how the Château de Villers-Cotterêts became the “address” of French

The castle of Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne) is office of “House” where the French language is “laid” but “not to stay there”, explains to franceinfo Culture Paul Rondin, the director of the Cité internationale de la langue française. This place is a promise from candidate Emmanuel Macron, then seeking the presidential chair in 2017. The cultural project, which sparked controversy, finally came to fruition during his second term.

The City will be inaugurated on October 19. More than 211 million euros (provisional budget) have been devoted to this initiative of the President. “Of the Republic, I always recall it incidentally”, adds Paul Rondin who is delighted to be at the service of a project which proves “that the Republic (East) able, even today (…) to constantly reinvent public policy on Culture. The choice of this territory is also that.”

“The International City of the French Language will contribute to the attractiveness of the Valois region, a literary land which saw the birth of Alexandre Dumas (Villers-Cotterêts), Jean Racine (Ferté Milon), Jean de la Fontaine (Château Thierry) and even Paul Claudel (Villeneuve-sur-Fère)”, underlined in January 2023 the press release announcing the appointment of Paul Rondin. It was in this Aisne castle that Francis I issued the ordinance of 1539 which made French the official language for all administrative acts of the kingdom. The renaissance of Villers-Cotterêts is the result of political will, an exceptional restoration undertaking, the linguistic symbolism attached to the castle of François I and the involvement of the inhabitants of a region.

The commitment of a candidate, the marker of a presidency

“And the beautiful abandoned castle of François I will have a vocation in the French Francophonie. I want to commit here to ensuring that we carry out this project, dear Jean-Jacques (Toubon)worn when you were Minister of Culture (from 1993-1995), started at this moment, which is to give back to this castle what its history carries within it. To reopen it, but to reopen it by also making it carry what is its vocation: the French language in everything it carries”affirmed Emmanuel Macron on March 17, 2017 in Reims during his first presidential campaign.

As the Head of State already underlined at the time, Villers-Cotterêts is a file that is lying around in drawers. The host Stéphane Bern returned, while he was preparing a program dedicated to the City, to how he had drawn Emmanuel Macron’s attention to this castle in ruins. “In 2017, I made a History Secrets et I discovered on this occasion the state of advanced disrepair (of the castle) and I alerted public opinion (…) It turns out that I discussed heritage with the future President of the Republic and I told him: ‘If there is really a place to save, it is the Château de Villers-Cotterêts.’ And I think he came during his campaign. He then went to Reims, it seems to me. It was the royal path par excellence (…) and I believe that he realized the importance of safeguarding this heritage.”he confided to The Ardennes. Almost “all elected officials of the territory”, like “Jacques Krabal who was a deputy at the time and who campaigned hard to save” the place“all lovers of heritage and indeed Stéphane Bern, who is today its incarnation, were concerned about saving the Château de Villers-Cotterêts as its state was alarming”, precise at fanceinfo Culture Xavier Bailly, deputy director of the Cité internationale de la langue française.

In 2018, Emmanuel Macron made another visit, surprise this time, to confirm his decision. “I did not come to make an announcement. I came to really be sure of the decision. There, I am sure”, he declares on the microphone of France 3 Hauts-de-France. The project was officially entrusted that year to the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN). The colossal restoration project is launched in 2020. In addition to these visits, “he also honored us with his presence during the progress of the construction site, indicates Xavier Bailly. “It’s a project that is close to his heart.” Emmanuel Macron is part of an old tradition which has always made French “an affair of state”.

A “great heritage adventure”

This new business mobilized on its site “600 companions from 220 companies for 65 trades”. Xavier Bailly, previously administrator of the castle, describes “(a) great adventure of transformation (from the castle to the city) through an exceptional restoration, one which consisted of saving a castle whose history is quite incredible”.

