So in 1362 they made a law that from now on lawcourts in England must conduct their
affairs in English. Really important people in
Europe used Latin for these
purposes and French for others . And - quite sensibly one feels - the English
king also made a law that from now on the opening of their parliament
in England should also be conducted in
English. That would help in the promotion of the emerging English language. Their
parliament eventually did get opened in English
although the law that ordered it was still written in French.
English was slowly
developing as a literary language and writers would emerge who would make it so. Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1385) would
become a writer of the emerging language and he proved an entertaining story teller who
helped by his often quite vulgar tales. This helped perhaps even more than getting English
into the courts and parliament. The work of getting the English in England to
use their slowly developing language was extended also to the English who at this time had militarily occupied part of Ireland.
In 1367 the English King's representative in Ireland brought into
force a new law in a parliament they had
set up in Kilkenny, centre of an occupied zone. In this occupied area there was a mixture of English arrivals,
military or otherwise, and Irish workers, officials etc. ( it happens with military invasions and occupations). The English
king, Edward the Third, was trying
hard to make English people take on the newly developing English wherever
they might be at home or abroad.
This law in Ireland is known as The Statutes of Kilkenny and contains the
following:
IT IS ORDAINED AND ESTABLISHED that every
Englishman use the English language and be named by an English name leaving off
entirely the manner of naming (used )by the Irish; and that every Englishman
use the English custom, fashion and mode of riding and apparel according to his
estate; and if any living among the English use the Irish language amongst
themselves contrary to the ordinance and therefor be attainted (convicted),
his lands and tenements, if he have any, shall be seized into the hands of his
immediate lord until he shall find sufficient surety to adopt and use the
English language and then he shall have restitution of his said lands or tenements, his body shall be taken by any
of the officers of our lord the king and committed to the next gaol there to remain until he or some other
in his name shall find sufficient surety in the manner aforesaid. And that no Englishman who shall have the
value of one hundred pounds of land or of rent by the year shall ride otherwise
than in the English fashion on a saddle
and he that shall do to the contrary and shall be therefor attainted his horse
shall be forfeited to our lord the king and his body shall be committed to
prison until he pay a fine according to the king's pleasure, and beneficed persons of Holy Church ( clergy) living
amongst the English shall have the issues of their benefices until they use the English language in the
manner aforesaid and they shall have respite in order to learn the English language
and to provide saddles between this and the feast of St Michael next coming. ......and
no difference of allegiance shall henceforth be made between the English born
in Ireland and the English born in England by referring to them as hobbe (Horsey English Squireens) or Irish dogs.........
Footnote: The word Hobbe in the royal decree is like our "hobbyhorse" - there
was also a word "hobereau" in use meaning a
squireen , so " hobbe"
probably was a mix of two insults. Unlike
most of the laws imposed in Ireland the
Irish quite liked the one about saddles - still winning prizes on them to this
day at international Horseshows !
We remember this ancient English
law now in 2017 a.d. when at Stormont
they are discussing Acht na Gaeilge (The Irish Language Act) which is being
demanded for N.Ireland and is designed to protect and enhance the Irish
language - which along with Greek is the oldest European language still spoken
and written as a living language today. Making
Acht na Gaeilge into active
law will mark both the symbolic and the
real end of historic governmental campaigns
to destroy the language. Once that is done the Irish language will
continue even more effectively to enrich the world's treasury of thought and
speech.
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