The Norman Invasion is probably the single most influential event in
English history. In
1066 AD at the
Battle of Hastings,
William the Conquerer, a
French Norman king, won the
throne of
England. With him he brought the
French language, or at least the Normans' version of it, to England. For centuries thereafter,
English was the language of the
commonfolk, with French being the language of
nobility. English, which
heretofore had been a completely
Teutonic language (with limited
Latin borrowings), acquired thousands upon thousands of French and Latin words, making up the bulk of the
vocabulary in use today. Almost no sentence can be written without French/Latin influence. It was only about the
16th century that English regained its
proper place in England. The influence of the Normans is still evidenced in the fact that
Queen Elizabeth II (and thus her descendants) are *direct* descendants of William the Conqueror.
History of the English Language
Norman French
Normandy
Medieval
Medieval England
Old English
Middle English
English Royalty