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1066-10-14
The Battle of Hastings 1066
Schlacht von Hastings 1066
Bataille d'Hastings 1066

• "battle of Hastings": the decisive battle in which "William the Conqueror" (duke of Normandy) defeated the Saxons under Harold II (1066) and thus left England open for the Norman Conquest
• "Harold II": King of England who succeeded Edward the Confessor in 1066 and was the last of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs; he was killed fighting the invasion by "William the Conqueror" (1045-1066)
• "King Harold II": King of England who succeeded Edward the Confessor in 1066 and was the last of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs; he was killed fighting the invasion by "William the Conqueror" (1045-1066)
• "Norman Conquest": the invasion and settlement of England by the Normans following the battle of Hastings (1066)
• "William I": duke of Normandy who led the Norman invasion of England and became the first Norman to be King of England; he defeated Harold II at the battle of Hastings in 1066 and introduced many Norman customs into England (1027-1087)
• "William the Conqueror": duke of Normandy who led the Norman invasion of England and became the first Norman to be King of England; he defeated Harold II at the battle of Hastings in 1066 and introduced many Norman customs into England (1027-1087)

Hastings Borough Council

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altphilologenverband.de
Die Grazien, die Schule und das Leben

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Die Grazien, die Schule und das Leben
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Zunächst zum Sprachlichen: Hier pfeifen die Spatzen wieder von allen Schulhausdächern, dass ein Lateiner allein schon über den Grundwortschatz und den grossen Wörterbaukasten aus Präfixen, Stämmen und Suffixen zu den romanischen Sprachen halb Europas und ganz "Latein"-Amerikas seinen besonderen Schlüssel und einen betrachtlich leichteren Zugang hat.

Aber das ist nur die halbe Wahrheit; hier ist zu ergänzen, wirklich zu "erganzen", dass auch das weltweit gesprochene und verstandene Englisch im Nachhinein noch zu einer heimlichen romanischen Sprache, zu einer Adoptivtochter des Lateinischen geworden ist. Durch den Einfall des Normannenkonigs Wilhelms I., des "Eroberers", in England im Jahre 1066 hat die von Hause aus germanische englische Sprache einen mächtigen Zustrom französischer und damit lateinischstämmiger Wörter erfahren. Zugespitzt, überspitzt konnte man sagen: Alles, das da mit mehr als zwei Silben daherkommt, ist lateinischen Ursprungs.
...

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altphilologenverband.de
Zur Sprachgeschichte - Junges Englisch

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Zur Sprachgeschichte - Junges Englisch

Ein Blick auf einige Punkte der englischen Sprachgeschichte ist angesichts dieser Fragen vielleicht von Nutzen. Die Verdrängung keltischer Idiome aus dem südlichen Ost- und dem Mittelteil der Insel war bekanntlich der wichtige sprachbestimmende Vorgang in der Mitte des ersten christlichen Jahrtausends. Die nachrückenden Stamme, die Angeln, Sachsen, Juten, die danischen und norwegischen Invasoren, brachten ihre germanischen Dialekte ins Land. Mit dem Keltischen war zugleich die Trägersprache des bisherigen volkslateinischen Einflusses ausgeschaltet worden, so dass an kaiserzeitlichen Lehnwörtern fast nur gewisse Namensbestandteile blieben, die an die römische Besatzung erinnern (wie "-chester" und "-coln" an "castra" und "colonia").

Umgekehrte Folgen hatte in gewissem Sinn der nächste durchgreifende Gewaltakt, der die Insel traf: die Invasion Wilhelms und seiner nordfranzösischen Normannen (1066). Die Sieger waren ihrer Zahl nach zu unbedeutend, als dass sie die gängigen germanischen Idiome (heute als "Altenglisch" bezeichnet) hätten verdrängen oder ersetzen können. Doch gewann ihr sprachlicher Einfluss über öffentliche Schlüsselstellen wie Gerichte, Schulen und das höfische Leben selbst langsam an Boden. Politischer Bereich und Verwaltung wurden von ihnen terminologisch besetzt. Das Romanische wurde zum Träger neuer indirekter Latinität.

So entstand das "Mittelenglische" von etwa 1100 an in einem relativ langwierigen Prozess. Wichtig war dabei zunächst eine zunehmende Rezeptionsbereitschaft der "altenglisch" redenden Überzahl zugunsten der Romanität der neuen Oberklasse. Oder zumindest nachlassender Widerstand ihr gegenüber, begünstigt durch die Turbulenz der Zeit und geringe sprachliche Bewusstheit. Aber es entstand doch nach und nach etwas wie ein Übereinkommen stiller Vernunft, welches ein Verhältnis im Sinne des Gleichgewichtes der Sprachanteile zur Folge hatte.

Ein Beweis hierfür ist das doppelte Vokabular des Englischen, das sich damals heranbildete und zu sprachlichen Parallel-Paarungen führte (wie "tool" und "utensil" für "Werkzeug", "friendly" und "amicable" für "freundschaftlich" oder "grave yard" und "cemetery" für "Friedhof" usw.). Der germanisch-altenglischen Bezeichnung trat je eine romanische Vokabel gegenüber, wobei freilich die Parallelwörter dann doch zu Trägern von Bedeutungsvarianten wurden und damit den englischen Ausdruck insgesamt bereicherten.
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Didaktische Überlegungen

Wie oben bereits angedeutet, ist auch die englische Sprache vielfach mit lateinischen Sprachelementen durchsetzt. Dies gilt sowohl für den Wortschatz (vgl. den folgenden Kasten) als auch für Grammatik. Wer also zuerst Latein und dann Englisch lernt, wird viele alte Bekannte wiedertreffen.

"exterior", "gratis", "index", "integer", "item", "memorandum", "minor", "pauper", "admiration", "appropriate", "contempt", "education", "excursion", "external", "history", "include", "insane", "necessary", "popular", "private", "quiet", "submit", "confidence", "constancy", "dignity", "variety", "society", "difficulty", "fortitude", "latitude", "nation", "opinion", "occasion", "religion", "tolerable", "congratulate", "create", "illustrate", "translate", "variable", "portable", "domestic", "lunar", "urban", "human", "tolerable", etc.

Seit der Invasion der Normannen in England (1066) gehörte es zum guten Ton, die aus Frankreich importierten Manieren und das Normanno-Französische nachzuahmen. Das Germanische der Angeln und Sachsen wurde in vielen Bereichen latinisiert - ein Prozeß, der übrigens heute immer noch anhält, da die technische Entwicklung der Neuzeit ständig lateinische Neuprägungen im Englischen fördert.
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amici-online
Virtuose Libellen
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libella
Libella
libellae
Libelle
libellula
Libellulae
libellum
libellus
libra
Lira
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niveau
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virtus

cursor Latein4EU - Nr. 09 - FEBRUAR 2010

Virtuose Libellen

von altrömischer Mannhaftigkeit, schillernden Wäglein und Gedanken zu einem modernen Sprachunterricht

Christian Seidl und Christian Utzinger

Erinnern Sie sich noch, wie schwierig es war, sich die deutschen Bedeutungen der lateinischen Vokabeln einzuprägen? Da hatte jedes lateinische Wort nicht nur eine Entsprechung im Deutschen, sondern drei, fünf oder gar noch mehr. Und wie verschieden waren doch diese Bedeutungen! Oft zeigten sie keinerlei inneren Zusammenhang und man konnte sie höchstens mit Hilfe von Merkversen oder rhythmisch gegliederten Wortgruppen memorieren - gar nicht zu reden vom den Begriffen selbst, die einem aus dem täglichen Leben nicht so recht vertraut waren: Vieles klang da merkwürdig abstrakt, abgehoben und hochgestochen - halt irgendwie „altertümlich". Und so wimmelte es in den Übersetzungen dann von "formvollendeten Jungfrauen" ("virgines formosae"), die voller "Scham" ("pudor") "Rosen ausgießen" ("rosas fundere"), derweil "kühne Soldaten" ("milites audaces") voll "Mannhaftigkeit" ("virtus") irgend etwas "eifrig betreiben" ("moliri"). Was sollten Heranwachsende mit solchen, ihnen unvertrauten und leeren Begriffen anfangen?

Glücklicherweise hat sich seither manches geändert, wozu auch die Sprachwissenschaft mit ihren Erkenntnissen beigetragen hat. Auf den folgenden Seiten möchten wir zeigen, wie das Vokabelnlernen seinen Schrecken verlieren kann. Dazu braucht es nichts weiter als die Kenntnis zweier grundlegender Mechanismen des Bedeutungswandels - die obendrein nicht nur im Latein, sondern in allen Sprachen vorkommen. Und weil man beim Wörterlernen auch den visuellen Sinn beteiligen soll, stellen wir die deutschen Bedeutungen der heiklen Vokabeln nicht bandwurmartig hintereinander gereiht, sondern bildlich dar.

Als erstes Beispiel betrachten wir das oben erwähnte lateinische Wort "virtus". Dass es zu "vir" "Mann" gehört, ist sofort klar - aber eine passende Übersetzung, die dieses Verhältnis auch deutlich machen würde, will sich nicht so ohne Weiteres einstellen, wenn wir uns auf die in den Lehrbüchern üblichen Bedeutungsangaben beschränken: "Männlichkeit" trifft es überhaupt nicht und die "Mannhaftigkeit" gehört, ebenso wie die heute nicht mehr zu den Primärtugenden gehörende "Tugend", zu dem berüchtigten Übersetzungsdeutsch.

Der Clou beim von uns gewählten Vorgehen besteht nun darin, dass wir zunächst einmal einen Ausdruck suchen und lernen lassen, der drei Bedingungen erfüllt:

• (1) Er soll den gesamten Begriffsinhalt des lateinischen Wortes prägnant zusammenfassen,
• (2) diesen in einer Art und Weise und in einer Sprachform wiedergeben, die sich die Schüler auch merken können und
• (3) als Ausgangspunkt dienen, von dem aus sich weitere Bedeutungen leicht erschließen lassen.

Deshalb schlagen wir als Kernbedeutung oder Prototyp vor: "die Art des Top-Mannes" (wenn nicht gerade: "Art des SuperMannes"). Aber aufgepasst: Natürlich soll kein Schüler das Wort "virtus" je so übersetzen. - Wie? Die Schüler lernen Wörter, die sie nicht verwenden dürfen? Ja! Denn so werden sie gezwungen, sich zu überlegen, welche Ausprägung dieser "Art des TopMannes" in einem bestimmten Zusammenhang gerade gemeint ist. Diese Sekundärbedeutungen sind auf der bildlichen Darstellung, die wir "Rondogramm" getauft haben, als blaue Satelliten um die Kernbedeutung herum angeordnet.

Der Lateinlehrer kann diese weiteren Bedeutungen gut mit Hilfe einer kurzen, zusammenhängenden Geschichte von den Schülern herausfinden lassen. Kurz zusammengefasst geht es um Folgendes: Die hervorstechenden Eigenschaften eines römischen "Top-Mannes" zeigen sich in verschiedenen Lebensbereichen: Im Krieg zeichnet sich der Top-Römer als Soldat natürlich durch "Tapferkeit" aus. Im Alltag werden hingegen andere Eigenschaften wichtiger: Ganz allgemein ist das eine "anständige, moralisch einwandfreie Haltung".

