The Norman conquest of England was one of the most important moments in the English history. Is very important for our English language knowledge to investigate about how the history influence is reflected in the actual English culture and language.
Norman invasion
1. THE ORIGIN OF NORMANDY
Originary Normands were a group of Vikings leaded by Rollo (also known as Robert of Normandy), who in 911, as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, could settle in the north of France.
Charles the Simple, the French governor who allowed it, wanted that this Vikings would protect the coast from more Viking invaders.
The Duchy of Normandy settlement was successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the Northmen from which Normandy is derived. The Normans quickly adapted to the culture, they married with the local population and converted to Christianity. They adopted French culture and added features from their own Norse language, transforming it into the Norman language.
2. THE YEAR 1066
The year 1066 is one of the most important dates in English history. It all began with the death of King Edward the Confessor, in January 1066. From here to the end of the year many political events and battles happened, and the year finished with a new monarch.
The next table resumes the main events:
DATE | EVENT |
5th January | Edward the Confessor dies. |
6th January | Harold Godwinson crowned King. |
24th April | Halley's Comet is visible. |
all Summer | Harold waited for William to invade. |
early September | Harold Hardrada lands in Northumbria. |
20th September | Hardrada wins Battle of Fulford Gate. |
25th September | King Harold wins Battle of Stamford Bridge. |
28th September | William lands in the south. |
13th October | Having rushed south, Harold camps at Senlac. |
14th October | The Battle of Hastings |
24th December | William crowned King in Westminster Abbey |
When King Edward died Earl of Wessex Harold Godwinson, the richest and most powerful of the English aristocracy, was elected king by the Witenagemot of England and crowned by Archbishop Aldred.
However, Harold had two powerful rivals who also dreamt with the throne: Duke William, he claimed that he had been promised the throne by King Edward and Harald III of Norway (“Harald Hardraada”), he had a supposed agreement between his predecessor Magnus I of Norway, and the earlier Danish King of England Harthacanute. Both William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships for an invasion.
The next manly date is on 24 April when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky. It meant an omen to many and for the worried Harold who sent to the estuary of the River Dives a fleet with 696 vessels and the troops. He spent all summer for the good conditions and for William to invade.
In the meantime, an English fleet with 700 ships patrolled the Channel until 8 th September when the English army ran out of provisions and William took this opportunity to move his ships some 160 miles eastwards along the coast to Saint Valéry-sur-Somme, meanwhile, Harold had waited.
In early September Harald Hardrada of Norway intervened; he defeated Edwin and Morcar’s army at Gate Fulford outside York on 20 September and demanded hostages. Harold raced north, surprised the Norsemen on 25 September and cut them to pieces at Stamford Bridge. Hardrada and Tostig were killed in this battle, but the south lay unprotected.
When the wind changed the direction, William could land in the South (in Pevensey) on 28 September and built a castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area.
On 14th October William and Harold fought at the Battle of Hastings where Harold was killed and the English army fled. After that William expected the submission of the surviving English leaders but instead Edgar Atheling was proclaimed king by the Witenagemot. The confrontations continued until English leaders surrendered to William at Berkhamstead and was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 24th December.
3. THE NORMAN SETTLEMENT
At first, William had to be careful with the new situation so he left three earls in place, Edwin, Morcar, and Waltheof, and used the established power of the English monarchy to assert his authority in those places where there were not under the Norman occupation. But new revolts took place easily, especially the great northern revolts of 1069 and 1070.
William confiscated the lands of all English lords who had fought and died with Harold and redistributed most of them to his Norman supporters in a twenty year period. These initial confiscations led more revolts but William and his barons continued to use their positions to extend and consolidate Norman control of the country. They displaced the native aristocracy and took control of the upper ranks of society. By 1086, when the Domesday Book was completed, French names predominated even at the lower levels of the aristocracy.
Although William and his successors were largely absentee rulers, they ruled England from a distance, by "writ" from Normandy, and the Anglo-Norman barons would use the practice too.
But the existence of a strong centralized monarchy encouraged the nobility to form ties with the cityzen, which was eventually manifested in the rise of English parliamentarianism.
