Joseph Roumanille was a Provençal

Provençal language

Provençal is a dialect of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France, mostly in Provence. In the English-speaking world, "Provençal" is often used to refer to all dialects of Occitan, but it actually refers specifically to the dialect spoken in Provence."Provençal" is also the...

 poet. He was born at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.-Geography:...

 (Bouches-du-Rhône

Bouches-du-Rhône

Bouches-du-Rhône is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the most populous department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its INSEE and postal code is 13.-History of the department:...

), and is commonly known in southern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 as the father of the Félibrige

Félibrige

The Félibrige is a literary and cultural association founded by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote Occitan language and literature...

, for he first conceived the idea of raising his regional language

Regional language

A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area....

 to the dignity of a literary language

Literary language

A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...

.

Biography

Joseph Roumanille was the son of Jean-Denis Roumanille and Pierrette Piquet. He studied at the nearby collège

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

(junior highschool) of Tarascon

Tarascon

Tarascon , sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.-Geography:...

 (Bouches-du-Rhône) from 1834. After working as clerc de notaire in the same town from 1836 to 1839, Roumanille published his first verses in the Écho du Rhône. He then worked as a teacher in Nyons

Nyons

Nyons is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.-History:Nyons was settled in the 6th century BC as Nyrax by a Gallic tribe, probably the Segusiavi or the Sequani...

 (Drôme

Drôme

Drôme , a department in southeastern France, takes its name from the Drôme River.-History:The French National Constituent Assembly set up Drôme as one of the original 83 departments of France on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution...

), and later at the Dupuy collège in Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

. When Roumanille was a teacher at Avignon, he discovered the genius of Frédéric Mistral

Frédéric Mistral

Frédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. Mistral won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 and was a founding member of Félibrige and a member of l'Académie de Marseille...

, one of his pupils, and together they began what later became the Félibrean movement.

He married Rose-Anaïs Gras, sister of Provençal poet

Provençal literature

Occitan literature — still sometimes called Provençal literature — is a body of texts written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France. It originated in the poetry of the 11th- and 12th-century troubadours, and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throughout medieval...

 and novelist Félix Gras

Felix Gras

Félix Gras was a Provençal poet and novelist. He was born into a farming family and went to secondary school at the college of Sainte Garde à Saint Didier...

.

In 1888, Roumanille succeeded Frédéric Mistral to become 2nd Capoulie of the Félibrige

Félibrige

The Félibrige is a literary and cultural association founded by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote Occitan language and literature...

, an association devoted to the Provençal language

Provençal language

Provençal is a dialect of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France, mostly in Provence. In the English-speaking world, "Provençal" is often used to refer to all dialects of Occitan, but it actually refers specifically to the dialect spoken in Provence."Provençal" is also the...

 and Provençal literature

Provençal literature

Occitan literature — still sometimes called Provençal literature — is a body of texts written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France. It originated in the poetry of the 11th- and 12th-century troubadours, and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throughout medieval...

. He died in Avignon in the morning of May 24, 1891. His funerals were held on May 26 in Avignon, and he was buried in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in the same grave as his parents.

Works

In 1847 Roumanille published a volume of verse called Li Marbarideto and in 1851 another entitled Li Sounjarello. In 1852 along with Mistral and Anselme Mathieu he edited a collection of Provençal verse called Li Prouvençalo. In 1853 he wrote a dissertation on Provençal spelling. The complete edition of his works includes Lis oubreto en vers, Lis oubreto en proso, Li capelan, Li conte prouvençau e li cascareleto, Li nouvé, Lis entarrochin and Letters. His writing is of the wholesome, simple sort, adapted to the country folk of the region.

External links

• Life of Roumanille on Notreprovence.fr and duplicated here