The topography of Villers-Cotterêts, “this is what François I wanted”, says Xavier Bailly. “We are at the dawn of the 1530s. He returns from captivity after the defeat of Pavia (1525). He abandoned the Loire Valley and refocused his residences a little around Paris. He is therefore interested in Villers-Cotterêts because it has a major asset: the Retz forest. She doesn’t have “no equivalent: it’s not Rambouillet, it’s not Chantilly, it’s not Compiègne”. This forest forms “a crescent which surrounds the entire city and which has an entrance door, the old medieval castle that Francis I had completely rebuilt for his uses. When we enter the royal residence, we take the passage which was that of the entrance in the medieval castle with its drawbridge that archaeologists have found”.

Villers-Cotterêts is “one of the great castles of the Renaissance, a little forgotten by the general public, continues Xavier Bailly. However, there is not an art history textbook that does not (THE) cited as one of the milestones in the history of Renaissance architecture in France. The castle also houses three Renaissance jewels. “The King’s Staircase, by which the visitor (will enter) in the course (permanent dedicated to French). He will thus be able to visit the chapel of François I “which is the second great masterpiece and go down at the end of this tour, which is located on the first floor, via the Queen’s Staircase”. For Xavier Bailly, Villers-Cotterêts and its treasures have been “(saved) thanks to a large-scale cultural project that has no equivalent in the world.” “LThe legitimacy of this project is the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts. The circle is complete”.

A centuries-old link with the French language

“A magnificent excuse” that “this famous ordinance of 1539” to install the Cité de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, confirms Paul Rondin, its director. The document “(does not eradicate) not regional languages” but establishes “a common language for justice, administration, for (let the citizen be) heard, listened (And) recognized”. The original document signed by François I was deposited at the castle on October 9, 2023. For a few months, visitors to the permanent route will see it, before it returns to the National Archives from which it was extracted.

In 2017, the analysis of the effects of the Villers-Cotterêts ordinance by candidate Emmanuel Macron caused controversy. Historians stepped up to clarify the real scope of the document, which above all put an end to the reign of Latin in the drafting of official documents in the Kingdom of France.

A language then “enclosed in the only ones who (had) mastery, in this case the Clergy and the courses”, recalls Paul Rondin. Francis I thus sets up “a common core” even though “nearly 90% of French people do not speak French”. The installation of this city in Villers-Cotterêts seems obvious. In 1539, analyzed Paul Rondin, “There is the foundations of something that has to do with the nation and the Republic (…) This is exactly the right place.“

A territory mobilized around the castle and its future

The restoration of the castle for the local populations was a unifying project. “The inhabitants of Villers-Cotterêts or the surrounding area already felt love for their castle. They were already worried about what was going to happen there, how it was going to be saved, if it was going to be saved one day. When I take up my duties here in 2019 (as castle administrator)the construction site has not yet started (…) It is the administrator of Mont Saint-Michel who arrives in Villers-Cotterêts, a bit as if to say ‘yes, it’s the biggest project and it will take shape’“.

The birth of the Cité internationale de la langue française was conceived as a participatory adventure. The hundred actions to inform local populations brought together “20,000 participants”, “10,000 visitors” took part in the “discovery days as part of French Language and Francophonie Week” in March 2022. Likewise, “12 open days” were organized.

Paul Rodin remembers a recent meeting, “open to residents”. “We no longer knew where to put people (in the house dedicated to the project). It was very welcoming, waiting to find out more, to come and visit… We organized many meetings, whether with economic or political actors in the region or with everyone, a expression that I don’t like very much. We feel real excitement (…) We are at the start of an adventure, collectively.”

The lexical Sky above the Jeu de Paume court is the materialization of this. Visitors will discover it in the Royal Logis, after crossing a courtyard open to all from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on show evenings. The words that compose it were chosen “by the inhabitants of Villers-Cotterêts with the schoolchildren we met”, indicates Xavier Bailly who found a nice formula to evoke the City. “The French language now has an address, it is in Villers-Cotterêts”. In 2024, the castle will host the Francophonie summit which will bring together the leaders of countries sharing French.