Als Staatsbürger und insbesondere in politischen Ämtern soll der "Top-Mann" etwas leisten; gefragt ist also "Tüchtigkeit". Nun ist die römische Gesellschaft eine derart auf Männer zentrierte Machogesellschaft, dass die mit "virtus" bezeichneten Eigenschaften nur ausnahmsweise auch bei anderen Wesen vorstellbar sind - man denke an das allgemeine Staunen angesichts der Haltung der altrömischen Cloelia, die als Geisel des Etruskerkönigs Porsenna diesem durch einen kühnen Sprung in den Tiber entkam und den König durch ihre unerschrockene Tapferkeit so verblüffte, dass sie sogar weitere Geiseln freibekam. Cloelia zeigt, so der Schriftsteller Livius staunend und fast etwas irritiert, eine "bei einer Frau noch nie gesehene virtus" ("novam in femina virtutem"). Nicht nur in der bildlichen Darstellung noch weiter weg von der Kernbedeutung führt uns die Satellitenbedeutung "Tüchtigkeit", denn diese muss sich nicht nur auf Männer als Staatsbürger - oder allgemeiner auf menschliche Wesen - beschränken: Wer ein Elefantengedächtnis hat, dessen "memoria" hat ebenfalls eine "virtus"; und auch ein "Pferd" ("equus") oder ein "Schiff" ("navis") können eine "virtus" haben: Hier geht es also nur noch allgemein um die "(hohe) Qualität"; mit der "virtus" des "Top-Mannes" hat sie nur noch gemeinsam, dass es sich um eine hochgradig positive Eigenschaft handelt. Demgemäß ist diese Bedeutung im Rondogramm am weitesten weg vom Kern entfernt.

Rondogramm virtus

[die Art des TopMannes]

• Tapferkeit im Krieg
• Tüchtigkeit in der zivilen Tätigkeit
• ethische Haltung im Alltag
• etc. X
• Qualität memoriae / equi / navis

Bildliche Darstellung der Virtus

Damit sind einige wesentliche Bedeutungen von lateinisch "virtus" abgedeckt. Weitere brauchen die Schüler nicht zu lernen, sehr wohl aber folgenden, sehr wichtigen Punkt: Bei den Wortbedeutungen ist stets davon auszugehen, dass Wörter eine Art "Bedeutungswolken" sind: Um eine Kernbedeutung herum schweben prinzipiell unendlich viele weitere Bedeutungen, eine Art Satelliten, die in bestimmten Zusammenhängen auftreten. Daraus folgt zwangsläu?g, dass auch der fleißigste Schüler nie sämtliche Bedeutungen eines Wortes lernen kann! Immer wieder wird es neue Zusammenhänge geben, in denen die bisher bekannten Bedeutungen offensichtlich unsinnig sind: Hier ist Kreativität gefragt. In unserer bildlichen Darstellung mit Rondogrammen wird dieser Umstand immer durch einen letzten Satelliten symbolisiert, der aber keine Bedeutungsangabe mehr enthält, sondern nur noch ein "X", das für alle anderen möglichen treffenden Bedeutungen steht, z. B. fallweise für "Mut", "Tugend(haftigkeit)", "Standfestigkeit", "Kraft" usw.

Welcher Zusammenhang besteht zwischen den verschiedenen Bedeutungen von "virtus" noch? Bei der Erklärung kommen zwei grundlegende Mechanismen des Bedeutungswandels zum Zuge: Erstens decken die Begriffe "Tapferkeit", "Anständigkeit" und "Tüchtigkeit" jeweils Teilbereiche der Gesamtbedeutung "Art des Top-Mannes" ab. Damit liegt derselbe Bedeutungswandel vor wie im Satz "Österreich besiegt die Färöer", wo ja nicht die gesamte Republik Österreich ein Match gewonnen hat, sondern nur deren Fußballnationalmannschaft, bei "trink noch ein Glas!", wo man nicht den Behälter trinkt, sondern bloß dessen Inhalt, und bei englisch "youth", das einerseits die "Jungen in ihrer Gesamtheit" bezeichnen kann, andererseits aber auch einen einzelnen "Jugendlichen": Man verwendet den Begriff für das Ganze, meint aber nur einen Teil. Solche Bedeutungswandel, bei denen ein Wort für ein anderes steht, mit dem eine räumliche oder ideelle Nähe besteht, nennt man Metonymien.

Keine Metonymie liegt mehr vor, wenn wie Cloelia plötzlich eine Frau (angeblich) männliche Verhaltensweisen zeigt bzw. wenn auch Pferde und Schiffe eine "virtus" haben: Hier wird das Verhalten Cloelias mit dem eines Mannes bzw. die hohe Qualität eines Schiffes mit derjenigen eines Mannes verglichen. Ebenfalls ein Vergleich liegt vor, wenn in Österreich "Kartoffeln" als "Erd-äpfel" oder "Grund-birnen" einfach als in der Erde wachsende altbekannte Obstsorten bezeichnet werden oder wenn man in Wien "Kleinkriminelle" wie die im Mittelalter übel beleumundeten "Pilger" als "Pülcher" / "Püücher" beschimpft. Diese zweite Art des Bedeutungswandels, bei dem ein Begriff mit einem anderen verglichen wird, weil beide einige Merkmale gemeinsam haben, nennt man Metaphern.

Wie sich im Sprachunterricht zeigt, sprechen die Schüler auf diese Art von Wörterarbeit ausgezeichnet an; das Einprägen von notorisch schwierigen Vokabeln wie "ratio", "gratia" und "colere" (vgl. Wirth/Seidl/Utzinger S. 207 ff.) stellt kein Problem mehr dar; die sprachliche Kreativität der Schüler wird nicht durch stur anzuwendende Bedeutungsäquivalente abgewürgt, sondern gefördert und es kommt Freude am Umgang mit der Sprache, am Ausloten von treffenden Möglichkeiten auf.

Das lateinische Wort "libra" ("Waage"; "Pfund") ist ein interessantes Beispiel für den vielseitigen metonymischen und metaphorischen Bedeutungswandel eines Wortes und die zahlreichen Übernahmen von einer Sprache in eine andere. Außerdem können wir daran weitere sprachliche Veränderungsprozesse beobachten.

Schon bei den Bedeutungen des Grundworts "libra" machen wir eine Metonymie aus: "Waage" und "Pfund" stehen miteinander in einem sachlich-logischen Zusammenhang: das Instrument des Wägens und das damit Gewogene. Was davon die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist, braucht uns an dieser Stelle nicht zu interessieren. Aber es ist klar, dass für die Fachleute, die sich einst mit dem Abwägen von Waren beschäftigten, im Kontext klar war, wovon sie sprachen - wie für uns auch, wenn wir von Schiller sprechen und damit die Person oder sein Werk ("Heute mussten wir wieder Schiller lesen!") meinen. Das Wort "libra" hat in den romanischen Sprachen weiter gelebt, bekanntlich in der Währung Italiens bis 2001, der "Lira". (Das immer noch existierende britische Pfund wird ebenfalls nach lat. "libra" mit "£" abgekürzt.)

Bevor wir die Entwicklung von "libra" weiter verfolgen, ein kleiner Exkurs: Selten werden in einer Sprache für neue Dinge völlig neue Wörter gebildet, da dies der Sprachökonomie widerspricht. Üblicherweise werden bereits existierende Wörter mit neuen Bedeutungen versehen oder bereits vorhandene Wörter werden umgebaut durch Zusammensetzung oder durch Anhängen von Wortbildungssuffixen, die ganz bestimmte Funktionen ausüben. Wenn nun von einer "kleinen Waage", einem "Wäglein", die Rede ist, dann wird im Lateinischen aus einer "libra" eine "libella". "Libra" und "libella" wurden schon früh für eine andere Art des "Wägens" verwendet, nämlich als "Nivellierwaage", um horizontale Flächen bestimmen zu können (sog. Setz- oder Bleiwaage).

V.a. beim größeren der beiden Instrumente, bei der "libra", war auch der Vorgang des Wägens mit einer Balkenwaage und der des Bestimmens einer horizontalen Linie gleich: Ein schwebender Balken musste waagrecht sein! (Die "libra" war als "libra aquaria" allem Anschein nach beim Bau von Aquädukten in Gebrauch; Wasser als Mittel, die waagrechte Fläche zu bestimmen, kam dabei aber nicht zum Einsatz.)

Setzwaage: Das lateinische Wort "libella" wollen wir nun näher betrachten. Es ist im Deutschen nämlich dreifach, in ganz verschiedener Gestalt und Kontexten anzutreffen:

Im 16. Jahrhundert fiel dem französischen Arzt GUILLAUME RONDELET (1507- 1556) bei seinen zoologischen Forschungen zu einem Werk über Wassertiere ("Universae aquatilium Historiae pars altera, cum veris ipsorum imaginibus", Lyon 1555) die Ähnlichkeit einer "Wasserjungferlarve" (Larve einer Kleinlibelle) mit einem "Hammerhai" auf, der bereits metaphorisch aufgrund seiner Ähnlichkeit mit einer "Nivellierwaage" "libella" genannt wurde, und nannte das Insekt auf Seite 213 seines Werkes "libella fluviatilis" (ein lateinischer Name für die "Libelle" ist aus der Antike nicht überliefert; außerdem war der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Insekt im Wasser und dem geflügelten Insekt lange nicht klar!):

De Libella fluviatili: Insectum hoc Libellam fluviatilem libuit appellare a similitudine, quae illi est cum fabrili instrumento et cum Libella marina. Haec bestiola parva est admodum T, litterae figuram referens, pedes ternos utrinque habet, cauda in tres appendices desinit, quae viridi sunt colore, iisdem et pedibus natat."

Über den Flusshammerhai: Dieses kleine Insekt könnte man "Libella fluviatilis" nennen, nach der Ähnlichkeit, die es mit dem Werkzeug der Handwerker (der Setzwaage) und mit der "Libella marina" (dem "Hammerhai") hat. Dieses kleine Tierchen ist ganz wie ein T, indem es die Form des Buchstabens wiedergibt, besitzt auf beiden Seiten je drei Beine, der Schwanz endet in drei Anhängseln, die von grüner Farbe sind; mit denselben und mit den Füßen schwimmt es.

Eine neue Bezeichnung für die "Wasserjungfer" war geboren! KONRAD GESSNER (1516-1565) übernimmt in seiner "Historia aquatilium" von 1558 von seinem Lehrer RONDELET sogleich die Bezeichnung "libella" für das "insectum fluviatile" und beschreibt unter der Rubrik "Libella marina" ("Hammerhai") auch die T-förmige Setzwaage, die damals in Gebrauch war. Im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert waren in wissenschaftlichen Büchern noch andere lateinische Bezeichnungen für die "Wasserjungfer" in Gebrauch, z. B. "perla", "mordella" und "orsodaena". "Libella" wurde das Insekt auch in einem im Jahre 1634 in London erschienen Werk von TH. MOUFET (MUFFET; 1553-1604) mit dem Titel "Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum" genannt. Das Buch war noch im 16. Jahrhundert zum Druck vorbereitet worden, konnte aber während längerer Zeit nicht erscheinen. Im 17. Jahrhundert wird die Bezeichnung immer verbreiteter, allerdings sieht sich J. GRUTER, der 1648 eine lateinische Übersetzung von BACONS "Sylva sylvarum or a naturall historie" (London 1626) anfertigt, genötigt, in § 729 "libellae" mit der Fußnote "Dragon-flies" zu versehen (die Benennung, die Bacon im Englischen gebrauchte).

