[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":24},["ShallowReactive",2],{"zoom:p4ch14z1:en":3},{"period":4,"chapter":14,"zoom":17},{"id":5,"title":6,"titleEn":6,"titleEs":7,"range":8,"rangeEn":8,"rangeEs":8,"cover":9},"p4","Early Middle Ages","Alta Edad Media","476 → 987",{"fileName":10,"filePageUrl":11,"imageUrl":12,"sourceLabel":13},"François Louis Dejuinne 08265 baptême de CLovis.JPG","https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fran%C3%A7ois%20Louis%20Dejuinne%2008265%20bapt%C3%AAme%20de%20CLovis.JPG","/assets/p4-haut-moyen-age-cover.png","Wikimedia Commons",{"id":15,"title":16},"p4ch14","Charles the Bald: The Birth of West Francia (840–877)",{"id":18,"title":19,"chapterId":15,"html":20,"hasEn":21,"isFallback":22,"seoDescription":23},"p4ch14z1","842: The Oaths of Strasbourg","\u003Cp>In \u003Cstrong>842\u003C/strong>, Charles the Bald and Louis (called “the German”) seal their alliance against their brother Lothair. The \u003Cstrong>Oaths of Strasbourg\u003C/strong> are a military and political episode, but also a famous moment in the history of languages.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>⚔️ An alliance against Lothair\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>After Louis the Pious’s death (840), war breaks out among heirs. Charles and Louis seek to secure a durable coalition. The oaths are pronounced before their troops to make the commitment public and credible.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>In \u003Cstrong>841\u003C/strong>, the alliance has already proved decisive on the battlefield: Charles and Louis win at \u003Cstrong>Fontenoy‑en‑Puisaye\u003C/strong>, weakening Lothair. The crisis is also fed by other claims, especially in Aquitaine, where \u003Cstrong>Pepin II\u003C/strong> contests Charles’s authority.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🗣️ Two languages, one goal\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The episode is famous because the oaths are formulated so that each army can understand:\u003C/p>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>one oath is spoken in a “Romance” language (close to vernaculars derived from Latin),\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>the other in a “Teutish” (Germanic) language.\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003Cp>This choice does not “invent” French, but it shows that the empire’s linguistic unity is already broken: governing requires taking real spoken languages into account.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🧠 Key takeaways\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>The oaths are a military alliance act in the Carolingian civil war.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>They reveal a durable linguistic divide between Romance West and Germanic East.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>They foreshadow the political partition stabilised at Verdun (843).\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n",true,false,"In 842 , Charles the Bald and Louis (called “the German”) seal their alliance against their brother Lothair. The Oaths of Strasbourg are a military and",1778543120352]