Evolution of the Language Policy of the French Monarchy in the 14th - 16th Centuries

With the formation of the united French kingdom, the monarchy began to take interest in having a dialogue with society. The formation of a unified language was a necessary condition for that dialogue. Although it was yet not the time of a conscious linguistic policy, an analysis of royal legislation allows to identify certain patterns and to trace the evolution of the development of this internal political line over three centuries (14th - 16th centuries). The article analyzes edicts and ordinances that contain instructions on the use of French in the judicial and administrative spheres. Such explanations about the need to use French (versus Latin or local dialects) did not aim to eradicate linguistic diversity in the Kingdom by introducing a single norm of French, but were meant to gradually introduce it to the areas where the direct contact between the authorities and the subjects took place in the closest way.