ABSTRACT
If, as regards the internal evolution of the language, the sixteenth century continues many of the developments of the previous period, a number of external factors, whether political, social, cultural or religious, combine to make it a key period in the history of French, a time when the vernacular comes to be increasingly viewed as a possible rival and indeed as a successor to Latin, and concerted efforts are made not only to codify but also to ‘enrich’ the language, in particular by attempting to give it the lexical resources necessary to compete with its classical forebear. We have already noted the impact of the advent of printing from the late fifteenth century on which meant much wider diffusion for the written vernacular, and the effect of humanist attempts to bring Latin closer to its classical purity, rendering it less able to express all that was necessary for modern life. To this we must add the effect of the Renaissance, resulting in France not only in the desire to translate the great classical works into French but also in the import of Italian culture, and the Reformation with its demands for the laity to have direct access to the Bible.
