5. Early history of Britain – Vikings

• The end of the 8^th century

• In the year 789 – first Viking raid on English coast

• Vikings came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden

• In 878 Alfred the Great defeats the Danes at Edingthon; the vikings controlled the north and the east of England, and Alfred – the remaining part.

• By the late 9th century, Viking descendants controlled virtually the whole eastern half of England, an area which came to be known as the Danelaw

• The Danelaw is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England.

• Influence: For the first, the most lasting influence is probably English vocabulary of Norse origin including: Anger, Birth, Crooked, Egg, Freckle, Gear, Husband, Ill, Knife, Law, Oaf, Ransack, Skill, Thursday, Ugly, Window ... and many others.

Sometimes overlooked is that much of the North American idea of "Santa Claus" comes from Scandinavia and ultimately the Norse (the shape of his hat for instance, and the connection with reindeer).

From the second we get ideas of the Norse as fierce warriors in horned helmets - and the many sports teams that are named after this image. Also a lot of our stereotypes about opera (fat lady in the metal bra) and the comic strip "Hagar the Horrible"

Of course, more the recent revival of interest in this vibrant culture has had it's own influence. Think of the movie "The Two Towers" -- the Rohirim are basically cast as Norsemen on horses instead of in boats. The beauty of Urnes style of Norse art has influenced contemporary design, especially in jewelry.

6. Early history of Britain - Normans

• originated in the Scandinavian peninsula, composed of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden

• In 1066, Duke William II of Normandy conquered England killing King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. The invading Normans and their descendants replaced the Anglo-Saxons as the ruling class of England. The nobility of England were part of a single French-speaking culture and many had lands on both sides of the channel. Early Norman kings of England were, as Dukes of Normandy, vassals to the King of France.

• the Normans brought with them a brand new way of defending territory and the massive stone structures we still see today

• One of the most obvious changes that occurred after William was crowned was that of the language: the Anglo-Norman. Anglo Norman was instated as the language of the ruling classes, and it would be so until about three centuries later. But not only the upper classes used French,merchants who travelled to and from the channel, and those who wanted to belong to these groups, or have a relationship with them, had to learn the language.

• These events marked the beginning of Middle English, and had an incredible effect in the way we speak English nowadays. Before the Norman conquest, Latin had been a minor influence on English, but at this stage, some 30000 words entered the English language, that is, about one third of the total vocabulary. But vocabulary was not the only thing that changed in the English language. While Old English had been an extremely inflected language, it now had lost most of its inflections.