Middle French (French: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th century. It is a period of transition during which: the French language became clearly distinguished from the other competing Oïl languages, which are sometimes subsumed within the concept of Old French (l'ancien français) the French language was imposed as the official language of the Kingdom of France in place of Latin and other Oïl and Occitan languages the literary development of French prepared the vocabulary and grammar for the Classical French (le français classique) spoken in the 17th and 18th centuries.It is the first version of French that is largely intelligible to Modern French speakers, contrary to Old French. Source: Wikipedia (en)