Zum ersten Mal, soweit wir sehen, erscheint "Libelle" in einem deutsch geschriebenen Werk im Jahre 1730: JOHANN LEONHARD FRISCH bespricht in der "Beschreibung von allerley Insecten in Teutsch-Land" im 8. Teil, § 8 auch die "Libellen": "Von den libellis oder sogenannten Jungfern". Frisch muss die Wahl des Namens jedoch kommentieren: "...worauf die sogenannten Jungfern (Schillebolt, Libellae) kommen. Weil ein jedes Land, ja fast jede Stadt diesem Insect einen anderen Namen giebt, werde ich, dem Leser nicht beschwerlich zu fallen, bey dem Namen "Libella" bleiben, wie ich bey dem Wort "Papilion" wegen der vielen Benennungen hab bleiben müssen...".

CARL VON LINNÉ hat schon in der ersten Auflage seines "Systema naturae" von 1735 die Bezeichnung "Libellulae" als wissenschaftlichen Namen für diese Insektenordnung gewählt (eine Verkleinerungsform zur Verkleinerungsform: es handelt sich ja um "kleine libellae", was bereits für die "Hammerhaie" reserviert war).

LINNÉ kommentiert den Namen nicht, da in seinem Umkreis der Name "libella" schon eingebürgert war, wie eine Dissertation aus Uppsala mit dem Titel "De libellis" von 1732 beweist. Der deutsche Bearbeiter PHILIPP LUDWIG STATIUS MÜLLER in der deutschen Ausgabe von LINNÉS 12. Auflage des "Systema naturae" (Seite 763) macht zum Namen allerdings eine Bemerkung:

Die lateinische Bezeichnung "libellula" scheinet einen "Wagebalken" zu bedeuten, und diesen Insecten darum gegeben zu seyn, weil, wenn man sie bey den Flügeln fasset, der Körper gleich einem "Wagebalken" hangt, wenigstens haben sie mit dem "Balanzfisch" oder "Schlegelfisch" im Griechischen einerley Namen, und heißen "Zigaena", und da sie insgesamt große Augen haben, die wie Perlen hervorragen, so hießen sie auch sonst bey den Lateinern: "Perlae".

MÜLLER war es schon im 18. Jh. nicht mehr klar, wie die "Libelle" zu ihrem Namen kam - und in vielen Handbüchern liest man immer noch die "falsche" Herleitung vom waagrechten Flug der Libellen! Im Deutschen hat sich interessanterweise in der folgenden Zeit die gelehrte Bezeichnung "Libelle" für das Insekt wohl über die Dichtersprache durchgesetzt und die zahllosen anderen Namen nahezu vollständig verdrängt.

Frühe Belege finden sich bei GOETHE und HERDER (GOETHE dichtet 1770 in den "Neuen Liedern" im Gedicht "Die Freuden":

Da flattert um die Quelle Die wechselnde Libelle, Der Wasserpapillon, Bald dunkel und bald helle, Wie ein Chamäleon;...)

Wissenschaftlich heißt die Ordnung der Libellen heute "Odonata" (seit JOHANN CHRISTIAN FABRICIUS 1792), "Gezähnte" (von griechisch "odoús" "Zahn"), da der Kiefer der Libelle mit Zähnen besetzt ist. "Libellulae" bezeichnet seit Fabricius nur noch eine Gattung der Familie Libellulidae, von der drei Arten auch bei uns vorkommen. Außerdem lebt die gelehrte Bezeichnung "Libelle" für den Nivellierteil von modernen Messinstrumenten fort.

Nach den Ausführungen zum deutschen Wort "Libelle" wollen wir nun das lateinische Wort "libella" weiterverfolgen: Es hat über das mittellateinische "libellus" / "libellum" (mit Wechsel des grammatischen Geschlechts) im Altfranzösischen die Form "livel" (mit Lautveränderung und Wegfall der Endung) angenommen. Da es bisweilen schwierig ist, den gleichen Konsonanten in kurzem Abstand zu wiederholen, wird in einigen Fällen einmal nicht der gleiche, sondern nur ein ähnlicher Laut gesprochen (vgl. dt. "Kartoffel" wohl aus "Tartoffel"). Eine solche "Dissimilation" fand auch in "livel" statt: Es wurde zu "nivel" dissimiliert, das sich dann zu franz. "niveau" weiterentwickelte. Als im 16. Jahrhundert in Frankreich die "Wasserwaage" erfunden wurde (das "Nivellierinstrument" mit der Luftblase in einer Flüssigkeit, wie wir es noch heute kennen), hat man die neue Sache mit der dazugehörigen französischen Bezeichnung "niveau" in den deutschen Sprachraum importiert. Diese fachsprachliche Bezeichnung hat sich zwar nicht halten können, dafür wurde im 18. Jahrhundert "niveau" mit seinen übertragenen Bedeutungen ins Deutsche übernommen: "Niveau" = "waagrechte Fläche" (eine Metonymie, da mit dem "Niveau" ja die waagrechte Fläche bestimmt wird); = "Höhenstufe" (wieder eine Metonymie, da seit der Antike Nivellierinstrumente in der Landvermessung gebraucht werden, um Höhen einmessen zu können); = "Rang" im intellektuellen und moralischen Bereich (eine metaphorische Übertragung der Höhenstufe auf einen anderen Bereich).

Das altfranzösische Wort "livel" kam nach 1066 mit den Normannen nach England, wo es im Wesentlichen unverändert als "level" im Englischen erscheint und dieselben Bedeutungen wie franz. "niveau" entwickelte (bzw. als Lehnbedeutungen übernahm). Auch das englische "level" wurde in jüngster Zeit ins Deutsche übernommen, v.a. im Bereich des Leistungsstandards ("Hier ist das Level tief!") und als Bezeichnung für die "Spielebenen" mit ansteigendem Schwierigkeitsgrad bei Computerspielen.

So kommt es also, dass wir heute lat. "libella" als "Libelle" (direkt aus dem Lateinischen entlehnt), als "Niveau" (aus dem Französischen) und als "Level" (aus dem Englischen) in der deutschen Sprache haben!

An diesem Beispiel konnten wir einige sprachliche Grundprinzipien eindrucksvoll beobachten:

• Allen voran die bereits erwähnten Bedeutungsveränderungen mittels Metapher und Metonymie,
• die Bedeutungsveränderungen durch die Mittel der Wortbildung (Verkleinungsformen),
• Lautveränderungen im Laufe der Zeit und
• die gegenseitige Beeinflussung der Sprachen.

Außerdem hat das Beispiel in jeder Sprache verschiedene Anwendungsbereiche: "Libella" als Insektenbezeichnung war vorerst ein Wort, das nur Spezialisten gebrauchten; es gehörte also der zoologischen Fachsprache an, bis es sich, zunächst in der Dichtersprache und dann in der gehobenen Sprache, allgemein ausbreitete. Heute gehört es sogar der Umgangssprache an und ist zu der Bezeichnung für die Odonaten geworden. Derartige Vorgänge können wir in allen Sprachen antreffen. Veränderungen von Lauten und Bedeutungen folgen ganz bestimmten gedanklichen Pfaden, die zwar nicht voraussehbar, aber in der historischen Perspektive, in der Rückschau sozusagen, erklärbar sind. Denn mit der Kenntnis der fünf sprachlichen Grundprinzipien (siehe unten) lassen sich solche Vorgänge verstehen. Wir brauchen demnach keinen "Zauberer" mit einem Zauberstab, der aus einer schwarzen Kiste heraus wunderbare Kunststücke zeigt und unerklärbare Dinge einem staunenden Publikum vorführt. Diese Prinzipien hat die Sprachwissenschaft schon lange entdeckt; wer sie kennt, kann auch die Zusammenhänge wie beim Beispiel Libelle "begreifen" (eine Metapher!) und einmal mehr gelassen über die wunderbaren Wege der menschlichen Sprache staunen.

Diese Grundprinzipien, die ein moderner Sprachunterricht ernst nehmen sollte, sind:

• 1. Die Zeichenhaftigkeit der Sprache
• 2. Die Kommunikationsfunktion von Sprache
• 3. Metapher und Metonymie als grundlegende Denkfiguren Metapher und Metonymie - von ihnen war am Anfang schon die Rede - sind nicht einfach Stilfiguren, sondern sie sind grundlegende Formen des menschlichen Denkens, nämlich zwei Arten von Assoziationen.
• 4. Die Geschichtlichkeit von Sprache: Jede Sprache befand und befindet sich in ständiger Veränderung; sie wird dies weiterhin tun, und zwar in all ihren Teilen: bei den Lauten, den Formen, der Satzlehre und im Bereich der Wortbedeutungen.
• 5. Die vier Varianzen in der Sprache: Jede Sprache - auch Latein! - unterscheidet sich in der Zeit (Diachronie, siehe oben Grundprinzip 4), im Raum (Diatopie Dialekte), nach sozialer Schicht der Sprecher (Diastratie - Soziolekte) und nach kommunikativer Situation (Diaphasie - Umgangssprache, Standardsprache).

Diese Prinzipien und ihre Anwendungsmöglichkeiten im Sprachunterricht haben wir mit vielen Beispielen in unserem Buch ausführlich dargestellt:

(WIRTH, TH./ SEIDL, CH./ UTZINGER, CH.: Sprache und Allgemeinbildung - Neue und alte Wege für den alt- und modernsprachlichen Unterricht am Gymnasium, Zürich 2006; Website zum Buch: www.swisseduc.ch/sprache).

Weil diese Prinzipien in allen Sprachen anzutreffen sind, versteht es sich eigentlich von selbst, dass die verschiedenen Sprachen, die an den Schulen gelehrt werden, immer auch mit Blick auf die anderen, gleichzeitig gelernten, unterrichtet werden sollten. An einem Gymnasium sollte, so meinen wir, Sprachunterricht mehr bieten als bloßen Grammatikunterricht. Es müssen Räume geschaffen werden, in denen sich eine wirkliche Sprachreflexion entwickeln kann: Einsichten, wie Sprache überhaupt "funktioniert", sprachliche Allgemeinbildung eben. Zu diesem Ziel können alle Sprachen beitragen, aber einen wichtigen Teil dieser sprachlichen Allgemeinbildung kann der Lateinunterricht übernehmen, gerade weil im dort ja im Unterschied zu den modernen Fremdsprachen keine Kommunikationsfähigkeit entwickelt werden muss. Abschließend sei, damit wir nicht missverstanden werden, nochmals klargestellt, dass sprachliche Allgemeinbildung nur möglich ist in Zusammenhang der durch die Sprache kommunizierten Welt. Man muss dazu die Lebenswelt, die Kultur und Geschichte der jeweiligen Sprachgebiete kennen lernen. Das Libellen-Beispiel sollte eindrücklich vor Augen geführt haben, dass sprachliche und kulturelle Bildung sich nicht ausschließen. Im Gegenteil!
...

Sprache und Allgemeinbildung.

Neue und alte Wege für den alt- und modernsprachlichen Unterricht am Gymnasium

von Theo Wirth, Christian Seidl, Christian Utzinger

Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich

Das Buch richtet sich hauptsächlich an Gymnasiallehrkräfte, die alte Sprachen bzw. Deutsch oder moderne Fremdsprachen unterrichten. Neben den Sachtexten umfasst es Kopier- und Folienvorlagen, Arbeits- und Lösungsblätter. Zudem werden auf dieser Website adaptierbare Vorlagen und Zusatzmaterialien angeboten (thematische Exkurse, PowerPoint-Darstellungen, Materialien von Kolleginnen und Kollegen, Links usw.).

Wesentliche Inhalte des Buches, umgesetzt in kurz gefasste Module für die Unterrichtsvorbereitung, finden Sie auf der Website des "Forums Alte Sprachen Zürich FASZ": www.philologia.ch/fasz/ unter "Unterricht" > "Lateinunterricht und Sprachtheorie".

