In 1539 Francis I, by royal edict, prohibited the use of the langue d'oc in all public docu ments. After this date Provencal rapidly de generated into a dialect and as such became more or less despised by the rest of France who began to look upon it as a sort of jargon. Yet numerous writers continued, from century to to use the old southern tongue as the vehicle for their expression. Thus the langue d'oc was, in a literary sense, more alive than its sister tongue, Catalan, from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th cen tury, and the people as a whole were more ready for a langue d'oc revival than were the Catalans for a revival of their Provencal tongue. Not able dialect poets of the first half of the 19th century prepared the way for the Felibrige movement, among them being Fabre d'Olivet (1767-1825), the Marquis of Lafare-Alais Pierre Bellot (1783-1855), Jacques Jasmine (1 98-1864), Trasconais Desanat (1796 1873). These appealed to a continually increas ing circle of readers and admirers; and read ers and writers reacting upon one another in creased the sectional feeling, which had begun to assert itself in 1823 on the publication of a collected edition of "troubaire> verses by 10 langue d'oc poets headed by the two Achard brothers. In 1839 the Archeological Society of $˘ziers offered prizes for the best compositions of a literary nature in lanffiue Bellot and Desanat, about the same began the publi cation of a journal in the southern tongue. This was really the beginning of the Felibrige move ment, for it gave the local writers an organ through which they might make themselves heard and work together for the recognition of the tongue d'oc.
In 1852 a congress of "Provencal Troba was held at Arles, under the presidency of Joseph Roumanille, a very popular young langue d'oc poet who had just published Li Provencalo,> a collection of poems by living langue d'oc poets. This work was warmly wel comed by the local press. The following year another successful congress was held at Aix; and this was followed by the publication of a second volume of poems by living langue d'oc poets, which was even more popular than the first On 21 May 1854 seven Provencal poets, among them in a meeting held at the castle of Font-Segugne, resolved themselves into the Society of the Felibres for the express purpose of re-establishing the "national of southern The other members of the society, all of whom subsequently became well known in the literary world of the langue d'oc, were Paul Giera, Jean Brunet, Alphonse Tavan, Anselm Mathieu, Thvordore Aubanel and Frederic Mistral. They at once began the pub lication of an "almanac,ri printed in the popular and filled with short verses, sketches and witty sayings. It was welcomed not only in the south but throughout all France and in Provencal Its popularity grew and its influence extended with every yearly issue. This was quite natural for it was in a class and a field by itself and the brightest and wittiest intellects of the langue d'oc country were inter ested in making it the best they could; for the "Almanac" soon gathered to itself a harvest of young writers, some of whom were destined to become of almost as great influence as the founders of the society. The new movement
rapidly measured the depths of the langue d'oc whose capacity for the expression of the range of human activity and thought soon manifested itself.
FElibrige Writers.— The most talented, active and popular of the Felibrige writers was Frederic Mistral who, at the age of 25, pub lished his a long narrative poem of considerable merit, which became im mensely popular throughout all France. His popularity helped him in the battle for the cause of langue d'oc literature which he had so much at heart. In 1867 enthusiastic "Floral Games>' were held at Avignon; and at these the guest of the occasion was Victor Balaguer, the most popular of the Catalan poets. The force of the Felibrige movement increased and, in 1876, a more extended organization of the Feli brige Society took place at Avignon to cover the four maintenances, Languedoc, Aquitaine, Provence and Catalonia (Spanish). At the head of the consistory of 50 members, who form the governing body of the association, is the capouhe, the first of whom was Mistral, who held the office from 1876 to 1884 when he was succeeded by Roumanille (1884-91). Then fol lowed Felix Gras (1891-1901) and Pierre De voluy (1901- ), all of whom were literary men of talent. Mistral, the most influential of them all, did more than any other langue d'oc writer to expurge from the southern tongue foreign words that did not seem to him to have conformed to the genius of the native language. Gras enjoys the reputation of being the best prose writer and historical romancer of the Provencal country. He has also written sev eral long poems. Roumanille had the true poetic touch and his poems, of which several collections have been published, are popular throughout France and Catalonia. Aubanel, too, has had considerable influence upon the younger generation of langue d'oc poets. He has also written good plays, the hest of which, 'Lou pan dou pecat> had a success in French dress. Much of the most characteristic of the work of the Felibres has been translated into French and considerable of it into Spanish; and thus has increased the intensity of the Felibriges movement. Yet with all this apparent success, which seems to be to some extent at least arti ficial, the Felibrige movement is scarcely likely to make of Provencal anything more than the dialect that it is. The attempt to have it re place French in the south of France and to *break the shackles of French influence and op pression" as Mistral has expressed it, would be unfortunate were it to succeed, for Provence is no longer an independent race, whatever her poets may say to the contrary. Yet the Feli brige movement is still strong and scores of papers, magazines and reviews are published in Provencal. See CATALAN ; CATALONIA ; CATA