The Norman Conquest

The last successful invasion of Britain was in 1066 (the one date in history which every British school-child knows) when the French-speaking Normans, ruled by William the Conqueror, invaded from France (they defeated the English at the battle of Hastings). 1066 was a crucial year of the Saxon King and for the history of England.

William’s Domestic Policy

William the Conqueror transformed London into royal capital.

William the Conqueror could not speak a word of English. He and his barons spoke Norman-French, not pure French because the Normans were simply the same Danes with a French polish. He and his nobles and their countrymen who kept coming over to England during the following 200 years imposed their Norman French on the country’s original Anglo-Saxon language. However, they could not suppress the English language. Communication went on in three languages:

· at the monasteries, learning went on in Latin;

· Norman-French was the language of the ruling class spoken at court and official institutions;

· But the common people held obstinately to their own mother tongue.

Norman-French became the language of government and the era of feudalism and kingdom began. William III of Normandy (William the Conqueror) organized his English kingdom according to the feudal system which had already begun in England before his arrival. The lands of most of the Anglo-Saxons aristocracy were given to the Norman barons, and they introduced their feudal laws to compel the peasants to work for them. The English became the servile class.

William the Conqueror gave land to nobles and knights in return for duty or service. No noble was stronger than the king himself. All land was owned by the king, but it was held by “ vassals ” (nobles, knights, freemen, etc.) in return for services.

The Normans were not exactly gentle rulers, but the nation they created did pretty well. No one, for instance, has ever successfully invaded Britain since William’s time.

Both the richness and the maddening lack of logic of present-day English are direct result of this transplant. Thus, for the next 300 years three languages co-existed. The aristocracy spoke Norman-French; the ordinary people spoke English, while Latin was used in the church. Modern English evolved from the mingling of these three tongues.

Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon were moulded into one national language only towards the beginning of the 14^th century when the Hundred Year’s War broke out. The language of that time is called Middle English.

The Domesday Book(Книга Судного Дня)

William the Conqueror was the first English king who decided to count all the people in the country, as well as their property and land. In 1086 he sent his people across the country. They came to every family and asked many questions like: “How much land do you have? Who owns it? How much is it worth? How many ploughs and sheep have you got?” answering these questions people felt as if it was the Day of Judgment, or “ doom ”. That is why they called it the “Domesday Book” (a survey of entire population and their lands and property for tax purposes). Actually, it was the first economic survey, which helped the historians imagine how people in Britain lived in the XI-XII centuries.

Bayeux Tapestry is a finally decorated cloth wall covering made in the 11^th century. It shows the events that led to the Battle of Hastings between the Normans under William the Conqueror and the English under King Harold II, and the death of King Harold. it tells the story of the Norman Conquest in picture and captions, like a comic. It took many hands and many months to make. The words on this piece say ‘King Harold is killed’. It is 74 yards/68 meters long and is kept in a museum at Bayeux in northern France. Westminster Abbey –a very big church in London, which is one of the most famous buildings in Britain. It is built in the Goethic style. Every English king or queen has been crowned there since William the Conqueror in 1066. Many famous English people are buried in the Abbey or have memorials in it.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11