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anglo-norman.net
AND - The Anglo-Norman Dictionary

Anglo-Norman: a Brief Introduction

Anglo-Norman is the name conventionally given to the variety of French which arrived in England with the Norman conquest in 1066. Possibly it is something of a misnomer: the specifically Norman traits of the language found in England are neither overwhelmingly dominant, nor are they the only dialectal elements which are discernible in documents written in French in England.

Moreover, the use of so specific a label tends to lead to unsustainable assumptions about the variety's unity and homogeneity. It is far safer to think in terms of a range of speakers from various dialectal backgrounds, by no means all Norman; since their speech is of course not recorded, the diversity of it (both regional and social) is equally unattested.

The written records from the Conquest onwards are, it is true, relatively homogeneous, but this is in part the result of the writing process itself. The act of writing tends inevitably to lead to some measure of standardization. Nonetheless, these written records display certain striking features.
...

Anglo-Norman Dictionary

• By browsing an alphabetical list of headwords.
• By entering a form to search for into the Search box at the very top of the screen

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battle1066.com
The Battle of Hastings 1066

The Battle of Hastings 1066

This site will attempt to tell the story of the British Isles from the first Roman Invasion to the fateful culmination known as the "Battle of Hastings" which was fought between King Harold II of England and Duke William of Normandy

The 14th October 1066 

A date that changed the course of British history
...

This is the story of the struggle between Harold the Second of England and Duke William of Normandy. The prize to the victor - The throne of England.

... THE YEAR WAS 1066 ...
...

• The Romans
• The Saxons
• The Vikings
• The Faith
• Where is 1066 Country
• Kings of Wessex and England
• Why did the battle happen
• Harold's battle force
• William's battle force
• The Buildup to the battle
• The Battle
• The Aftermath
• Norman Rule after 1066
• The Norman Cavalry
• Genealogical Trees
• The Claim to the Throne
• The Bayeux Tapestry
• Bayeux Tapestry Construction
• The Question of Ships
• Unanswered Questions
• Did King Arthur ever exist
• The Glossary
• The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial
• The Photographic Tour
• The Epilogue
• Bibliography and Sources
• Readers Letters and Replies
• Timeline -100 - 500
• Timeline 500 - 1100
• Reenactment Photographs
• The Roll Of Battle Abbey A.D 1066

• A: Aelfric | Aethelbald | Aethelbert | Aethelfreda | Aethelred I | Aethelred the Unready | Aethelwulf | Aetheling | Agricola | Aiden St | Alban St | Alcuin | Alfred the Great | Ambrosius | Andrew St | Angles | Anglesey | Anglo Saxon Chronicles | Anglo Saxon | Anselm St | Antonine wall | Arthur | Ashdown Battle of | Ashingdon Battle of | Asser | Athelney | Athelstan | Augustine St
• B: Bamburgh | Bard | Battle of Brunanburgh | Battle Abbey | Bayeux Tapestry | Bede | Beowulf | Bernicia | Boedicea | Book of Kells | Boroughs | British Museum | Brut | Burr or Burgh
• C: Cadwallon | Caedmon St | Caesar Julius | Caledonia | Caractacus | Cassivellaunus | Catuvellauni | Celt | Celtic Church | Celtic Fields | Cenwulf | Ceorl | Ceowulf | Cerdic | Chancery | Chapter | Charles the Simple | Charter | Chester | Cinque Ports | Claudius | Cnut | Coinage | Colchester | Colman St | Columba St | Composition Fine | Constantine I | Constantine II | Constantine III | Coronation | County | Cowherd | Cunedda | Cunobelinus | Curia Regis | Curthose Robert | Cuthbert St | Cymbeline
• D: Dane | Danegeld | Danelaw | Danish Battle Axe | David St | Druid | Duncan I | Duncan II
• E: Ealdorman | Earl | East Anglia | Eddington Battle of | Edgar the Aetheling | Edgar | Edith | Edmund I | Edmund II Ironside | Edward the Aetheling | Edward the Confessor | Edwy | Egbert | Emma | Ermine Street | Essex | Estrithson Sweyn | Exchequer | Excommunicated
• F: Fealty | Feudal System | Feudalism | Fief | Five Boroughs | Foederati | Food Rent | Forest | Forkbeard Sweyn | Frankpledge | Frith | Fulford | Fyrd
• G: Gaelic | Gebur | Geld | Geneat | Germanus St | Gildas St | Godiva lady | Godwine | Great Seal | Gregory I | Guilds | Guthfrithson Olaf | Guthrum
• H: Hadrians Wall | Hardrada Harald | Harefoot Harold | Harold II | Harthacnut | Hastings Battle of | Hauberk | Hengist | Heptarchy | Hereward the Wake | Hertford Synod of | Hide | Hild | Holy Island | Homage | Housecarl | Hundred
• I: Iceni | Ida | Idle Battle of | Illtud St | Ine | Infangtheft | Iona | Isle of Man
• J: Jarrow Monastery | Jingoism | Jute
• K: Kenneth I | Kenneth II | Kenneth III | Kent | Kotsetla
• L: Laird | Lathes of Kent | Leofric | Lindisfarne | London | Longboat | Lord | Lower Britain
• M: Macbeth | Mainprise | Malcolm I | Malcolm II | Malcolm III | Maldon Battle of | Manor | Margaret St | Matilda | Mercenary | Mercia | Merlin | Middlesex | Militia | Minster | Monarchy | Monasticism | Mons Graupius Battle of | Moot | Morcar
• N: Ninian St | Norman | Normandy | Norsemen | Northumbria
• O: Odo | Offa | Ordovices | Orkneys | Oswald St | Oswy | Oxgang
• P: Pagan | Palladius | Parish | Patrick St | Paulinus St | Pelagius | Penda | Petillius | Pict | Piety | Ploughland | Pre-Reformation | Primogeniture | Privy Seal | Province
• R: Raedwald | Rapes of Sussex | Reeve | Remigius | Retainers | Rollo | Roman Legion | Roman
• S: Saxon | Saxons | Scot | Septimius | Serf | Sheriff | Shieldwall | Shire | Siward | St Albans | St Augustines Soliliquies | St Brice's Day Massacre | Stamford Bridge Battle of | Standard | Stigand | Sussex | Sutton Hoo
• T: Tettenhall Battle of | Thegn | Theodore of Tarsus | Tithe | Tithing | Tostig | Tower of London | Trial by Battle | Trial by Ordeal | Trinovantes
• U: Upper Britain
• V: Vassal | Verulamium | Viking | Villa | Vortigern
• W: Wantage Code | Wapentake | Watling Street | Wedmore Treaty of | Wergild | Wessex | Westminster Abbey | Whitby Synod of | Wiglaf | Wihtred | Wilfred St | William of Malmesbury | William of St Calais | | Witan or Witanagemot
• Y: Yardland | York
• Z:

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bbc.co.uk
1066
1066: A Year to Conquer England
Silver penny of "William The Conqueror"

Viking Silver Penny of Harald Hardrada

Viking silver short cross penny of Harald Hardrada (King of Norway 1047-1066). Found at Marr, Doncaster, S. Yorkshire. Contributed by Museum

Silver Penny of Harald Hardrada. Obverse: I’IOICI+‘ICIOI with Triquetra. Reverse: NIIAIIXIXI with Short Voided Cross.

Probably looted by Harold's army in 1066 at Stamford Bridge, from the defeated Viking army of Harald Hardrada.

We can only speculate how the coin ended up where it did. It was found close to a Roman road (The Great North Road) a few miles north of where it runs across the River Don at Doncaster, close to the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Conisbrough (translated from Old English as King's Stronghold). It could be evidence of early trade between Anglo-Saxon settlements in and around Doncaster and Viking traders, or it may relate to the events of 1066 when Harald Hardrada's army crossed the English Channel with the deposed Earl of Northumbria - Tostig, to seize the English throne from Tostig's brother Harold. Perhaps it was even looted from the defeated Viking army after the battle of Stamford Bridge and lost as Harold's army rushed southward to Hastings to meet William's invading Norman army.

1066: A Year to Conquer England

Drama-documentary series. Dan Snow explores the political intrigues and family betrayals between the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans that led to war. All previous episodes

• iWonder Guide - 1066: a picture of the battle
• The Battle of Hastings - Series 1, Episode 3
• The night before the Battle of Hastings - Series 1, Episode 3
• The Battle of Stamford Bridge - Series 1, Episode 2
• The Battle of Fulford - Series 1, Episode 2
• Meet the players
• Meet the experts

Silver penny of "William The Conqueror"

On this very rare penny, minted between 1066 and 1068, we see the bust of "William The Conqueror", wearing a crown and shown standing under a canopy. His name and title ("REX" = "king") are shown around his portrait. The back has a design based on a cross along with the name of the moneyer, who was in charge of making the coins, and the mint where they were made. This coin was made by Swottinc at Exeter.

This penny comes from the St. Mary Hill Church hoard, found in Billingsgate, London in 1775. Between 300 and 400 silver coins and a gold brooch were found in a pot buried near the church during the reign of William I. Before there were banks and safe places to keep valuables hiding your wealth, especially in troubled times, was very common.

Whoever hid this hoard did not come back for it suggesting that something happened to them. The Norman Conquest changed life in England as people who had been rich and powerful before were now ruled by people from another country who brought many new customs with them. Perhaps the person who buried this hoard was killed fighting the Normans.

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bbc.co.uk - NB
Norman Britain (1066 - 1154)
The story behind the Battle of Hastings, and the leaders who fought it out in 1066

Overview: The Normans, 1066 - 1154

The Normans brought a powerful new aristocracy to Britain, and yet preserved much that was Anglo-Saxon about their new possession. What did they change and what did they leave?

Background to the Norman Conquest

• Fifty years of intrigue, deception and treachery preceded William of Normandy's invasion of England. By Dr Mike Ibeji.
• English and Norman Society by Dr Mike Ibeji

The Events of 1066

• 1066 - Three kings, a rash of hotly contested battles and an invasion that changed the British Isles forever. Small wonder it is considered a year to remember. By Dr Mike Ibeji.
• Key Events of the Conquest - An account of the Norman Conquest.
• Key Players in the Norman Conquest

The Battle of Hastings

• The Battle of Hastings Game - Discover the different tactics available to William of Normandy and Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings - and try putting them into practice.
• The Bayeux Tapestry: Unpicking the Past by Dave MacLeod

The Norman Conquest of Britain

• The Conquest and its Aftermath - As the Normans settled England, they faced treachery, collusion and foreign threats. Yet William was still able to complete the monumental "Domesday Book". By Dr Mike Ibeji.
• War and Technology Gallery by Matthew Bennett
• The Threat of Invasion 1066-1789: An Overview by Dr Niall Barr
• What Did the Normans Do for Us? by Professor John Hudson

(E?)(L?) http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/conquest_domesday_01.shtml

Inside Domesday

The "Domesday Book" provides a fascinating insight into the 11th-century Norman takeover of Anglo-Saxon England.

• The culmination of the Conquest
• The Survey
• The Danish threat
• The content of the "Domesday Book"
• Land transfer

The "Domesday Book"

• This huge survey is England's earliest public record and a legal document that is still valid today.
Norman Art and Architecture
• Normans Buildings Gallery - Norman architecture has left a rich built heritage on both sides of the English Channel. Explore nine historic sites.
• Churches of Britain Gallery - An insight into some historic places of worship
• The Cathedrals of Britain - The rich history of cathedral-building in Britain.
• A History of British Architecture by Adrian Tinniswood
• Ivory Carvings in England from Before the Norman Conquest by Dr Paul Williamson
• Hands On History: The Normans - Download 'I Spy' guides to Norman churches and castles.