William the Conqueror's division of England into fiefs (feudal honours) owing military service created a second governmental hierarchy parallel to the earlier hierarchy of shires and hundreds with tax obligations. The native English found their status correspondingly depressed.
William made reforms in the English Church; and very soon all English bishoprics and abbacies were filled with continentals, not all of them Normans.
William enhanced the power of the English king acquiring in his reign all the royal property and the family property of all the earls of 1066. He left a strong reputation when he died in 1087, he left big shoes to fill. His sons had a hard time filling them. William divided his possessions at his death giving Normandy to his eldest son and England to the second one.
Later, the two domains were united again in the hands of Henry I. With Henry II and thanks to his marriage with Eleanor Aquitaine, the English kingdom controlled about three parts of France.
4. THE USE OF FRENCH BY THE UPPER CLASS
We can see the French use trough centuries: after the Norman Conquest, the language of the Norman ruling class was Northern French. The language of the English court in the 12th century was Parisian French. Until the second half of the 14th century the language of instruction in English schools was French.
The predominant class continued using their own language for a long time (around 200 years), they just took a few knowledge of English but not for necessity. But they were not the only one, because people of English extraction, who had ruler positions, had to learnt French too.
English remained the language of the population so the upper and military class had to try to communicate with their subordinates learning a few of this lower language.
This language use represented the social and cultural position of the individual, a clear division between the working classes and the higher economic and social groups.
5. THE ATTITIUDE TOWARDS ENGLISH
Norman Conquest was one of the two main influences in the Old English (after the Scandinavians in 8th century). They spoke Old Norman and the fusion developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication.
In the period up to 1200 the attitude of the upper classes toward the English language was simple indifference because it was not necessary for their activities.
What happened with the language was a natural fact: conquered people felt resentment toward French and Normans thought that English language was an uncultivated tongue from the lower classes.
In spite of a difficult process the incidents of those social and political disturbances were gradually forgotten and the relationships between both, Normans and English, was respectful and with mutual cooperation, to say nothing of intermarriage. Even William the Conqueror made an effort to learn English because he understood the importance of communication and the importance of his promotion in the idea of his English royal ancestors.
6. FUSION OF THE TWO PEOPLES
We have to mention how quickly was their fusion and the acceptation of the new order.
We can see this fact in the marriage of Normans to English women and in the support given by the English to their rulers (in military events with English troops, for example). We find another case in the religion; where the high offices at monasteries were as much Normans as English men treating themselves with respect.
Norman high class founded monasteries and chose burial in their new country, it give us an idea about how identified they felt with this place.
7. KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH AMONG THE UPPER CLASS
In a first moment, as an usual way, French was the language of the court and the upper classes while English the speech of the mass of people. But this separation is not so rigid.
English people who were brought into association with the governing class soon acquired a knowledge of French as a mark of social distinction.
On the other hand, we found cases (almost in twelfth century, from the reign of Henry II) of the upper class acquiring some familiarity with the English language; sometimes for the circumstances and sometimes for their own interest. The most part of this people were outside the royal court.
Among the churchmen the English survived for a considerable time in some monasteries in spite of very soon all English bishoprics and abbacies were filled with continentals, not all of them Normans under the William reign.
There was a collective who spoke both languages: obviously bilingual children whose parents spoke different languages, churchmen and men of education and those whose activities implicated to deal with upper and lower classes.
8. KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH AMONG THE MIDDLE CLASS
The English aristocracy of 1066, especially the middle ranks, was an old and comfortable aristocracy. Otherwise the Normans, Bretons, and other Frenchmen who replaced them were hungry men. They were foreigners with no cultural connection to the people they ruled, and so they became even more of a military class than they might have been otherwise.
But in the twelfth century the social context was more relaxed and it was more common to find English people from the middle class speaking French.
In that moment we found people speaking French among the knightly class (composed by mounted armored soldiers who were a specialist in war and usually bound to a greater lord by strong personal bonds of vassalage) even if the mother tongue was English.
In many towns, men with Norman names were the most prominent burgesses like the majority of the merchant class.
Churchmen are implicated in this group again; among whose did not keep Latin accounts.
