The Norman Conquest was the fifth invasion. And it is so well-known because it was the last invasion of Britain.

1. The Norman Conquest

The Norman Conquest was the fifth invasion. And it is so well-known because it was the last invasion of Britain.

In the 11th century the Normans came to England from Normandy. They were Norsemen who had already settled in the northern part of France. This means that the Normans adopted the French language, French manners, customs and way of life, because they lived among French people.

The new English king, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) brought over many Norman advisors and favorites; he distributed among them English lands and wealth to the considerable resentment of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and appointed them to important positions in the government and church hierarchy. Fie not only spoke French himself but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William, Duke of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumored that Edward appointed him his successor. However, the government of the country was still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex. In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England proclaimed Harold Godwin king of England. As soon as the news reached William of Normandy, he mustered (gathered) a big army by promise of land and, with the support of the Pope, landed in Britain. In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066, Harold was killed and the English were defeated. This date is commonly known as the date of the Norman Conquest. After the victory at Hastings, William by-passed London cutting it off from the North and made the Witan of London (the Elders of England) and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king. William and his barons laid waste many lands in England, burning down villages and estates. Most of the lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman barons, William’s own possessions comprising about one third of the country. Normans occupied all the important posts in the church, in the government and in the army. Following the conquest hundreds of people from France crossed the Channel to make their home in Britain. French monks, tradesmen and craftsmen flooded the south-western towns, so that not only the higher nobility but also much off the middle class was French.

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, who became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating the then king Harold II of England. Harold's army was badly depleted in the English victory at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Northern England on 25 September 1066 over the army of King Harald III of Norway.

Meanwhile William assembled a* large invasion fleet and an army gathered not only from Normandy but from all over France, including large contingents from Brittany and Flanders. He mustered his forces at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. The army was ready to cross by about 12 August. However, the crossing was delayed, either because of unfavourable weather or because of the desire to avoid being intercepted by the powerful English fleet. The Normans did not in fact cross to England until three days (Harold won on the 25 September and they landed on the 28 September) after Harold's victory over the Norwegians, following the dispersal of Harold's naval force. They landed at Pevensey in Sussex on 28 September and erected a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area.

Marching south at the news of William's landing, Harold paused briefly at London to gather more troops, then advanced to meet William. They fought at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October. The English army, drawn up in a shieldwall on top of Senlac Hill, withstood a series of Norman attacks for several hours but was depleted by the losses suffered when troops on foot pursuing retreating Norman cavalry were repeatedly caught out in the open by counter-attacks. In the evening the defence finally collapsed and Harold was killed, along with his brothers Earl Gyrth and Earl Leofwine.

After his victory at Hastings, William expected to receive the submission of the surviving English leaders, but instead Edgar Atheling was proclaimed king by the Witenagemot, with the support of Earls'Edwin and Morcar, Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ealdred, Archbishop of York. William therefore advanced, marching around the coast of Kent to London. He defeated an English force that attacked him at Southwark, but he was unable to storm London Bridge and therefore sought to reach the capital by a more circuitous route.

He moved up the Thames valley to cross the river at Wallingford, Berkshire; while there, he received the submission of Stigand. William then travelled northeast along the Chilterns, before advancing towards London from the northwest, fighting further engagements against forces from the city. Having failed to muster an effective military response, Edgar's leading supporters lost their nerve, and the English leaders surrendered to William at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. William was acclaimed King of England and crowned by Ealdred

on 25 December 1066, in Westminster Abbey.

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The Normans made many poor English people their own serfs. Besides this they burnt their houses and killed them.

By early 1071, William had secured control of off most of England, although rebellions and resistance continued to approximately 1088.

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For 500 years the Normans were masters of Britain.

2 ,'fhe linguistic situation darm-g the ME period.

French became the language of the upper classes in England simply because it was the language of the conquerors, not because of any cultural superior on their part. What happened was that the native aristocracy were lagely destroyed, and their lands were distributed to William’s Norman followers, who became the new ruling class; many key essential positions, such as bishoprics & abbacies, were also given to Normans in the years following the Conquest, so that the church & education were dominated by them. French, therefore, was the language of the aristocracy & the court, and it remained so for over 200 years. So anybody whose native tongue was English, and who wanted to get on in the world, had to learn French. But English was still spoken by the majority, so-called low men. [Now, however, that English was no longer the language of upper-class culture & administration. West-S-axon lost its place as a standard literary language. For three centimes there was no single form of English recognized as a norm, and people wrote in the language of their own region. Early ME texts give the impression of a welter (a disordered

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mixture) of dialects, with considerable divergences in pronunciation & spelling, grammar & phonology.

Thus, the Norman Conquest of 1066 led as far a the language is

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V%> concerned, to the following;

1. The country was devided into 2 layers: the feudal upper class, the government, the court all speaking Anglo-Norman, while the mam bulk of the population - the peasantry & the townpeople, were using English;

2. None of the territorial dialects enjoyed any privilege as compared with the others;

3. There w^ras a considerable layer of bilingual population, speaking both languages;

Struggle between the two languages for supremacy lasted all through three centimes. The situation was still more comolicated by

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the fact that alongside the two languages a third language existed, namely Latin as an international language of the church & medieval church science.

2. The Effect of 1066 on the English Language

The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English language.

A great number of important changes are connected with the Normans. They brought with them Latin and French civilizations, the laws and the organization of the land. Many Latin and French words penetrated into the Old English language. Commerce and trade grew very quickly, but the population grew even faster.

The English language that is spoken today is the direct result of 1066 and the Norman Conquest.

Unlike the Vikings, the Normans did not assimilate with the local population and had nothing but scorn for local customs and language. All governing classes spoke French.

William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 A.D. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman.

The Normans were also of Germanic stock; 'Norman comes from

"Norseman", and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable

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Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.

The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, "beef and "cow". Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow.

Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the

words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer)

while the words for the meats derived from them are French (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).

Many legal terms, such as indict Jury, and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts.

This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the,-Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.

Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; "crime" replaced firen and "uncle" replaced earn.

In other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word; such as, the French "gentle" and the Germanic "man" formed gentleman.

French	English
close	shut
reply	answer
odour	smell
annual	yearly
demand	ask
chamber	room
desire	wish
power	might
ire	wrath / anger

The Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding an "s" (house, houses; shoe, shoes). Only a few words have retained their Germanic plurals: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.

French also affected spelling so that the cw sound became qu\ for example, cween became "queen".

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