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bl.uk - WtC
"William The Conqueror"
1066

Intro

Battle Abbey was founded in 1066 by "William the Conqueror", on the site of his famous victory over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings (which actually took place about 7 miles from Hastings). This manuscript, created in 1150, contains two historical accounts of the abbey, almost certainly written there. The page is the start of the second account, introduced by an exceptionally large initial 'A' containing an image of King William enthroned.

The Normans would transform England, both culturally and linguistically. For over 300 years French was the language spoken by the most powerful people - royalty, aristocrats and high-powered officials. French was used in political documents, in administration, and in literature. Latin was still the language of the church and of scholars, but most of the general population spoke English in their everyday lives.
...

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bnf.fr
Histoire politique de la monarchie anglo-saxonne : (449-1066)

Histoire politique de la monarchie anglo-saxonne : (449-1066) / Hubert Pierquin Pierquin, Hubert (1880-....) Gallica

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british-history.ac.uk
Year 1066

Displaying 1 - 10 of 2684 results

• Medieval Gloucester: 1066 - 1327
• A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 4, the City of Gloucester
• Medieval Gloucester 1066 - 1327 MEDIEVAL GLOUCESTER 10661547 Gloucester 10661327 At the time of the Norman Conquest Gloucester was already ... before 1066. 18 Those added after the Conquest almost certainly...
• View result
• Introduction: The Welsh cathedrals 1066-1300
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 9, the Welsh Cathedrals (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids)
• Introduction The Welsh cathedrals 1066-1300 Introduction THE WELSH CATHEDRALS 1066-1300 The Church in medieval Wales was created from a fusion ... 3. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume...
• View result
• Anglo-Saxon Gloucester: c.680 - 1066
• A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 4, the City of Gloucester
• Anglo-Saxon Gloucester c.680 - 1066 ANGLO-SAXON GLOUCESTER c. 6801066 Any account of Anglo-Saxon Gloucester must begin with some reference to the Roman town which preceded it. 1 Although there was no continuous urban
• View result
• Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214
• London Record Society, volume 25. Transcripts of charters of the abbey, and a calendar of other royal, papal and episcopal documents for the same period. Prepared originally with the assistance of Jennifer Bray. London Record Society Mason, Emma
• View result
• Medieval Gloucester: Trade and Industry 1066-1327
• A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 4, the City of Gloucester
• Medieval Gloucester Trade and Industry 1066-1327 Trade and Industry 10661327 The economy of medieval Gloucester was based on its indigenous ... of the farm in 1066. 56 In the years 11713 equipment supplied to...
• View result
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 6, York
• Traces the chronology and careers of the archbishops and the senior clergy of York Minster (deans, precentors, chancellors, treasurers, subdeans, succentors, archdeacons and canons), plus the estates and values of the individual dignities and...
• View result
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 3, Lincoln
• Traces the chronology and careers of the bishops and the senior clergy of Lincoln minster. Also contains information on the value of prebends and the estates of dignities. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae Greenway, Diana E
• View result
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 4, Salisbury
• Traces the chronology and careers of the bishops and the senior clergy of Salisbury cathedral and diocese. Also contains information on the value of prebends and the estates of dignities. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae Greenway, Diana E
• View result
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 5, Chichester
• Traces the chronology and careers of the bishops and the senior clergy of Chichester cathedral and diocese. Also contains information on the value of prebends and the estates of dignities. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae Greenway, Diana E
• View result
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 8, Hereford
• Traces the chronology and careers of the bishops and the senior clergy of Hereford cathedral and diocese. Also contains information on the value of prebends and the estates of dignities. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae Barrow, J S
• View result
• ...

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br-online.de
Die Wikinger - Der Aufbruch der Nordmänner

Die Wikinger - Der Aufbruch der Nordmänner - 22.06.2015

Zwischen 800 und 1066 bestimmen die aus Skandinavien stammenden Wikinger die Geschicke ganz Europas. Sie sind Seeräuber, Händler und Siedler und für die christlichen Chronisten schlicht Vorboten der Hölle.
Autorin: Brigitte Kohn

Audio abspielen | Audio runterladen | [Audio]-Infos

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businessballs.com
French words and expressions [in English]
French
France
Frank
Franc
franca

French words and expressions have long been easily absorbed into English, from the late middle-ages after the Norman invasion of 1066 through to the 1400s when French was the language of the ruling classes, government and the royal court, causing both English and French languages to exist and develop alongside each other, and then later in the 16-19th centuries when French expressions and words were commonly used by aspiring, upper-class or snobbish people who sought to appear fashionable and cultured. This to a certain extent explains why so many English words with French origins occur in lifestyle and social language.

Incidentally the word "French", to describe people or things of France and the language itself, has existed in English in its modern form since about 1200, prior to which it was "Frensch", and earlier in Old English "frencisc". This derived from Old High German "frenkisc" and "frenqisc", from and directly related to the "Franks", the early Germanic people who conquered the Romans in Gaul (equating to France, Belgium, Northern Italy and a part of Western Germany) around the 5th century. The name of the "Frank" people is also the root of the word "France" and the "Franc" currency. The most appealing theory for the ultimate origin of the word "Frank" is that it comes from a similar word (recorded later in Old English as "franca") for a "spear" or "lance", which was the favoured weapon of the Frankish tribes.

Incidentally the name of the "Frank" people also gave rise to the modern word "frank", meaning (since the 1500s) "bluntly honest" and "free-speaking", earlier (from French "franca") meaning "sincere", "liberal", "generous", and in turn relating to and originating from the "free and elevated status" associated with the Franks and their reputation.

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dailywritingtips.com
W in the English Language

Wardens and Guardians

By Maeve Maddox
...
From 1066 until about 1250, English and French were spoken side by side in England. Then, because of political changes, the French-speaking ruling class shifted to English.

The words "warden" and "guardian" are good examples of the linguistic mingling that went on between the two languages at that time.

Old English had the verb "weardian" “to keep guard,” and the noun "weard" “a guard, a watchman, a sentry,”

Old French had the verb guarder, “to guard.”

Speakers of Norman French were people who had been Vikings a hundred years before William of Normandy invaded England in 1066. They brought their own distinctive pronunciations to French. One peculiarity was that Normans tended to pronounce the letter combination "gu-" as "w-".

For example, Old French "guarder", “to guard”, became "warder" in Norman French. However, Parisian French kept the "gu-" spelling and pronunciation. As a result, English ended up with words derived from both forms.

The OED gives numerous meanings for the word "warden", including one that is identical to one of its definitions for "guardian". In general usage, however, a "guardian" is a “protector”, while a “warden” is a “keeper”.

A similar pair of words is "warranty" and "guarantee". Both words have the sense of an assurance that a certain standard of quality or integrity will be upheld.
...
Etymology nerds can have fun looking for modern French words beginning with "gu-" that correspond to English words beginning with "w-". For example:

"war" / "guerre": Old English "wyrre"; Norman French "werre"; Modern French "guerre".

And of course there’s "William the Conqueror" whom the French refer to as "Guillaume le Conquérant".

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damals.de
Letzter Angelsachse gekrönt

06.01.1066 - Letzter Angelsachse gekrönt

Eduard der Bekenner war tot. Am 5. Januar 1066 starb der König von England, ohne einen Erben zu hinterlassen. Er wurde in der noch unfertigen Westminster Abbey beigesetzt. Vier Männer kamen für seine Nachfolge in Frage: erstens der minderjährige Edgar Aetheling, doch der weilte im fernen Ungarn - und eine Vormundschaftsregierung? Besser nicht. Sodann Wilhelm, Herzog der Normandie: Ihn hatte Eduard Jahre zuvor angeblich als Nachfolger designiert. Außerdem wollte König Harald Hardrada von Norwegen als Erbe Knuts des Großen den englischen Thron besteigen, und schließlich Harold Godwinson, der mächtigste unter den englischen Machthabern. Unklar blieb, ob Eduard auf dem Sterbebett seine frühere Entscheidung zugunsten Wilhelms revidiert und das Schicksal Englands in Harolds Hände gelegt hatte.

Das Witenagemot, die Versammlung der weltlichen und geistlichen Fürsten, entschied dennoch schnell: Am 6. Januar 1066 wählten sie Harold Godwinson zu ihrem König. Noch am selben Tag wurde er vermutlich in der Westminster Abbey gekrönt. Harold war der letzte Angelsachse auf dem Thron, und seine kurze Herrschaft war geprägt vom Kampf, sich als rechtmäßiger König zu behaupten. Auf die Nachricht von Harolds Krönung hin bereiteten sich sowohl der Normanne Wilhelm als auch der König von Norwegen auf eine Invasion vor. Der Ausgang ist bekannt: Während Harold den Norweger im September 1066 bei Stamford Bridge besiegen konnte, scheiterte er drei Wochen später auf dem Schlachtfeld von Hastings gegen den Normannen Wilhelm, den „Eroberer“.

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damals.de
Überfall auf die Isle of Wight

Mai 1066 - Überfall auf die Isle of Wight

Tostig Godwinson, Earl von Northumberland, war wegen seines harten Herrschaftsstils höchst unbeliebt. 1065 erhoben sich die Einwohner seiner Grafschaft wegen einer neuen Steuer gegen ihn. Der todkranke König Eduard der Bekenner entzog Tostig daraufhin die Regentschaft über Northumberland - dem Entmachteten blieb nur die Flucht.

Anfang 1066 starb König Eduard, und England schritt folgenreichen Ereignissen entgegen: Tostigs Bruder Harold Godwinson, angelsächsischen Quellen zufolge von Eduard als Nachfolger designiert, wurde in Westminster zum König gekrönt. Doch Tostig wollte weder Northumberland aufgeben noch seinem Bruder die Krone kampflos überlassen. Als Auftakt einer militärischen Offensive gegen seinen Bruder überfiel er im Mai 1066 von Flandern aus die Isle of Wight und die Küsten von Kent und Lincolnshire. Er verbündete sich mit König Harald Hardrada von Norwegen, der aufgrund verwandtschaftlicher Beziehungen selbst Ansprüche auf die angelsächsische Krone erhob.

Mit 300 Schiffen landeten Harald Hardrada und Tostig an der Küste Yorkshires. Am 25. September 1066 traf ihre ansehnliche Streitmacht bei Stamford Bridge auf Harold Godwinsons Volksaufgebot. In der für die Angelsachsen siegreichen Schlacht verloren sowohl König Harald Hardrada als auch Tostig ihr Leben. Doch blieb Harold und seinem erschöpften Heer keine Zeit zum Ausruhen: Herzog Wilhelm von der Normandie, Harolds gefährlichster Gegner und gleichfalls Anwärter auf den Thron, war mit einem riesigen Invasionsheer an der Südküste Englands gelandet.

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damals.de
Sprachbarrieren bei der Krönung

25. Dezember 1066 - Sprachbarrieren bei der Krönung

Wilhelm der Eroberer hatte den Ort mit Bedacht gewählt, an dem er den englischen Thron besteigen wollte: In der Abteikirche von Westminster sollte seine Krönung stattfinden, denn dort lag König Eduard der Bekenner begraben, und dort war sein Widersacher Harold Godwinson zum König der Angelsachsen ausgerufen worden. Auf seinem Weg von Hastings, wo er Harold besiegt hatte, über Canterbury und Winchester nach London war Wilhelm auf den heftigen Widerstand der Besiegten gestoßen, die sich dem normannischen Eroberer nicht unterwerfen wollten. Sie favorisierten den erst 13jährigen Edgar Aetheling, den letzten legitimen Sproß aus dem angelsächsischen Königshaus. Der richtige Krönungsort und ein Eid, den Angelsachsen ein guter König zu sein, sollte die Aufständischen umstimmen.

