The Influence of the Norman Conquest: Incorporating French Into English Culture and Language

The Influence of the Norman Conquest

Incorporating French into English Culture and Language

Normandy and England circa. 1066

Normandy is a coastal district in France that lies almost directly across from England. Its name was derived from the groups of Northmen who settled in the district only a century or two before the Norman Conquest. Although the Norman population would be largely Scandinavian in origin during the ninth and tenth centuries, it would shift in the century spanning 966 to 1066 to a largely French population (Baugh, 1959, p. 128).

In the year 1066, England was challenged by the fact that it had lost its king, Edward the Confessor. England found itself in a seriously divided state after Edward's death, a division that included at least a few large districts that were controlled by politically powerful earls like Earl Howard who would quickly seek to take his throne (Baugh, 1959, p. 129). Causing even greater problems was the fact that, when he left this world, he also left it without bringing an heir to the English throne or clearly identifying who should succeed him. Although some historians suggest that this was a serious oversight on the part of Edward, still others maintain that it confirms the notion that he had promised the throne to his cousin, William, the Duke of Normandy.

It is interesting at this point to note that the Normans were actually kin to the English, having left England to "carve out" a duchy from the kingdom of France, eventually adopting the French language and achieving the status of Frenchmen (Smith, Anderson & Anderson, 1899, p. 16). Even more, England's King Edward the Confessor was a Norman on his mother's side and was known for filling his court with Normans who, along...

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