Avenue de la République has further reduced the salience of the original Grand Boulevards in the Paris topography. The idea of the boulevard as a centre for leisure asserted itself during the 18th century, when numerous théâtres de la foire set up near the Porte Saint-Martin . The boulevard du Temple became affectionately known as " boulevard du Crime " during Bourbon Restoration , an allusion to
17700-426: The redistribution was just. The final law allocated state funds of 988 million francs for compensation ( le milliard des émigrés ), financed by government bonds at a value of 600 million francs at 3% interest. Around 18 million francs were paid per year. Unexpected beneficiaries of the law were some one million owners of biens nationaux , the old confiscated lands, whose property rights were now confirmed by
17850-410: The reparations. The promise of tax cuts, prominent in 1814, was impracticable because of these payments. The legacy of this, and the White Terror, left Louis with a formidable opposition. Louis's chief ministers were at first moderate, including Talleyrand, the Duc de Richelieu , and Élie, duc Decazes ; Louis himself followed a cautious policy. The chambre introuvable , elected in 1815 , given
18000-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
18150-507: The revolution) by the Catholic Church and the returning émigrés' attempts to repossess their former lands. Other groups bearing ill-feeling towards Louis included the army, non-Catholics, and workers hit by a post-war slump and British imports. Napoleon's emissaries informed him of this brewing discontent, and, on 20 March 1815, he returned to Paris from Elba . On his Route Napoléon , most troops sent to stop his march, including some that were nominally royalist, felt more inclined to join
18300-552: The right, as the majority bloc, to appoint the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Also, the growth of the liberal bloc within the Chamber of Deputies corresponded roughly with the rise of a liberal press within France. Generally centered around Paris, this press provided a counterpoint to the government's journalistic services, and to the newspapers of the right. It grew increasingly important in conveying political opinions and
18450-404: The same time, international pressures, combined with weakened purchasing power from the provinces, led to decreased economic activity in urban centers . This industrial downturn contributed to the rising poverty levels among Parisian artisans. Thus, by 1830, multiple demographics had suffered from the economic policies of Charles X. While the French economy faltered, a series of elections brought
18600-557: The setting for Maupassant 's Bel Ami . Fred Astaire took to the boulevards in Funny Face (1957). [REDACTED] Media related to Boulevards in Paris at Wikimedia Commons French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
18750-773: The strict control of Paris' urban planners . The demolition of the Thiers wall during the 1920s allowed for the creation of a third ring of boulevards surrounding the city. These new boulevards were named after the Marshals of the First French Empire , and are collectively called the Boulevards of the Marshals . They run just inside the city limits. In addition, the Boulevard Périphérique ,
18900-688: The support of Napoleon's former foreign minister, Talleyrand , who convinced the victorious Allied Powers of the desirability of a Bourbon Restoration. The Allies had initially split on the best candidate for the throne: Britain favoured the Bourbons, the Austrians considered a regency for Napoleon's son, the King of Rome , and the Russians were open to either the duc d'Orléans , Louis Philippe , or Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte , Napoleon's former Marshal , who
19050-482: The tariffs in place. He did so based upon the Bourbon response to the " Year Without a Summer " in 1816, during which Louis XVIII relaxed tariffs during a series of famines, caused a downturn in prices, and incurred the ire of wealthy landowners, who were the traditional source of Bourbon legitimacy. Thus, between 1827 and 1830, peasants throughout France faced a period of relative economic hardship and rising prices. At
19200-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
19350-754: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
19500-604: The ultras from winning a majority in future elections. Press censorship was clarified and relaxed, some positions in the military hierarchy were made open to competition, and mutual schools were set up that encroached on the Catholic monopoly of public primary education. Decazes purged a number of ultra-royalist prefects and sub-prefects, and in by-elections, an unusually high proportion of Bonapartists and republicans were elected, some of whom were backed by ultras resorting to tactical voting . The ultras were strongly critical of