Die Krönung jedoch setzte ungewollt das falsche Signal: Als Wilhelm von Erzbischof Ealdred von York gesalbt und gekrönt wurde, jubelten ihm die in der Kirche versammelte Normannen und Angelsachsen zu, ein jeder in seiner Muttersprache. Als draußen die normannischen Wachleute, des Altenglischen nicht mächtig, das ihnen unverständliche Geschrei vernahmen, glaubten sie an einen Aufstand und wähnten Wilhelm in Gefahr. Sofort setzten sie die strohgedeckten Häuser von Westminster in Brand und verursachten ein unbeschreibliches Chaos. Dies deutete der Chronist Ordericus Vitalis rückblickend denn auch als Omen für die Grausamkeit, mit der Wilhelm sich England in den Folgejahren unterwarf.

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deutschlandfunk.de
Sieg der Normannen über die Angelsachsen bei Hastings

Sendung vom 14.10.2016

Vor 950 Jahren

Sieg der Normannen über die Angelsachsen bei Hastings

Die Schlacht bei Hastings hat der Geschichte Englands und Westeuropas eine neue Richtung gegeben. Kurzfristig entschied sie den Streit zweier Anwärter auf den englischen Thron. Aber sie hatte Folgen für die nächsten Jahrhunderte. Heute vor 950 Jahren standen Normannen und Angelsachsen einander gegenüber.

Von Winfried Dolderer

...
Eine bildliche Darstellung der Schlacht von Hastings am 14. Oktober 1066 zwischen Normannen und Angelsachsen. (imago )

Als der Waffenlärm verklungen war, bei einbrechender Dämmerung, ritt der Sieger über das Schlachtfeld.

"Es war unmöglich, die Toten zu betrachten ohne eine Regung des Bedauerns. Die Blüte der Jugend und des Adels Englands bedeckte weit und breit den Boden."

So schildert der normannische Chronist Wilhelm von Poitiers die Szenerie am Abend des 14. Oktober 1066. Sein Herr, dem er als Hofkaplan diente, Herzog Wilhelm, war zu Beginn dieses Tages noch lediglich Herrscher über die Normandie gewesen. Jetzt hatte er den entscheidenden Schritt auf dem Weg getan, der ihn sieben Wochen später zur Krönung in der Londoner Westminster Abbey führte. Unter den Toten auf dem Feld lag auch Harold Godwinson, Englands letzter angelsächsischer König. Seine Leiche war derart zugerichtet, dass es der Expertise einer intimen Kennerin bedurfte, um sie aufzufinden, wie der Kölner Historiker Dominik Waßenhoven erzählt.

"Er hat eine langjährige Geliebte gehabt, Edith Schwanenhals, und die soll auf das Schlachtfeld gekommen sein, um ihn zu identifizieren, weil er im Gesicht so entstellt war, dass man ihn nicht mehr identifizieren konnte, und sie konnte ihn anhand bestimmter Körpermale identifizieren."

Die Schlacht bei Hastings hat der Geschichte Englands und Westeuropas eine neue Richtung gegeben. Kurzfristig entschied sie den Streit zweier Thronanwärter, des Normannen Wilhelm und des Angelsachsen Harold. Seit Beginn des 11. Jahrhunderts hatte England turbulente Zeiten erlebt, war drei Jahrzehnte lang Teil des dänischen Reiches. Gegen die Gefahr aus Skandinavien suchten die angelsächsischen Könige Beistand jenseits des Kanals. Harolds Vorgänger Eduard der Bekenner war als Flüchtling in der Normandie aufgewachsen, umgab sich mit normannischen Beratern, als er 1042 den Thron bestieg.

"Natürlich ist Harold Godwinson, der im Jahr 1066 eben König war, im Nachhinein vor allen Dingen als der letzte angelsächsische König stilisiert worden, der versucht hat, sich gegen die übermächtigen Normannen zu wehren, während Eduard der Bekenner in diesen Quellen häufig als derjenige beschrieben wird, der die Normannen ins Land gelassen hat."

Schon früh soll sich der kinderlose Eduard auf den normannischen Herzog als Wunschnachfolger festgelegt haben. Allerdings hat er es sich dann offenbar anders überlegt, das bestätigen auch normannische Chronisten. Auf dem Sterbebett habe sich Eduard entschlossen, seinen Thron dem mächtigsten Adligen seines Reiches, Harold Godwinson, zu vererben. Dieser Sinneswandel hatte aus normannischer Sicht allerdings keine Rechtswirkung. Der kampferprobte Herzog Wilhelm war entschlossen, sich den Affront nicht bieten zu lassen, als Harold noch am Tag der Beisetzung Eduards im Januar 1066 den Thron bestieg.

"Er hat schon in früher Zeit Schlachten gewonnen, weil er nur ein unehelicher Sohn war seines Vorgängers und Vaters, und deswegen musste er sich erst mal gegen einige durchsetzen, die meinten, sie könnten genauso gut Herzog der Normandie sein."

Im Frühherbst 1066 überstürzten sich die Ereignisse. Über die Nordsee kam der norwegische König Harald Hadrada mit 500 Schiffen, um England zu erobern. Am 25. September vernichtete Harold Godwinson die norwegische Streitmacht bei Stamford Bridge im Nordosten seines Reiches. Zwei Tage später, in der Nacht zum 28. September, überquerte Herzog Wilhelm mit seinen Truppen den Kanal. In Eilmärschen zog Harold nach Süden. Bei Hastings trafen zwei etwa gleich starke Armeen aufeinander. Es wurde ein zähes, langwieriges Ringen.

"Schlachten im Mittelalter dauerten in der Regel nicht länger als zwei Stunden. (…) Aber diese Schlacht soll vom frühen Morgen (…) bis eben zur Abenddämmerung, also man könnte grob sagen, von 9 bis 17 Uhr etwa gedauert haben, was ungewöhnlich lang ist."

Bis in den Nachmittag stand der Ausgang auf der Kippe. Der Chronist preist Wilhelms eiserne Nerven.

"Er führte seine Truppen mit großem Geschick, hielt sie auf, wenn sie sich zur Flucht wandten, flößte ihnen Mut ein, teilte alle ihre Gefahren."

"Es gibt diese Beschreibung, dass er seinen Helm gelüftet hat (...), weil es ein Gerücht gegeben haben soll, dass er bereits tot sei, um zu sagen: Nein, seht her, ich lebe noch, wir können weiterkämpfen."

Zu den Folgen zählt sogar die Entstehung des modernen Englisch als Amalgam des Angelsächsischen mit dem Französischen der normannischen Eroberer.

"Langfristig ist es so, dass England im Grunde genommen stärker an Europa (…) gebunden wird. Letztlich kann man sagen, diese Verbindung hat dann auch zum Hundertjährigen Krieg geführt, und damit sind wir dann ja schon sehr weit im Spätmittelalter eigentlich, also es hatte Folgen für die nächsten Jahrhunderte."

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domesdaybook.co.uk
"William the Conqueror"

Portrait of King William I

• o    His early years (1028-1050)
• o    Battle for France (1051-1066)
• o    The English Conquest (1066)
• o    The post-Conquest years (1067-1087)
• o    William's parents
• o    The Norman family tree

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e-hand.com
Hand Etymology

Words relating to hands are intertwined with an extraordinary number of phrases and descriptions in the English language. This makes it difficult to search the internet for hand related topics - a search for "hand" also retrieves "handicap", "handmade", "handy", "handbook", etc. The same ubiquitous multifaceted presence in English is true for each of these words: "finger", "thumb", "nail", "palm", "hand", "wrist", "elbow".

Where did these words come from? The historical origins detailed below are quoted from the Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto.

"Old English" origins date before the Norman invasion of 1066.

Interesting ... word origins suggest that etymologically the the hand has five fingers, one of which is the "thumb", that wrist is named for its twisting motion, but not because "wrist" rhymes with "twist", and that the origin of the word "hand" ... is mysterious.

"Finger": (Old English) Widespread among the Germanic languages (German, Swedish and Danish all have finger, and Dutch vinger), finger is not found in any other branch of Indo-European. It is usually referred to a prehistoric Indo-European ancestor pengkrós 'number of five', a derivative (like fist) of pengke 'five'.

"Thumb": (Old English) The thumb is etymologically the 'swollen' part - an allusion to its greater thickness than the other fingers. Along with its relatives German daumen and Dutch duim, it goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic thûmon. This in turn can be traced to Indo-European tum- 'swell', which also produced English tumour, and tumult. The b in thumb appeared in the early Middle English period, when it was still a two syllable word (thumbe), and at first was pronounced, but it has fallen silent over the centuries. The words thigh and thimble have related origins. 

"Nail": (Old English) The Indo-European ancestor of nail was nogh- or onogh-. The latter was the source of Latin unguis (which evolved into French ongle and Italian unghia and has given English ungulate) and Greek ónux (source of English onyx). Both these strands refer only to the sort of nails that grow on fingers and toes, but the Germanic branch of the family (which has come from nogh- through a prehistoric Germanic naglaz) has differentiated into a 'fastening pin' - originally of wood, latterly of metal. Hence English nail and German nagel and Danish negl are used only for the anatomical 'nail'.

"Palm": Palm the tree (Old English) and the palm of the hand (14th century) are effectively distinct words in English, but have the same ultimate source: Latin palma. This originally meant 'palm of the hand' (it is related to Irish lám 'hand' and Welsh llaw 'hand'), and the application to the tree is a secondary one, alluding to the shape of the cluster of palm leaves, like the fingers of a hand. The Latin word was borrowed into the Germanic dialects in prehistoric times in the tree sense, and now is wide spread (German palme and Dutch and Swedish palm as well as English palm). English acquired it in the 'hand' sense via Old French paume, with subsequent reversion to the Latin spelling. 

"Hand": (Old English) Hand is a widespread Germanic word (German, Dutch and Swedish also have it), but has no relatives outside Germanic, and no one is too sure where it comes from. Perhaps the likeliest explanation is that it is related to Gothic "frahinthan" 'seize', 'pursue', Swedish "hinna" 'reach' and English "hunt", and that its underlying meaning is 'body part used for seizing'. The derived adjective "handsome" (15th century) originally meant simply 'easy to handle'. The modern sense 'attractive' did not develop until the late 16th century.

"Wrist": (Old English) The wrist is etymologically the 'twisting' joint. The word goes back to prehistoric German wristiz, which also produced German rist 'instep, wrist' and Swedish vrist 'instep, ankle'. This was derived from the base writh-, whose wr- sound seems originally to have been symbolic of the action of twisting. Variants of the base lie behind Old English words wreath, wrest, and writhe.

"Elbow": (Old English) Logically enough, elbow means etymologically 'arm bend'. It comes from a prehistoric West and North Germanic alinobogan (which also produced German ellenbogen, Dutch elleboog, and Danish albue). This was a compound formed from alinã 'forearm' and bogan (source of English bow). However, there is a further twist. For alinã (source also of Old English ell - a measure of length equal to that of the forearm) itself goes back ultimately to an Indo-European base el-, ele- which itself meant 'bend' and produces not just words for forearm (such as Latin ulna), but also words for 'elbow' (such as Welch elin). So, at this deepest level of all, elbow means tautologically 'bend bend'.

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english.ox.ac.uk
Fontes Anglo-Saxonici

What is Fontes Anglo-Saxonici?

A Register of Written Sources Used by Authors in Anglo-Saxon England is intended to identify all written sources which were incorporated, quoted, translated or adapted anywhere in English or Latin texts which were written in Anglo-Saxon England (i.e. England to 1066), or by Anglo-Saxons in other countries.

