FRANCE
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FRANCE
anti-Catholic) ; Lecannet. L'Eglise de France sous la troisihnc
Republique (Paris, 1907 — Catholic; brings the subject down to
1S78); Du toast ti Vtmcyctigue (Paris, 1893); Dabrv, Les catha-
ligues rcpuhlicains (Paris, 1893). For parochial statistics see
the annuals Le rlergi Franfais and La France ecclesiaslique.
On the Laws against Congregations and the Law of Separa- tion: Briano, La separation (2 vols., Paris, 1907 and 1909); Speeches of WALDECK-RonssEAD and Ribot; De Mun, La loi des suspects (2 vols., Paris, 1902); Combes, Une campagne laique (2 vols., Paris, 1902 and 1906). The Law on Associa- tions has been discussed by Tbouillot and Chapsal; that on Separation by Reville, with radical tendencies, and by Tau- DlicRE and Lamarzelle, with Catholic tendencies. La Revue d' organisation el de defense rcligieuse, published by the Good Press since 1906, gives every day the state of the law in relation to Catholic interests.
On the Marriage Laws: Sermet, La loi du 21 Juin 1907 sur le Mariagc (Toulouse, 1908). — On the Influence of Freemasonry: Prache, La petition contre la ma^onnerie; rapport parlemcninire (Paris, 1905); Gotau, La Franc- Mofonnerie en France (Paris, 1899). On the Religious Orders: Mimoire pour la defense des congregations rcligieuses (Paris, ISSO); Kannengieser, France et AUemagne (Paris, 1900). On the Missions and the Protectorate: Piolet, Les missions catholiguesfranfaises (6vols., Paris, 1900-1903); Rouvier, Loin du pays (Paris, 1898); Rey, La protection diplomatique et considaire dans les echelles du Levant (Paris, 1899); Gomv, Les nations apotres. Vieille France, ieune AUemagne (Paris, 1903); Kannengieser, Les missions ccUholigues, France et AUemagne (Paris, 1900). On France at Rome: Lacroix, Memoire historique sur les institutions de la France hRome (2d ed., Rome, 1892). On the School Situation: Speeches oi Jules Ferry; Pichard, Nouveau code deV instruction primaire (18th ed., Paris, 1905) ; Goyau, L'icole d'aujourd'hui (2 vols.. Pans, 1899 and 1906); Lesccedr, La mentalile laique a I'ecole (Paris, 1906); Des Alleuls, Hixtoire de V enseignemeni libre (Paris, 1898); Bulletins de la societe generale d'education el d' enseignemeni; Enqulle sur la reforme de I' enseignemeni secon- dairc 2 vols., Paris, 1900 — official); Lamarzf.lle, La crisf urn- versilaire (Paris, 1900). On Charitable Institutions: Parts chari- table (3d ed., Paris, 1904); La France charitable (Paris, 1899)— two collections of monographs published by the Office central des inslilulions charilables. — On Social Organizations the chief sources are collective reports on Catholic enterprises published at the Exposition of 1900, the Guide annuaire social (annual since 1905), and the Manuel social pratique (1909). published by the Action populaire of Reims, with the brochures issued by this last association.— On the Grouping of Religious Movements: Fraenzel, Vers I'union des calholiques (Paris, 1907); Guide d'aciion rdigieuse (Paris, 1908). GEORGES GoYAU.
French Literature. — Origin and Formation of the French Language. — When the Romans became masters of Gaul they impased their language on that country together with their religion, their laws, their customs, and their culture. The Low Latin, which thus became universal throughout Gaul, was not slow in undergoing a change while passing through Celtic and Prankish throats, and in show- ing traces of climate and of racial genius. From this transformation arose a new tongue, the Ro- mance, which was destined to gradually evolve itself into the French. The glossaries of Reichenau and of Cassel contain many translations of Latin and Germanic words into Romance; they date from the eighth century. The earliest texts in our possession belong to the ninth century, and are more valuable from an archaeological than from a literary standpoint. These are the formulas called " Les Serments de Stras- bourg" (the oaths pronounced by the soldiers of Louis the German and of Charles the_ Bald, A. d. 842); the Bong or "Prose de Sainte Eulalie", an imitation of a Latin hymn of the Church (about A. D. 880) ; a portion of a "Homflie sur Jonas" discovered at Valenciennes, and written in a mixture of Latin and Romance, dat- ing from the early part of the tenth century; " La Vie de Saint Lc'ger", a liald narrative in verse, written in the latter part of the tenth century. The metamor- phosis, under the action of influences now no longer traceable, of Low Tjatin into Romance did not proceed along the same lines everywhere in Gaul. From the Pyrenees to the Scheldt it varied with the varying localities, and gave rise to many dialects. These dia- lects may be grouped into two principal languages which are usually named from the word used as an affirmative in oach: the Romance language of oc in the South: and tlie Rom;ince language of oil in the North. The ail l:ingu:igo comprised all the varieties of speech in use to the north of an imaginary line drawn from the estuary of the (iirondc to the Alps, passing
through Limousin, Auvergne, and Dauphiny. In the
twelfth century, the speech of the Ile-de-France
began to take the lead over all the others, for the very
good reason that it was the speech of the royal domain.
Hereafter the French language possesses its form, and
can give birth to a literature.
hi the Middle Ages. — Epic Poetry. — In France, as everywhere else, literature began with poetry, and that epic. For many centuries this .seems to have been the form natural to the French mind ; and the abimd- ance of the output is a striking proof of the breadth and power of the movement. To comprehend more clearly the great mass of epic works of this period, we distinguish three subject-matters, or three cycles: the French, or national, cycle; the Breton cycle; the antique cycle.
The origins of the French cycle go back to the first ages of Prankish domination. The Prankish chiefs all kept their singers, who celebrated their exploits in poems of heroic inspiration. These compositions, called cantiUnes, were sung to the harp, either at their festivals or at the head of the army before a battle. This spontaneous growth of epic poetry goes on until the tenth century; but after the tenth century the inventive power of the poets — the trouvhes, as they
- ire called— i.s exiuiusted : they no longer compose new
songs, but co-ordinate, above all amplify, and, finally,
reduce to writing the songs left to them by their prede-
cessors. By dint of this labour of arrangement and
editing they compose the chansons de geste ("history
songs", from the Latin gcsta, "things done", "his-
tory"). Comparatively short, these chansons de geste
are written in lines of six syllables which are made into
couplets, or laisses, with assonances, or imperfect
rhymes (such, e. g., as perde and siiperhe). Like the
old cantilenes, they were intended to be sung by the
trouvtre at feasts or in battle. They are all connected
with real historical episodes, which, however, are em-
bellished, and often disfigured, with popular traditions
and the fruits of the poet's own imagination. The
most famous of these chansons de geste, the " Chanson
de Roland ", put into writing about the year 1080, and
by an unknown author, is the clief d'wuvre of this
national epic poetry. It admirably reflects the society
of the time. With its scenes of carnage, its loud clash
of blades, its heroic barons who sacrifice their lives for
the emperor and die after commending their souls to
God, its miraculous intervention of angels who receive
the soul of the brave warrior, the "Chanson de Rol-
and" places vividly before the imagination the
France of the eleventh century, warlike, violent, still
barbarous, but thoroughly animated by an ardent
faith. The "Chanson de Roland" is the most widely
known of the chansons de geste, but a multitude of
them are extant, and they all contain great beauties.
While some of them, centring upon Charlemagne
("Le PiMerinage do Charlemagne", "Aimeri de Nar-
bonne", "Girard de Viane", etc.), celebrate the union
