Linguistic history and cultural history are closely related. This is demonstrated in the study on the phenomenon of linguistic politeness in French requests, e.g. requesting, ordering, suggesting and advising. On a purely linguistic basis, there are indications of a development away from the concept of medieval politeness, which was primarily based on building up close relationships to a concept which among other things takes the personal freedom of the interlocutor into consideration. This change can be explained with general intellectual developments.