Aims

To introduce the students to the characteristics of Old and Middle French.

Main themes

A concrete introduction, based on historical texts. The texts will be chosen according to the needs of the students: chroniclers and archive documents from the Middle Ages, specially from the region corresponding to modern day Belgium (Wallonia, Picardy, Lorraine, and Champagne).
For the choice of texts, it is recommended that both the Romance language professor and the professors from the relevant disciplines (ARKE, HIST) be consulted.

Content and teaching methods

After an introduction to Old French (its morpho-syntactical principles), analysis of texts illustrating different historiographical styles from the 13th to the 15th century, providing an overview of their linguistic diversity and historical approaches.

Other credits in programs