Fontes Anglo-Saxonici

A Register of Written Sources Used by Anglo-Saxon Authors

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englishclub.com
Middle English (1100-1500)

...
In 1066 "William the Conqueror", the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.
...

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etymonline.com
C in the English Language

"C", third letter of the alphabet. Alphabetic writing came to Rome via the southern Etruscan "Caeretan" script, in which "gamma" was written as a crescent. Early Romans made little use of Greek "kappa" and used "gamma" for both the "g" and "k" sounds, the latter more frequently, so that the "k" sound came to be seen as the proper one for "gamma". To restore a dedicated symbol for the "g" sound, a modified "gamma" was introduced c. 250 B.C.E. as "G". In classical Latin "-c-" has only the value "k", and thus it passed to Celtic and, via Irish monks, to Anglo-Saxon, where "-k-" was known but little used.

In Old French, many "k" sounds drifted to "ts" and by 13c., "s", but still were written with a "-c-". Thus the 1066 invasion brought to the English language a more vigorous use of "-k-" and a flood of French and Latin words in which "-c-" represented "s" (as in "cease", "ceiling", "circle"). By 15c. native English words with "-s-" were being respelled with "-c-" for "s" (as in "ice", "mice", "lice"). In some words from Italian, meanwhile, the "-c-" has a "ch" sound (a sound evolution in Italian that parallels the Old French one). In German, "-c-" in loanwords was regularized to "-k-" or "-z-" (depending on pronunciation) in the international spelling reform of 1901, which was based on the Duden guide of 1880.

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Excuse my French (W3)

• "French pox" = "syphilis"
• "French ache"
• "French compliment"
• "French crown"
• "French disease"
• "French fever"
• "French goods"
• "French gout"
• "French malady"
• "French marbles"
• "French measles"
• "French mole"
• "French-sick"
• "French disease"

"French". The English began speaking poorly of the "French" — as far as the written record goes, at least — in the sixteenth century, when gentlemen started to acquire the "French pox", or "syphilis" (OED, 1503). In other countries, the same complaint was known as the "Neapolitan disease", the "Polish disease", the "Spanish disease", and even the "English disease", each nation blaming another. The English developed the idea better than most, however, producing a phalanx of synonyms, including "French ache", "French compliment", "French crown", "French disease", "French fever", "French goods", "French gout", "French malady", "French marbles", "French measles", "French mole", and "French-sick". Sometimes one might simply say that the "Frenchman" had come for a visit or that one had been "Frenchified". (The latter also was used from an early date in a general, contemptuous sense, as in Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour, of 1597: "This is one Monsieur Fastidious Brisk, otherwise called the fresh Frenchified courtier") In extenuation for the English, it should be noted that they were not the only ones to blame the French for the pox: "The French disease, for it was that, remained in me more than four months dormant before it showed itself, and then it . . . covered my flesh with certain blisters, of the size of six-pences, and rose-colored" The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, 1588-71, tr. John Addington Symonds, 1927).

In keeping with the original venereal context, the use of "French" in English frequently refers to something sexual — a backhanded compliment to the presumed prowess of the Gauls in this department. Among the more common French phrases.

"French" (n). Bad language, as in "Please excuse my French", from the nineteenth century.

"French" (v). In the nineteenth century, to fail, as French land was said to do because of a crop disease called "frenching", but in the twentieth century, usually a reference to "oral-genital sex", as in "Hot raunchy schoolgirl, 22, with father fetish seeks corres. with older men. Love to have fun and frenching for hrs" (personal ad, Ace, undated, ca. 1976).

"French arts" (or "French culture", "French tricks", or "French way"). Oral-genital activities, again, as in "Lonesome 50 Cauc male anxious to meet mature ladies for sensuous adult pleasures love fr arts" (Ace, op. cit.). These phrases were preceded by the marginally more explicit French vice, which seems to have first graced public print in accounts of a sensational divorce case in which a leading Liberal politician, Sir Charles Dilke, appeared as corespondent (Crawford v. Crawford and Dilke, 1885). See also "GREEK".

"French faith". "Unfaithfulness, - duplicity. (A phrase occurring frequently in the sixteenth century)" (Abraham Roback, A Dictionary of International Slurs, 1979).

"French fly". Spanish fly, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

"French kiss". (1) Passionate kiss in which the tongue or tongues come into play. (2) Oral-genital activity. Both senses seem to be twentieth-century creations and both remain current — a particularly dramatic example of the way meaning changes according to context.

"French leave". To depart without giving notice or, as the French say, "filer à l'anglaise". "He stole away an Irishman's bride and took French leave of me and my master" (Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 1771).

"French letter". What the French call une "capote anglaise", "English cloak", - a "CONDOM". From the mid-nineteenth century: "What Jenny's sister paid for French letters, I don't know, I used to pay nine pence each" (Anonymous, My Secret Life, ca. 1890, the reference here is undated but, interior evidence suggests, pre-1851).

"French pig". A veneral bubo or swelling, the same as the Winchester goose in GOOSE.

"French pigeon". A pheasant killed by mistake (presumably) in the partridge season, British, nineteenth century.

"French postcard". A naughty one. "At one time the hobo enjoyed almost exclusively the 'French post cards' (called 'American cards' in France)" ("D. Stiff," Milk & Honey Route, 1931).

"French print". Also a naughty one. "Young de Boots of the Blues recognized you as the man who came to the barracks, and did business one-third in money, one-third eau-de-Cologne, and one-third in French prints, you confounded, demure, old sinner" ((William Makepeace Thackeray, Pendennis II, 1850).

"French tickler". A condom equipped with ridges or other protuberances.

"French walk". "Ejecting one from a place forcibly, possibly from the method employed by French pirates to make prisoners walk the plank" (Sterling Eisiminger, "A Glossary of Ethnic Slurs in American English," Maledicta, Winter 1979). See also "DUTCH" and "FROG".

"pardon my French" / "excuse my French" - an apology for using crude language.

The word "French" has long been used in the English language to express crudeness, stemming from the rivalry, envy and xenophobia that has characterised England's relationship with France and the French for more than a thousand years. Examples include "french letter", "french kiss", "french postcards", and other sexual references. The expression "french leave", meaning to take or use something and depart without paying or giving thanks (based on the reputed behaviour of invading French soldiers) had been in use for several hundred years prior to Brewer's reference of the phrase in 1870.

All of this no doubt reinforced and contributed to the "pardon my french" expression. However, "Pardon my french" may actually have even earlier origins: In the three to four hundred years that followed the Norman invasion of England in 1066, the Norman-style French language became the preferred tongue of the governing, educated and upper classes, a custom which cascaded from the Kings and installed Norman and Breton landowners of of the times. The majority of the population however continued to speak English (in its developing form of the time), which would have provided very fertile circumstances for an expression based on language and cultural mockery. And, perhaps another contending origin: It is said that the Breton people (from "Brittany" in France) swear in French because they have no native swear words of their own. Might this have been the earliest beginning of the expression?

This expression is an apology for using crude language. The word "French" has long been used in the English language to express crudeness, stemming from the rivalry, envy and xenophobia that have characterized England's relationship with France for more than a thousand years.

It also might come from the time of the Norman invasion of England in 1066, when the Norman-style French became the preferred language of the upper classes, while the majority of the population continued to speak English.

Excuse my French

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faszination-mittelalter.info
1066country

Hastings - Ein Stück lebendige Geschichte

Die Jahreszahl 1066 ist fast jedem englischen Kind bekannt. Es ist das Jahr, in dem England seither zum letzten Mal durch ein normannisches Heer erobert wurde. Darüber hinaus auch deswegen, weil alljährlich das Spektakel der sogenannten „Hastings Week“ den Süden Englands, genauer gesagt die Landschaft bei Hastings, Geschichte lebendig werden lässt. In Erinnerung an jene berühmte Schlacht, auf die später noch eingegangen werden soll, bezeichnet sich die Gegend um Hastings auch als „1066country“.
...

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france-pittoresque.com
Joutes et tournois

On fixe communément l’origine des tournois au XIe siècle, et l’on cite quelques gentilshommes qui en auraient été les inventeurs : l’un d’entre eux serait Geoffroi de Preuilly, mort en 1066, et sans doute les tournois ont dû atteindre, sous l’influence de l’institution de la chevalerie, à un degré de splendeur qui a pu paraître leur donner une origine nouvelle.
...

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free.fr
Comment le Duc de Normandie devint Roi d’Angleterre
Catherine Beneville

GUERRE DE SUCCESSION: Comment le Duc de Normandie devint Roi d’Angleterre

Les protagonistes  

• Le roi d’Angleterre : Edouard Le Confesseur, petit fils, par sa mère Emma, de Richard I duc de Normandie. Il épouse Edith, sœur d’Harold
• Son cousin : Guillaume Le Conquérant, duc de Normandie, arrière petit fils de Richard I; mais de naissance bâtarde
• Son beau-frère : Harold, frère d’Edith, épouse d’Edouard Le Confesseur

Les événements

Lors de son exil, pendant le règne du roi saxon Knut, Edouard fut élevé à la cour de Normandie. Lorsqu’il devint roi, il s’entoura de conseillers normands. La question de sa succession se pose, car il n’a pas d’enfant. Il a le choix entre son beau-frère Harold et son cousin Guillaume.  

Il semble qu’Harold ait été chargé d’une ambassade en Normandie, pour informer Guillaume qu’Edouard choisissait ce dernier comme successeur. Mais à la mort d’Edouard, Harold se fait sacrer roi d’Angleterre le 6 janvier 1066.  

Guillaume se lance à la conquête de l’Angleterre. Rassemblement des forces : Flandre, Bretagne, Picardie, Boulogne, Sicile et Italie du Sud. Accord des alliés norvégiens, et accord du Pape. Traversée, débarquement et victoire à Hastings le 14 octobre. Guillaume est couronné roi d’Angleterre le 25 décembre 1066

Les répercussions  

Déjà, avant que Guillaume ne soit devenu roi d’Angleterre, Henri I, roi de France, s’était inquiété de la trop grande puissance de son vassal., qui avait des liens forts avec la Flandre, par son mariage, et les pays scandinaves, et qui avait lutté avec succès contre les comtes d’Anjou, annexant le Maine en 1063  

En 1066, Guillaume est désormais roi, tout en restant vassal de Philippe I pour le duché de Normandie. Le roi de France cherche à attiser les conflits entre Guillaume et ses fils, pour limiter leur extension, voire récupérer des terres.. Cela se poursuivra jusqu‘à l’arrivée de la dynastie des Plantagenêt.

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free.fr
L’Angleterre Normande et Angevine 1066 - 1485
Catherine Beneville

POLITIQUE MATRIMONIALE: L’Angleterre Normande et Angevine 1066 - 1485

Les ducs rois  

Comment le duc de Normandie devint roi d’Angleterre  

Guillaume Le Conquérant 1066 - 1087 

Il introduisit de profonds changements dans le fonctionnement des institutions anglaises, les calquant sur les lois normandes. Il fit effectuer un recensement des hommes et des richesses du pays "Domesday Book".

Il avait épousé en 1053 Mathilde de Flandre, fille de Baudouin V, comte de Flandre, petite fille de Robert Le Pieux, roi de France. Bien que "Guillaume le Conquérant" soit un bâtard, Baudouin V était très favorable au mariage de sa fille avec ce dernier, car sa puissance s’affirmait de plus en plus. Mais le pape s’opposait à cette union, prétextant qu’ils étaient parents au 5e degré. Le mariage eut cependant lieu. Ils formèrent un couple uni. Mathilde fut proclamée reine en 1068.

