L'ancien francais, qui se parla et s'ecrivit, grossierement, du milieu du 9e siecle au milieu du 14e siecle, connut de multiples variations selon temps et lieux, et nous en conservons des textes innombrables. —

Old French was spoken and/or written in many parts of what is now France, very roughly north of the Loire, and in parts of Belgium; it was also used in numerous circles in England, notably after the Norman conquest. It extended roughly from the middle of the ninth century to some time in the fourteenth century. It never stopped evolving, and there was much regional variation. Innumerable texts are written in that language, which gave birth to many literary genres.