Editing Catalan language (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Further|Old Catalan|Phonological history of Catalan}}

By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from [[Vulgar Latin]] on both sides of the eastern end of the [[Pyrenees]], as well as the territories of the Roman province of [[Hispania Tarraconensis]] to the south.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the [[Muslims]], bringing their language with them.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the [[County of Barcelona]] from the [[Carolingian Empire]] in 988.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}}

In the 11th century, documents written in [[macaronic language|macaronic Latin]] begin to show Catalan elements,{{sfn|Moran|2004|pp=37–38}} with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080.{{sfn|Moran|2004|pp=37–38}} Old Catalan shared many features with [[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]], diverging from [[Old Occitan]] between the 11th and 14th centuries.{{sfn|Riquer|1964}}

During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the [[Ebro river]],{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} and in the 13th century they conquered the lands that would become the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]] and the [[Kingdom of Majorca|Majorca]].{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} The city of [[Alghero]] in [[Sardinia]] was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached [[Murcia]], which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century.{{sfn|Wheeler|2010|p=190}}

In the [[Low Middle Ages]], Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath [[Ramon Llull]] (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in [[Ausiàs March]] (1397–1459).{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} By the 15th century, the city of [[Valencia]] had become the sociocultural center of the [[Crown of Aragon]], and Catalan was present all over the [[Mediterranean]] world.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th.{{sfn|Wheeler|2010|p=190}} During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}}

[[Joanot Martorell|Martorell]]'s novel of chivalry ''[[Tirant lo Blanc]]'' (1490) shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in [[Bernat Metge|Metge]]'s work.{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}} The first book produced with movable type in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] was printed in Catalan.<ref>''Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria'' ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary") 1474.</ref>{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|2009|pp=6–7}}

<div class="center"><gallery>
File:Homilies d'Organya.jpg|''[[Homilies d'Organyà]]'' (12th century).
File:Greuges de Guitard Isarn.jpg|Fragment of the ''[[Greuges de Guitard Isarn]]'' ({{Circa|1080}}–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan,{{sfn|Veny|1997|pp=9–18}}{{sfn|Moran|2004|pp=37–38}} predating the famous ''[[Homilies d'Organyà]]'' by a century.
</gallery></div>

[[File:Map of the Crown of Aragon.svg|thumb|upright=1|center|Diachronic map of the Crown of Aragon. King [[James I of Aragon|James the Conqueror]] [1208–1276] dictated his autobiographical chronicles entirely in Catalan. Some of this territory nowadays makes up the ''[[Catalan Countries]]''.]]