1. Middle English
NormanConquest
The eventthatbeganthe transitionfromOldEnglishtoMiddle Englishwasthe NormanConquestof
1066, whenWilliamthe Conqueror(Duke of Normandyand,later,WilliamIof England) invadedthe
islandof Britainfromhishome base innorthernFrance,and settledinhisnew acquisitionalongwithhis
noblesandcourt.Williamcrushedthe oppositionwithabrutal handand deprivedthe Anglo-Saxonearls
of theirproperty,distributingittoNormans(andsome English) whosupportedhim.
The conqueringNormanswere themselvesdescendedfromVikingswhohadsettledinnorthernFrance
about200 yearsbefore .However,theyhadcompletelyabandonedtheirOldNorse language and
wholeheartedlyadoptedFrench.
However,the Normansspoke arural dialectof Frenchwithconsiderable Germanicinfluences,usually
calledAnglo-NormanorNormanFrench,whichwasquite differentfromthe standardFrench,whichis
knownas Francien.The differencesbetweenthese dialectsbecameevenmore markedafterthe
Normaninvasionof Britain,particularlyafterKingJohnandEnglandlostthe Frenchpart of Normandyto
the Kingof France in 1204 andEnglandbecame evenmore isolatedfromcontinentalEurope.
The universitiesof OxfordandCambridge werefoundedin1167 and 1209 respectively,andgeneral
literacycontinuedtoincrease overthe succeedingcenturies,althoughbookswere still copiedbyhand
and therefore veryexpensive.
Anglo-NormanFrenchbecamethe language of the kingsandnobilityof Englandfor more than300
years.While Anglo-Normanwasthe verbal language of the court,administrationandculture,though,
Latin wasmostlyusedforwrittenlanguage,especiallybythe Churchand inofficial records.Forexample,
the “DomesdayBook”,inwhichWilliamthe Conquerortookstockof hisnew kingdom, waswrittenin
Latin toemphasize itslegal authority.
Duringthese Norman-ruledcenturiesinwhichEnglishasa language hadno official statusandno
regulation,Englishhadbecome the thirdlanguage initsowncountry.Itwas largelyaspokenratherthan
writtenlanguage. However,the peasantryandlowerclasses(the vastmajorityof the population,an
estimated95%) continuedtospeakEnglish - consideredbythe Normansalow-class,vulgartongue - and
the two languagesdeveloped inparallel,onlygraduallymergingasNormansandAnglo-Saxonsbeganto
intermarry.Itisthe mixture of OldEnglishandAnglo-NormanthatisusuallyreferredtoasMiddle
English.