Editing Gaul (section)

===Roman Gaul===
{{Main article|Roman Gaul|3 = History of France}}
[[File:Gaul Soldiers.JPG|thumb|Soldiers of Gaul, as imagined by a late 19th-century illustrator for the [[Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle|Larousse dictionary]], 1898]]
After Gaul was absorbed as ''Gallia'', a set of Roman provinces, its inhabitants gradually adopted aspects of Roman culture and assimilated, resulting in the distinct [[Gallo-Roman culture]].<ref>A recent survey is G. Woolf, ''Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul'' (Cambridge University Press) 1998.</ref> Citizenship was granted to all in 212 AD by the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]]. From the 3rd to 5th centuries, Gaul was exposed to raids by the [[Franks]]. The [[Gallic Empire]]—consisting of the provinces of Gaul, [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], and [[Hispania]], including the peaceful [[Hispania Baetica|Baetica]] in the south—broke away from Rome from 260 to 273. In addition to the large number of natives, Gallia also became home to some [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman citizens from elsewhere]] and also imigration of Germanic and Scythian tribes such as the [[Alans]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbz9IyOvfPoC|title=Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751|last=Bachrach|first=Bernard S.|date=1972|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=9780816657001|pages=10|language=en}}</ref>

The religious practices of inhabitants became a combination of Roman and Celtic practice, with Celtic deities such as [[Cobannus]] and [[Epona]] subjected to {{lang|la|[[interpretatio romana]]}}.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. |last=Pollini |title=Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization: The Cobannus Hoard |series=Monumenta Graeca et Romana |volume=9 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=L.S. |last=Oaks |chapter=The goddess Epona: concepts of sovereignty in a changing landscape |title=Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire |year=1986}}</ref> The [[imperial cult]] and Eastern [[mystery religions]] also gained a following. Eventually, after it became the official religion of the empire, and paganism became suppressed, Christianity won out in the twilight days of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. A small but notable [[Judaism|Jewish]] presence also became established.

The Gaulish language is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture.<ref name=Helix>{{cite book|author=Laurence Hélix| title=Histoire de la langue française|isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5|publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A.|page=7|quote=Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.| year=2011}}</ref> The last record of spoken Gaulish deemed to be plausibly credible<ref name=Helix/> concerned the destruction by Christians of a pagan shrine in Auvergne "called Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue".<ref>''Hist. Franc.'', book I, 32 ''Veniens vero Arvernos, delubrum illud, quod Gallica lingua Vasso Galatæ vocant, incendit, diruit, atque subvertit.'' And coming to Clermont [to the [[Arverni]]] he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue.</ref> Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the [[Vulgar Latin]] dialects that developed into French.<ref>Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", in ''Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii'', eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.</ref><ref>Eugeen Roegiest, ''Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania'' (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.</ref><ref name=Savignac>{{cite book|author=Savignac, Jean-Paul|year=2004|page=26|title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois|location=Paris|publisher=La Différence}}</ref><ref name=Matas>{{cite book|author=Matasovic, Ranko|year=2007|chapter=Insular Celtic as a Language Area|title=The Celtic Languages in Contact |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgBtaDT-evYC&pg=PA106 |type=Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies|page=106 |publisher=Potsdam University Press|isbn=978-3-940793-07-2 }}</ref><ref name=Adams>{{cite book|author= Adams, J. N.|date= 2007|title= The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600|url= https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url-access= limited|chapter= Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul|page= [https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341/page/n300 279]–289|location= Cambridge|doi= 10.1017/CBO9780511482977|isbn= 9780511482977}}</ref> The Vulgar Latin in the region of Gallia took on a distinctly local character, some of which is attested in graffiti,<ref name="Adams" /> which evolved into the [[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]] dialects which include French and its closest relatives. The influence of [[substrate (linguistics)|substrate]] languages may be seen in graffiti showing sound changes that matched changes that had earlier occurred in the indigenous languages, especially Gaulish.<ref name="Adams" /> The Vulgar Latin in the north of Gaul evolved into the [[langues d'oïl]] and [[Franco-Provencal]], while the dialects in the south evolved into the modern [[Occitan language|Occitan]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] tongues. Other languages held to be "Gallo-Romance" include the [[Gallo-Italic languages]] and the [[Rhaeto-Romance languages]].