19650-475: The ultras' control of power in the Chamber of Deputies; thus, the ministry of the comte de Villèle was able to continue. The restraint Louis had exercised on the ultra-royalists was removed. As the country underwent a Christian revival in the post-revolutionary years, the ultras worked to raise the status of the Roman Catholic Church once more. The Church and State Concordat of 11 June 1817
19800-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
19950-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
20100-581: The work remained drudgery without machinery or technology to help. France was still split into localities, especially in terms of language, but now there was an emerging French nationalism that focused national pride in the Army and foreign affairs. In April 1814, the Armies of the Sixth Coalition restored Louis XVIII of France to the throne, the brother and heir of the executed Louis XVI. A constitution
20250-599: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
20400-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
20550-503: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
20700-597: Was heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne. Napoleon was offered to keep the throne in February 1814, on the condition that France return to its 1792 frontiers, but he refused. The feasibility of the Restoration was in doubt, but the allure of peace to a war-weary French public, and demonstrations of support for the Bourbons in Paris, Bordeaux , Marseille , and Lyon , helped reassure the Allies. Louis, in accordance with
20850-636: Was again influential in seeing that the Bourbons were restored to power, as was Joseph Fouché , Napoleon's minister of police during the Hundred Days. This Second Restoration saw the beginning of the Second White Terror , largely in the south, when unofficial groups supporting the monarchy sought revenge against those who had aided Napoleon's return: about 200–300 were killed, while thousands fled. About 70,000 government officials were dismissed. The pro-Bourbon perpetrators were often known as
21000-554: Was completely reorganised and made uniform, dividing the nation into more than 80 départements which have endured into the 21st century. Each department had an identical administrative structure, and was tightly controlled by a prefect appointed by Paris. The thicket of overlapping legal jurisdictions of the old regime had all been abolished, and there was now one standardised legal code, administered by judges appointed by Paris, and supported by police under national control. The church: The Revolutionary governments had confiscated all
21150-417: Was drafted: the Charter of 1814 . It presented all Frenchmen as equal before the law, but retained substantial prerogatives for the king and nobility and limited voting to those paying at least 300 Francs a year in direct taxes. The king was the supreme head of the state. He commanded the land and sea forces, declared war, made treaties of peace, alliance and commerce, appointed all public officials, and made
21300-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
21450-490: Was eager to regain its land, but felt no loyalty to the new regime. The newer elite, the " noblesse d'empire ", ridiculed the older group as an outdated remnant of a discredited regime that had led the nation to disaster. Both groups shared a fear of social disorder, but the level of distrust as well as the cultural differences were too great, and the monarchy too inconsistent in its policies, for political cooperation to be possible. The returning old aristocracy recovered much of
21600-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
21750-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
21900-399: Was set to replace the Concordat of 1801 , but, despite being signed, it was never validated. The Villèle government, under pressure from the Chevaliers de la Foi including many deputies, voted in the Anti-Sacrilege Act in January 1825, which punished by death the theft of consecrated hosts . The law was unenforceable and only enacted for symbolic purposes, though the act's passing caused
22050-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
22200-432: Was the business community, in part due to a financial crisis in 1825, which they blamed on the government's law of indemnification. Hugo and a number of other writers, dissatisfied with the reality of life under Charles X, also began to criticize the regime. In preparation for the 30 September registration cut-off for the election, opposition committees worked furiously to get as many voters as possible signed up, countering
22350-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
22500-531: Was transferred to the king's Grand Châtelet in 1674; and the erection or refurbishment of monumental gates on key intersections, namely the Porte Saint-Antoine in 1671, the Porte Saint-Bernard [ fr ] , the Porte Saint-Denis in 1672-1673, the Porte Saint-Martin in 1674, and a massive triumphal arch to be erected on what is now the Place de la Nation , started in the 1670s but abandoned around 1680 and whose unfinished structures were eventually demolished in 1716. If defined by that historic origin,
#351648