![]() ![]() It was natural at first, because they knew no English. The number of Normans who settled in England was sufficiently predominant to continue to use their own language. Norman prelates occupied important positions in the church. For several generations after the conquest the important positions and the great estates were almost held by Normans or men of foreign blood. In 1072 only one of the 12 earls in England was an Englishman. Many of the English higher class had been killed at Hastings, and others were considered as traitors. His possession of the throne had been a matter of conquest and was attended by all the consequences of the conquest of one people by another. William?s coronation involved more than a mere substitution of a monarch for another. The Norman conquest changed the whole course of English. It would have lacked the greatest part of French words that today make English seem on the side of vocabulary more a Romance than a Germanic language. Without William the Conqueror?s invasion, English would have retained most of its inflections and preserving a predominantly Germanic vocabulary, the characteristic methods of word formation and incorporating words from other languages much less freely. In 1066 the Normans conquered England and it affected strongly the language.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |