Mallorca

"The Mallorcan language is still the preferred vehicular language to express love to one’s family and people and is spoken by five sixths of the population. It is a branch of Catalan which received its new name in honor of the island were it became rooted and grew. It came to the island in 1229 with James of Aragón, defeating the Moors who had dominated the island for more than five centuries. The king divided up the defeated people’s lands and possessions amongst his soldiers, the defeated thus adopting the faith, customs and language of the new lords. James gave the language national status and dedicated anything but meager efforts to promote it, first amongst the circle of his closest circle and later within the confines of his possessions, prohibiting Latin which his ancestors had always used in all their diplomatic efforts and to draft laws. He also did something similar with Provencal for poetic use, substituting it with Catalan, thereafter the exclusive vehicular language for all his correspondence and laws.

That notwithstanding, upon the execution of the “Conquering King’s” will, his possessions were divided into two kingdoms. His first-born, Peter, received Aragón and Valencia, in addition to the Principality of Catalonia, while his youngest son, James, received the Kingdom of Mallorca in addition to the County of Roussillon and the Seigneuries of Montpelier, Conflent and Colliure. Some differences began to emerge in the languages spoken in one and another kingdom. The particularities of Mallorcan began to crystallize little by little by virtue of continuous contact between island residents and those in Roussillon which, though Catalan speakers, they did not avoid influences from the French language.

The differentiating factors were later reduced when, in 1343, Peter IV of Aragón, killed his brother-in-law, the unfortunate James III of Mallorca, and stole the latter’s kingdom. The inhabitants of the Balearic Islands were once more subject to Aragonese authorities, and common relations between the two ancient states multiplied, the uses and customs were progressively melded and the languages’ unification was strengthened. With the removal of the entire dynasty of Jameses, Peters and Alfonsos, dissolving with Martin, dying without an heir, and until later, in times of Ferdinand the Catholic, we can barely distinguish any difference between the languages used by writers on Mallorca and Catalonia, so much so that the extraordinary Mallorcan writers in the 14th and 15th centuries could perfectly pass for Catalans and are properly included amongst the Catalan classics of this notable literary period."

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. Las Baleares por la palabra y el grabado. Majorca: General Part. Ed. Sa Nostra, Caja de Baleares. Palma de Mallorca. 1982.