Date 842 | ||
 | ||
Also known as Sacramenta Argentariae (Latin)
les serments de Strasbourg (French)
die Straßburger Eide (German) Language Medieval Latin
Old French
Old High German Manuscript(s) include BNF, Cod. Lat. 9768 (Nithard's De dissensionibus filiorum Ludovici pii) Subject pledges of allegiance and cooperation between Louis the German and Charles the Bald, rulers of East and West Francia respectively | ||
The Oaths of Strasbourg (Latin: Sacramenta Argentariae; French: Les Serments de Strasbourg; German: Die Straßburger Eide) were mutual pledges of allegiance between Louis the German (†876), ruler of East Francia, and his half-brother Charles the Bald (†877), ruler of West Francia made on 12 February 842. They are written in three different languages: Medieval Latin, Old French and Old High German, all in Caroline minuscule. The Old French passages are generally considered to be the earliest texts in a language that is distinctly French.
Contents
Historical context
The several pledges were spoken at a strategic meeting on 12 February 842 at Strasbourg, with the brothers' assembled armies in attendance and participating in the ceremonies. In addition to their promised allegiance to each other, Louis and Charles pledged their solidarity to oppose their eldest brother Lothair, ruler of Middle Francia and, nominally, emperor of all the Carolingian Empire Frankish kingdoms as well as Holy Roman Emperor. Louis spoke his oath in the "Romance" language, while Charles spoke his oath in lingua teudisca, "Germanic".
The historical nature of the meeting is made more remarkable by the additional, separate pledges that were scripted for the monarchs' armies – in their respective vernaculars – to the effect that, for each "soldier": should their own lord-king unilaterally break the oath just pledged (to the other king), then, each "soldier of the oath" promises not to help his master against the abused other monarch.
Historical and linguistic significance
The text is significant to both linguists and historians. Linguistically, the text is the oldest document written in a Romance language, and specifically in a form of French. The documents also shed light on a significant period in the history of the Carolingian-Frankish empire. Historians have long used the coexistence of these bilingual documents to illustrate their theory that, by 842, the empire had begun splitting into separate proto-countries and developing with different languages and customs.
However, others of late have come to favour a different hypothesis: that the Frankish Kingdom comprised several regna (loosely translated as kingdoms) that since ancient times had maintained different customs and dialects. Supporting this theory they note that both Charlemagne and Louis the Pious sent their sons to be raised in the respective regna which they were designated to inherit, in order to better enlist the support of the local populus by becoming familiar with them and their customs.
Text
The transcriptions are edited, with abbreviations written out and some punctuation and word boundaries inserted.
The image to the right is a scan of the original text. In the transcription below, two asterisks mark the beginning and end of the text visible in this scan.
The following is the Romance vernacular part in its original manuscript form and a close transcription (with minimal editing):