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 atalan
is a Latin language born around the 10th Century. This was attested
by 12th Century documents of law, economics, religion, history,
science, philosophy and literature. In this period the ruling
Catalans and their administrative tribunals wrote in Catalan.
The first text to be drafted entirely in Catalan was a translation
of a portion of the Visigoth laws called Forum Ludicum around
the year 1180 AD. The first original text in Catalan was religious
in nature. Entitled Homilies d’Organyà, this text was
written at the turn of the 12th Century.
The
prestige of medieval Catalan was due to the character of Ramon
Llull, universal philosopher who abandoned Latin to the benefit
of his land, and to which he also gave a literary dignity. From
that time Catalan speaking writers multiplied. Names such as
Bernat Desclot and Ramon Muntaner became known in this period
of territorial and linguistic expansion from the regions of
Valencia to Murcia at the outskirts. Catalan was from then on
spoken in five Mediterranean states governed by Catalan dynasties:
Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples and Athens. In the 14th Century
Catalan was the most widely spoken language, it enjoyed a prestigious
literary life and was a vehicle of both commerce and cohesive
identity. The celebrated Catalans of the literary world arrived
in the 15th Century with names such as Bernat Metge, Ausiàs
March or Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanc, the first
modern novel of European literature. For two centuries the Catalan
language was at its’ pinnacle in Catalonia before the suppression
of liberties in the area. In 1700 the edict of King Louis XIV
forbade the language in North Catalonia. In 1716 a similar measure
was written in the Decret de Nova Planta, a decree made by the
Spanish monarchy in South Catalonia. For a long time in the
north the language of Catalan sought refuge in intimate circles,
in the south the collapse of Franco’s dictatorship in 1975 reopened
the doors to Catalan.
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