FRANCE AND THE FRENCH LANGUAGE – A TIMELINE
Political events
52 B.C.
5th
cent
Roman general Julius Caesar completes the
conquest of Gaul.
Cultural developments
The Gauls gradually abandon their own Celtic language
and switch to Latin
As the Roman empire collapses, a German
tribe, the Franks, take control of Gaul. The
The Franks adopt the local dialect of Latin, which
country is renamed `France’ (ie. country of the then becomes known as `French.’
Franks)
800
Charlemagne crowned as `Holy Roman
Emperor’, ruling France, Germany and much of
Italy.
9th cent.
France develops as a separate kingdom but with
a weak central government
Club resources
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
-The Gauls surrendering to Julius Caesar as
imagined by a 19th century Italian artist
- Map of Roman expansion
EUROPE CLUB/LANGUAGE OVERVIEW.ppt:
- Map of Roman Empire
- Maps showing areas where Celtic, Romance and
Germanic languages are spoken
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/FRENCH
GRAMMAR. doc: pp.3-4
1066
The Normans, a Scandinavian people who had - French becomes the language of England’s ruling elite
occupied north-western France and become
and (with Latin) of education
French speakers, conquer England.
- Composition in France of the `Chanson de Roland’, an
epic poem set in Charlemagne’s time
1337-1443 `The Hundred Years War’, in which English
- Stories of King Arthur and his Round Table written
kings try to conquer France.
Wri in French and popular in both France and England
1431
Joan of Arc, who had led French resistance to
the invaders, is accused of witchcraft and
burned at the stake by the English
-c.1410: `Les Très Riches Heures’ (illustrated prayer
book)
- English replaces French as language of administration
in England
- Poetry of Francois Villon
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
- Illustration of January gift-exchange from `Les
Très Riches Heures’
Political events
1558
The French recapture the port of Calais, the
only part of France still under English control
Culture and technology
Club resources
-Military campaigns in Italy bring Renaissance
influences into France
1643 –1715 Reign of Louis XIV (`The Sun King’) who
increases central control and makes France the -French replaces Latin as the language of international EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
most powerful country in Europe.
communication in Europe and is used extensively by the - Louis XIV
German and Russian upper classes.
- Versailles
1704
British, Dutch and German forces win
Plays of Molière and Racine, music of Charpentier
Battle of Blenheim and block Louis’s
Construction of Palace of Versailles
attempt to gain control of Spain
1756-63
Seven Years’ War results in France losing
colonies in North America and in India to
Britain
1778-83
France successfully backs the American
colonists in their war for independence from
Britain.
1789
1792
1793
1804
1815
-The Enlightenment: philosophical writings of Voltaire,
Roussseau etc.
1783
The Montgolfier brothers make the first manned
hot air balloon ascent
Storming of the Bastille marks start of the
French Revolution
Start of French Revolutionary War
Execution of Louis XVI and other victims
- Composition of La Marseillaise, France’s national
of `The Terror’
anthem)
Coronation of Napoleon as `Emperor of
- Paintings of David
the French’
After dominating Europe for many years, final
defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo by the British
and their allies; restoration of the monarchy
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
- Storming of the Bastille
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/French notes/UNIT
2.doc: Words of `La Marseillaise’
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
- Napoleon crowning Empress Josephine
Political events
1830
Overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty
1848
Revolution against King Louis-Philippe,
establishment of Second Republic
1852
President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
becomes Emperor Napoleon III
1870
France is defeated in the Franco-Prussian
War and loses the provinces of Alsace and
Lorraine to the new united German state
Revolt of the Paris Commune
Establishment of Third Republic
1914-18 France allied with Britain and Russia in the
First World War
1919
Versailles Peace Treaty
1939
1940
1945
1957
1958
1962
1969
1981
1995
2007
Start of Second World War
French government surrenders to Germany
Charles DeGaulle calls for continued resistance
Liberation and establishment of Fourth
Republic
France a founder member of European
Economic Community
DeGaulle becomes president, establishment of
Fifth Republic
Algerian independence
George Pompidou becomes president
François Mitterand elected president
Jacques Chirac becomes president
Nicolas Sarkozy elected president
Culture and technology
-Painting of Delacroix
-`Symphonie Fantastique’ of Berlioz
- Novels of Honoré de Balzac
- Novels of Alexandre Dumas (1844 :Les Trois
Mouskuetaires; 1846 : Le Comte de Monte-Christo
-Novels and poetry of Victor Hugo (1862: Les
Miserables)
- Painting by Impressionists (Manet, Renoir etc.)
-1873: Bizet’s opera Carmen; Jules Verne’s Around the
World in Eighty Days
-1884: Guy du Maupassant’s `La Parure’
-1888: Alphonse Daudet’s `La dernière classe’, a story
set in Alsace after the Franco-Prussian War
-1889: Opening of Eiffel Tower
Music of Debussy (Le Mer ) and Ravel
- Use of English at the peace conference marks start of
decline of French’s role as an international language.
- 1921: Honneger’s `David le Roi’
-Singers Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier
-Writings of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus
-1965: First public appearance of the singer Mireille
Mathieu
-1969: first flight of Anglo-French Concorde
-2007: TGV sets new world train speed record (574 kph)
Club resources
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
- Delacroix’s `Liberty Leading the People’
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/ON VIT.doc:
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/on_vit_on_parle
- French text and audiofile of a poem by Victor
Hugo
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/THE OCEAN
- English translation of a poem by Victor Hugo
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt:
- Renoir’s `Luncheon of the Boating Party’
Easy French Reader (in MMLC)
- Maupassant’s `La Parure’ (`The Diamond
Necklace’)
- Daudet’s `La dernière classe’ (also with audio at
http://www.yuanfr.com/Html/20078616712-1.html
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/LE ROI DAVID”
- Opening lyrics of `David le Roi’
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/DE GAULLE.doc:
- text (with audio-link) of DeGaulle broadcasting
from London in 1940.
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/INTRO.ppt
- DeGaulle in Paris after its liberation in 1944
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/EDITH PIAF
- lyrics of songs and biographical details
EUROPE CLUB/FRENCH/French notes/UNIT
2.doc: Mireille Mathieu sings `La
Marseillaise’