Editing Occitan language (section)

===Occitan in the Iberian Peninsula===
Catalan in Spain's northern and central Mediterranean coastal regions and the [[Balearic Islands]] is closely related to Occitan, sharing many linguistic features and a common origin (see [[Occitano-Romance languages]]). The language was one of the first to gain prestige as a medium for literature among Romance languages in the Middle Ages. Indeed, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Catalan troubadours such as [[Guerau III de Cabrera|Guerau de Cabrera]], Guilhem de Bergadan, Guilhem de Cabestany, [[Huguet de Mataplana]], Raimon Vidal de Besalú, [[Cerverí de Girona]], Formit de Perpinhan, and [[Jofre de Foixà]] wrote in Occitan.

At the end of the 11th century, the ''[[Franks]]'', as they were called at the time, started to penetrate the [[Iberian Peninsula]] through the [[Way of St. James|Ways of St. James]] via [[Somport]] and [[Roncesvalles]], settling in various locations in the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] and [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] enticed by the privileges granted them by the [[List of Navarrese monarchs|Navarrese kings]]. They settled in large groups, forming ethnic [[borough]]s where Occitan was used for everyday life, in [[Pamplona]], [[Sangüesa]], and [[Estella-Lizarra]], among others.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Cierbide Martinena | first1 = Ricardo | title = Convivencia histórica de lenguas y culturas en Navarra | journal = Caplletra: Revista Internacional de Filología | issue = 20 | page = 247 | publisher = València (etc) : Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana; Abadia de Montserrat | year = 1996 | url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | issn = 0214-8188 | language = es | access-date = 20 April 2010 | archive-date = 8 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120108030828/http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | url-status = live }}</ref> These boroughs in Navarre may have been close-knit communities that tended not to assimilate with the predominantly [[Basque language|Basque]]-speaking general population. Their language became the status language chosen by the Navarrese kings, nobility, and upper classes for official and trade purposes in the period stretching from the early 13th century to the late 14th century.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Cierbide Martinena | first1 = Ricardo | title = Notas gráfico-fonéticas sobre la documentación medieval navarra | journal = Príncipe de Viana | volume = 59 | issue = 214 | page = 524 | year = 1998 | url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=16134 | issn = 0032-8472 | language = es | access-date = 9 April 2011 | archive-date = 28 September 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120928150531/http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=16134 | url-status = live }}</ref> 

Written administrative records were in a ''[[koiné language|koiné]]'' based on the Languedocien dialect from Toulouse with fairly archaic linguistic features, evidence survives of a written account in Occitan from Pamplona centered on the [[Death by burning|burning]] of borough San Nicolas from 1258, while the ''History of the War of Navarre'' by Guilhem Anelier (1276), albeit written in Pamplona, shows a linguistic variant from [[History of Toulouse#13th to 14th century|Toulouse]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Cierbide Martinena | first1 = Ricardo | title = Convivencia histórica de lenguas y culturas en Navarra | journal = Caplletra: Revista Internacional de Filología | issue = 20 | pages = 247–249 | publisher = València (etc) : Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana; Abadia de Montserrat | year = 1996 | url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | issn = 0214-8188 | language = es | access-date = 20 April 2010 | archive-date = 8 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120108030828/http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | url-status = live }}</ref>

Things turned out slightly otherwise in Aragon, where the sociolinguistic situation was different, with a clearer Basque-Romance bilingual situation (cf. Basques from the {{lang|ca|italic=no|Val d'Aran}} cited {{Circa|1000}}), but a receding Basque language (Basque banned in the marketplace of Huesca, 1349).<ref>{{cite book | author = Jurio, Jimeno | year = 1997 | title = ''Navarra: Historia del Euskera'' | publisher = Txalaparta | location= Tafalla | isbn = 978-84-8136-062-2 | pages = 59–60}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/118353 | title = Licenciado Andrés de Poza y Yarza | publisher = EuskoMedia Fundazioa | access-date = 17 February 2010 | archive-date = 3 July 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100703115650/http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/118353 | url-status = live }} Poza quotes the Basques inhabiting lands as far east as the River Gallego in the 16th century.</ref> While the language was chosen as a medium of prestige in records and official statements along with Latin in the early 13th century, Occitan faced competition from the rising local Romance vernacular, the [[Navarro-Aragonese]], both orally and in writing, especially after Aragon's territorial conquests south to [[Zaragoza]], [[Huesca]] and [[Tudela, Navarre|Tudela]] between 1118 and 1134. It resulted that a second Occitan immigration of this period was assimilated by the similar [[Navarro-Aragonese|Navarro-Aragonese language]], which at the same time was fostered and chosen by the kings of [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]]. In the 14th century, Occitan across the whole southern Pyrenean area fell into decay and became largely absorbed into [[Navarro-Aragonese]] first and [[Castilian Spanish|Castilian]] later in the 15th century, after their exclusive boroughs broke up (1423, [[Pamplona#Three boroughs and one city|Pamplona]]'s boroughs unified).<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Cierbide Martinena | first1 = Ricardo | title = Convivencia histórica de lenguas y culturas en Navarra | journal = Caplletra: Revista Internacional de Filología | issue = 20 | page = 249 | publisher = València (etc) : Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana; Abadia de Montserrat | year = 1996 | url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | issn = 0214-8188 | language = es | access-date = 20 April 2010 | archive-date = 8 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120108030828/http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | url-status = live }}</ref>

Gascon-speaking communities were called to move in for trading purposes by Navarrese kings in the early 12th century to the coastal fringe extending from [[San Sebastián|San Sebastian]] to the river [[Bidasoa]], where they settled down. The language variant they used was different from the ones in Navarre, i.e. a [[Béarnese dialect]] of Gascon.<ref name="dialnet.unirioja.es">{{Cite journal | last1 = Cierbide Martinena | first1 = Ricardo | title = Convivencia histórica de lenguas y culturas en Navarra | journal = Caplletra: Revista Internacional de Filología | issue = 20 | page = 248 | publisher = València (etc) : Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana; Abadia de Montserrat | year = 1996 | url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | issn = 0214-8188 | language = es | access-date = 20 April 2010 | archive-date = 8 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120108030828/http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2274080 | url-status = live }}</ref> Gascon remained in use in this area far longer than in Navarre and Aragon, until the 19th century, thanks mainly to the fact that Donostia and [[Pasaia]] maintained close ties with [[Bayonne]].