|
|
Article: French Literature and Language
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
FRENCH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
FRENCH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE.
From the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Revolution, French literature reached heights of quality and range unequalled by any other literature of the time. After the destruction of the court culture
of Languedoc in the thirteenth century, and the consequent end of Proven
ç
al troubadour poetry, French had become the dominant literary vernacular in Europe throughout the High Middle Ages, thanks largely to the French courtly or chivalric romance. These texts combined learned allegorizing with encyclopedic digressions and, at least in the case of the immensely influential
Roman de la rose
(c. 1225
–
...