1. 5. The norman conquest of england

Four different peoples invaded England. First the Celts came in the 6^th century B.C., then the Romans in the 1^st century A.D. They were followed by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5^th century. After them came the Danes at the end of the 8^th century. In the 11^th century England was invaded by the Normans. This was the last invasion of England.

Many changes came about in the life of the Normans and the Danes after the 9^th century. By the 11^th century the Danes had finally settled down as subjects of the English kings. As time went on they gradually mixed with the Anglo-Saxons among whom they lived. But the Normans who had settled down in France lived among the French people, who were different people, with different manners, customs and language. These descendants of the Northmen who had settled in northern France in the 9^th century became the new conquerors of England.

In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy, began to gather an army to invade Britain. William wanted the English throne. He began preparations for a new war to fight for the Crown. Hundreds of big sailing-boats were built to carry the army across the Channel. William landed in the South of England and the battle between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons took place on the 14^th of October 1066 at a little village in the neighbourhood of the town now called Hastings. The victory at Hastings was only the beginning of the conquest. It took several years for William and his barons to subdue the whole of England. Thus the Norman duke became the king of England – William I or William the Conqueror. He ruled England for 21 years (1066 - 1087). There were several uprisings in the North and William, who was a fierce man, cruelly put down all the rebellions. Lots of people were killed; Saxon villages and towns were ruined, crops and orchards were completely destroyed.

William and his barons, as well as all the other Normans, who had come with him, did not know the Anglo-Saxon language and they did not want to learn it. And for a long time two languages were spoken in the country. Norman-French was the official language of the upper class and the government. Common Saxon people (the lower classes) and the few Saxon nobles who remained alive spoke Anglo-Saxon (English).

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When Roman troops conquered south-east of England in summer of AD 43, the Emperor Claudius and his processional elephants crossed the Thames at the site of London, building their wooden bridge (as archaeologists established in 1981) close to the present London Bridge, opened in 1973. They called their port Londinium, and it became the capital of Britain. The Romans enclosed it in a wall (the Roman wall), first definite boundary, which was built about the year 200, and its fragments may still be seen.

London stands on the river Thames which has played a big role in the history of the city. Because of the river it developed into a major port and trading centre and it was by way of the river that various invaders sailed to the site on which present-day London stands — the Romans, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Normans.

When the Normans began invading England in 1066, they built a castle by the river — the Tower of London — to keep Londoners under control.

The conquest of England by the Normans began in 1066 with the battle of Hastings, where the English fought against the Normans. The conquest was complete in 1071.

Who were the Normans who conquered England? Some 150 years before the conquest of England they came to a part of France, opposite England, a part which we now call Normandy.

There they adopted the Christian faith, the French language and the Roman law of their new home in France. So they became French. The Normans brought to England the French language. After the Norman conquest there were three languages in England. There was Latin (the language of church and the language in which all learned men wrote and spoke), then there was French (the language which the kings and the nobles spoke and which many people wrote), and finally, there was the English language which remained the language of the masses of the people.

So it is obvious that the role of the Norman Conquest was also great for the development of feudalism and absolute monarchy in Britain.

What did the Norman Conquest do to England? It gave England French kings and nobles. The Normans also brought with them the French language. After the Norman Conquest there were three languages in England. There was Latin, the language of Church and the language in which all learned men wrote and spoke; the kings wrote their laws in Latin for some time after the Conquest. Then there was French, the language which the kings and nobles spoke and which many people wrote. Finally, there was the English language which remained the language of the masses. Some men knew all these languages, many knew two, but most of the people knew only one. There were some people who understood the French language though they could not speak it. Rich people who owned land – the landowners, often knew French and Latin. But poor people, the peasants, did not understand French and Latin. They understood only English.

In time, however, came the general use of the English language. About 1350 English became the language of law.

But the English language when it came into general use was not quite the same as it used to be before the Conquest. The grammar remained, but many new words came into English from the French language.