10.5 Anglo-Normans and Anglo-Norman language

The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066, although some Normans were already in England before the conquest. Following the Battle of Hastings, the invading Normans and their descendants formed a distinct population in England. They later spoke what became the Anglo-Norman language.

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The Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles and methods. The old Anglo-Saxon military elite began to emigrate, especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings, who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors. William (and his son, William Rufus), encouraged them to leave, as a security measure. The first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. But the Anglo-Saxons as a whole were not demilitarized; this would have been impractical. Instead, William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti-cavalry tactics. This led quickly to the establishment of an Anglo-Norman army made up of Norman horsemen of noble blood, Saxon infantrymen often of equally noble blood, assimilated English freemen as rank-and-file, and foreign mercenaries and adventurers from other parts of the Continent. The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation, adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches, upsetting the older generation. (Note that the Anglo-Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English. John Wycliffe (1380s) uses the term knyytis generically for men-at-arms, and only in the 15th century did the word acquire the overtones of a noble cavalryman corresponding to the meaning of chevalier.) . [29]

The degree of subsequent Norman-Saxon conflict (as a matter of conflicting social identities) is a question disputed by historians. The nineteenth century view of intense mutual resentment, reflected in the popular legends of Robin Hood and the novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, may have been considerably exaggerated (see Whig history). Some residual ill-feeling is suggested by contemporary historian Orderic Vitalis, who in Ecclesiastical Historii (1125) wrote in praise of native English resistance to "William the Bastard". Likewise, a law called the "Mudrum fine" established a high (46 mark/~£31) fine for homicide against a Norman; this law was thought to be necessary due to the high rate of English attacks against Normans.

Whatever the level of dispute, over time, the two populations largely intermarried and merged, combining languages and traditions. Normans began to identify themselves as Anglo-Norman. Eventually, even this distinction largely disappeared in the course of the Hundred Years War, and by the 15th century the Anglo-Normans had merged with the Anglo-Saxons to form the English. [30]

The Anglo-Norman language is an extinct variety of the Norman language used in England following the Norman conquest in 1066.

When William the Conqueror invaded England, he, his nobles, and many of his followers from Normandy spoke an Oïl language called Norman. This became the official language of Anglo-Norman England and later developed into the unique insular dialect now known as Anglo-Norman.

Anglo-Norman was the spoken language of the Norman nobility and was also used in the courts, to compile official documents, and for commercial purposes. The lower classes were keen on learning Anglo-Norman; some early textbooks for non-native speakers still exist. Although English survived and eventually eclipsed Anglo-Norman, the latter had been sufficiently widespread as to permanently change English. This is why English has lost many original Germanic characteristics that are still strong in German and Dutch.

Among important writers of the Anglo-Norman cultural commonwealth are the Jersey-born poet, Wace, and Marie de France. The literature of the Anglo-Norman period forms the reference point for subsequent literature in the Norman language, especially in the 19th century Norman literary revival and even into the 20th century in the case of André Dupont's Épopée cotentine. The languages and literatures of the Channel Islands are sometimes still referred to as Anglo-Norman.

Anglo-Norman remained the main administrative language of England for about a century after the conquest. After this it was eventually replaced by a dialect closer to Parisian French (though this in turn became Anglicised in the course of time: see Law French). this latter dialect continued to be known as "Norman French" until the end of the nineteenth century, even though philologically there was nothing Norman about it. [31] Over time, the use of Anglo-French expanded further into the fields of law, administration, commerce, and science, in all of which a rich documentary legacy survives.

One notable survival of influence on the political system is the use of certain Anglo-French set phrases in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for some endorsements to bills and the granting of Royal Assent to legislation.

The exact spelling of the formulæ has varied over the years; for example, s'avisera has been spelled as s'uvisera and s'advisera, and Reyne as Raine.

As a langue d'oïl, Anglo-Norman had developed collaterally to the central Gallo-Romance dialects that would eventually become Parisian French, in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary - it being also important to remember that before the signature of Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, French had not been standardised as an official administrative language of the kingdom of France.

Middle English was heavily influenced by both Anglo-Norman and the later Anglo-French. Some etymologists have called Anglo-Norman 'the missing link' because many etymological dictionaries seem to ignore the contribution of that language in English.

Anglo-Norman morphology and pronunciation can be deduced from its heritage in English. Mostly this is done in comparison with continental French. English has many doublets as a result of this contrast: warranty – guarantee, ward - guard , warden – guardian, glamour – grammar, catch – chase. Compare also: wage (Anglo-Norman) - gage (French), wait - guetter (French), war (from AN werre) - guerre (French), wicket (Anglo-Norman) - guichet (French).

The palatalization of velar consonants before front vowel produced different results in Norman to the central langue d'oïl dialects that developed into French. English therefore, for example, has fashion from Norman féchoun as opposed to Modern French façon.

The palatalization of velar consonants before /a/ that affected the development of French did not occur in Norman dialects north of the ligne Joret. English has therefore inherited words that retain a velar plosive where French has a fricative. (see app. 11)

Other words such as captain, kennel, cattle and canvas exemplify how Norman retained a /k/ from Latin that was not retained in French.

However, Anglo-Norman also acted as a conduit for French words to enter England: for example, challenge clearly displays a form of French origin rather than the Norman calenge.

There were also vowel differences: cf. AN profound with PF profond, soun 'sound' - son, round - rond. The former words were pronounced something like 'profoond', 'soond', 'roond' respectively (compare the similarly denasalised vowels of modern Norman), but they later developed their modern pronunciation in English.

Since many words established in Anglo-Norman from French via the intermediary of Norman were not subject to the processes of sound change that continued in parts of the continent, (why not? Need reference.) English sometimes preserves earlier pronunciations. For example, 'ch' used to be /tʃ/ in Medieval French; Modern French has /ʃ/ but English has preserved the older sound (in words like chamber, chain, chase and exchequer).

Similarly, 'j' had an older /dʒ/ sound (which it still has in English and some dialects of modern Norman) but has developed into /ʒ/ in Modern French.

The words veil and leisure retain the /ei/ (as does modern Norman in vaile and laîsi) that in French has been replaced by /wa:/ voile, loisir.

The word mushroom preserves a hush sibilant in mousseron not recorded in French orthography, as does cushion for coussin. Conversely, the pronunciation of the word sugar resembles Norman chucre even if the spelling is closer to French sucre.

Note the doublets catch and chase, both deriving from Latin captiare. Catch demonstrates the Norman development of the velars, while chase is the French equivalent imported with a different meaning.