The Normans, too, were of Viking stock, but they had been settled in Normandy for over a century when Duke William led his invasion of England in 1066. By then they had become completely ‘Frenchified, in customs, culture, and language.
Just as the Norman knights conquered England, so their language, at least for a time, conquered that of the defeated Anglo-Saxons. The new aristocracy in England spoke French, and writing in English on official, cultural, religious, or literary matters all but ceased – through some records, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle kept at the Abbey of Peterborough, were still being made in English until the 1150s. Now the languages in use became Latin, for church and intellectual writing, and the Anglo-Norman form of French for law and literary works. English, Much basic English Vocabulary arose from the Viking in vasion.
However, survived among the ordinary people to re-emerge as the common language of England in the 14th century.
Anglo-Norman differed from standard French in several respects, and English would borrow words from each dialect. From Anglo-Norman would come hostel, reward, and warranty; the related words hotel, regard, and guarantee came from standard French a little later.
English people of recent times have given the Anglo-Normans little credit for their achievements. During the 12th century, in particular, a great deal of the finest literature in Europe was produced in this country, but in French. For instance, the oldest surviving version of the story of Tristan and Iseult is the poem (written in Norman French) by Thomas d’ Angleterre – Thomas of England.
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