Ils eurent de nombreux enfants :

• Robert Courteheuse, comte du Maine, duc de Normandie
• Guillaume le Roux à qui son père légua la couronne d’Angleterre
• Henry Beauclerc qui épousera Mathilde d’Ecosse, fille du roi Malcolm III
• Les filles servirent à nouer des alliances :
• Constance épousa Alain, duc de Bretagne
• Adèle fut mariée au comte de Champagne Etienne de Blois.. leur fils Etienne disputera la succession à sa cousine Mathilde
• Agathe fut fiancé à Alphonse d’Espagne

Sa puissance inquiéta le roi de France qui chercha à s’allier avec les voisins des territoires normands de Guillaume pour entamer une guerre récurrente contre ses états.

Guillaume le Roux  1087 - 1100  
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geschichte-in-5.de
Die Schlacht von Hastings

Im Britischen Bewusstsein war die Landung von Wilhelm dem Eroberer im Süden Englands die letzte erfolgreiche Invasion der Britischen Inseln. Auch wenn man darüber diskutieren kann, steht außer Frage, dass die Schlacht von Hastings im Jahre 1066 ein einschneidendes Ereignis in der englischen Geschichte, da die Normannen die mit ihrem Sieg in der Schlacht die Herrschaft in England übernahmen.

Videodokumentation
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Guillaume le Conquérant (W3)

• Guillaume de Poitiers, Histoire de "Guillaume le Conquérant", hg. v. Foreville, R., 1952;

Guillaume le Conquérant - Biographie

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En 1066, les Normands (de France), conduits par "Guillaume le Conquérant", écrasèrent les Anglais à la bataille de Hastings, sur la côte sud. Ils instaurèrent la monarchie, celle-ci même qui existe encore en Angleterre aujourd’hui. En 1215, le roi Jean sans Terre, arrière-petit-fils de Guillaume, signa la Grande Charte (Magna Carta) établissant les fondements du système juridique anglais.
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"Wardens" and "Guardians"

By Maeve Maddox
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From 1066 until about 1250, English and French were spoken side by side in England. Then, because of political changes, the French-speaking ruling class shifted to English.

The words "warden" and "guardian" are good examples of the linguistic mingling that went on between the two languages at that time.

Old English had the verb "weardian" "to keep guard", and the noun "weard" "a guard", "a watchman", "a sentry".

Old French had the verb "guarder", "to guard".

Speakers of Norman French were people who had been Vikings a hundred years before William of Normandy invaded England in 1066. They brought their own distinctive pronunciations to French. One peculiarity was that Normans tended to pronounce the letter combination "gu-" as "w-".

For example, Old French "guarder", "to guard", became "warder" in Norman French. However, Parisian French kept the "gu-" spelling and pronunciation. As a result, English ended up with words derived from both forms.

The OED gives numerous meanings for the word "warden", including one that is identical to one of its definitions for "guardian". In general usage, however, a "guardian" is a "protector", while a "warden" is a "keeper".

A similar pair of words is "warranty" and "guarantee". Both words have the sense of an assurance that a certain standard of quality or integrity will be upheld.
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A new car comes with a "warranty". If anything goes wrong with the car during a specified period, the "warranty" is a document that entitles the owner to have the problem corrected without charge.

The word "guarantee" is often used as a synonym for "warranty". However, a "guarantee" can be something more concrete.
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Etymology nerds can have fun looking for modern French words beginning with "gu-" that correspond to English words beginning with "w-". For example:

"war"/"guerre": Old English "wyrre"; Norman French "werre"; Modern French "guerre".

And of course there’s "William the Conqueror" whom the French refer to as "Guillaume le Conquérant".

Falaise, statue de Guillaume le Conquérant

France, Normandie, XIe siècle. Guillaume « le Bâtard », plus connu sous le nom de « Guillaume le Conquérant », succède à son père et devient Duc de Normandie à l’âge de 8 ans. Stratège et impétueux, il fait de la Normandie un duché puissant, craint du roi de France.
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La Fabuleuse Epopée:

Sur les traces de Guillaume le Conquérant dans le Calvados

Guillaume le Conquérant

Né à Falaise (France) en 1027 ; Mort à Rouen (France) le 09/09/1086

"Guillaume le Conquérant", successivement nommé "Guillaume le Bâtard", "Guillaume II de Normandie", "Guillaume le Conquérant" et enfin "Guillaume Ier d'Angleterre", est un duc puis roi d'Angleterre du XIe siècle, fils illégitime de Robert le Magnifique et d'Arlette de Falaise.
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Guillaume le Conquérant

Matière de France

Le blog de Rémi Usseil, consacré aux chansons de geste

Guillaume le Conquérant

Guillaume, duc de Normandie (1035 - 1087), roi d’Angleterre (1066 - 1087)

Fils illégitime de Robert le Magnifique et d'Herlève de Falaise, Guillaume contesté à son avènement, affirme son autorité sur la Normandie à la bataille de Val-ès-Dunes (1047). Il écarte les menaces de ses ennemis français et angevins par ses victoires de Mortemer (1054) et Varaville (1057) et conduit une politique active sur ses frontières du Maine et de Bretagne, tandis que ses liens avec la Flandre sont resserrés par son mariage avec Mathilde, fille du comte Baudouin.

Maître de son duché, il fait valoir ses droits au trône d'Angleterre à la mort d'Edouard le Confesseur, fils de sa tante Emma. Guillaume arme une flotte d'invasion et vainc le roi anglo-saxon Harold à Hastings le 14 octobre 1066. Couronné roi, il organise l'Angleterre sur le modèle de la hiérarchie féodale normande, mais parvient difficilement à se partager entre les deux parties de son royaume. La fin de sa vie est notamment marquée par les révoltes de son fils Robert. Blessé mortellement à Mantes en 1087, il divise son domaine entre Robert Courteheuse, duc de Normandie, et Guillaume le Roux, roi d'Angleterre, aux dépends de son troisième fils Henri.

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gutenberg.org
Adams, George Burton
The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216)

Adams, George Burton, 1851-1925

The History of England from the Norman Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216) (English) (as Author)

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h2g2.com
1066

• Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight: 900 - 1066 AD
• The Battle of Hastings - 14 October, 1066
• Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight
• Eilmer of Malmesbury - the Flying Monk
• Memory Stories: A Revision Aid
• Anglo Saxon Kingdoms - the Saxon Heptarchy
• The Cosmic Influence of Halley's Comet
• Yorkshire's Castles
• Winchester Castle, Hampshire, UK
• The Saxon Heptarchy - the Kingdom of Wessex
• Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex, England
• British Burial Barrows: Introduction
• Molesworth Books
• Yorkshire's Castles: Conisbrough Castle
• The h2g2 Calendar - 9 - September
• A Bus Driver's Prayer - The Song
• The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words
• Grey Owl - Early Environmentalist
• Camembert Cheese
• The Literary Roots of King Arthur
• Comets as Harbingers of Doom
• Doctor Who Episode Guide: the 1960s
• Isle of Wight Shipwrecks: Medieval
• Comic Strips or Sequential Art
• Yorkshire's Castles: Ripley Castle
• The Green Howards - a British Regiment with a Scandinavian Twist
• 'Punch' - the Magazine
• Gloucester, Gloucestershire, UK
• Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, UK
• The Hooden Horse
• The Cinque Ports
• Waltham Abbey, Essex, UK
• Herbs in European History
• Bokerley Dyke, Dorset and Hampshire
• Terry Jones - Writer, Director and Actor
• Elizabeth of York
• Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight: Churches
• Odiham Castle, Hampshire, England, UK
• The History of Spain - The Christian Reconquest
• The Channel Islands
• British Mammals - An Overview
• Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight: Legends
• Domfront, Lower Normandy, France
• English Chartered Markets: The North Midlands
• History of the Celts
• The Magdalen College School, Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, UK
• Nottingham Castle - from Normans to Tudors
• The Other Coronation Stone
• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Anglo-Saxon (Old English)

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h2g2.com
Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight: 900 - 1066 AD

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1066: End of the Anglo-Saxons

When the Norman Invasion of 1066 is considered today, it is viewed as a simple Anglo-Saxon versus Norman fight that arose in 1066. This is the view presented by the Bayeux Tapestry. Yet the events of 1066 were much more complex than that, and the start of the crisis of 1066 can, in many ways, be traced back to the events of 1051 - 1052.
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herodote.net
Guillaume le Bâtard conquiert l'Angleterre

14 octobre 1066

Guillaume le Bâtard conquiert l'Angleterre

Le 14 octobre 1066, une petite armée féodale à peine débarquée en Angleterre bat les troupes du roi en titre. La victoire à Hastings du duc de Normandie Guillaume le Bâtard marque la naissance de l'Angleterre moderne.

Le vainqueur descend de Rollon, un chef viking qui s'est établi 150 ans plus tôt à l'embouchure de la Seine.
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historyofenglishpodcast.com
The Year That Changed English

Episode 67: The Year That Changed English

In this episode, we look at the events of 1066 - one of the most important dates in the history of English. Of course, this was the year of the Norman Conquest and the beginning of the end of Old English. It was an incredibly active year. And if the events had not unfolded in the way they did, it is likely that William’s conquest would have failed, and English would be a completely different language today. As we look at the events of 1066, we also explore the etymology of the names of the seasons and other related words.

ENGLAND IN 1066

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historyofenglishpodcast.com
The Romance of Old French

Episode 44: The Romance of Old French

The modern French language evolved from a Latin dialect spoken in Gaul during the period of the late Roman Empire. That language ultimately became mixed with Old English after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Approximately half of the words in conversational English come from French. So in this episode, we explore the ultimate origins of the early Romance dialect known as "Old French". We also examine the impact which the early French language had on English. And along the way, we look at the evolution of the Frankish kingdom from Clovis to Charlemagne.

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historyofinformation.com
More than One Million Charters Survive from the Period of Norman Rule in England
1066 - 1307

More than one million charters survive, either as originals or early copies, from the period of Norman rule in Britain, from 1066 to 1307. Many of these documents are records of property and land transactions written in Latin and recorded by religious or royal institutions. They are fundamental source material for historical research in medieval politics, economics and society.

Through these charters historians can study the rise and fall of military and religious organizations, among many other topics. For example, charters show how the Knights Hospitallers, or the Order of Saint John, a religious organization founded around 1023 to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land, became a religious and military organization after the Western Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, when it was charged with the care and defense of the Holy Land.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries dating medieval charters was one of the problems which motivated Mabillon and Montfaucon to pioneer the science of palaeography. However, at least one million of the Norman charters remain undated, largely due to adminstrative changes introduced by "William the Conqueror" in 1066. To solve problem of dating the huge number of undated charters Gelila Tilahun and colleagues at the University of Toronto are applying computer-automated statistical techniques with the goal of reducing the time and effort to date them manually, and to improve the accuracy of assigned dates.


"Their approach is to use a subset of some 10,000 charters that are dated and to look for changes in language over time that could be used to date other documents. For example, Tilahun and co say that the phrase "amicorum meorum vivorum et mortuorum", which means "of my friends living and dead", was popular between the years 1150 and 1240 but not at other times. And the phrase "Francis et Anglicis", which is a form of address meaning "to French and English", was phased out when England lost Normandy to the French in 1204. However, the statistical approach is much more rigorous than simply looking for common phrases. Tilahun and co’s computer search looks for patterns in the distribution of words occurring once, twice, three times and so on. 'Our goal is to develop algorithms to help automate the process of estimating the dates of undated charters through purely computational means,' they say.

"This approach reveals various patterns which they then test by attempting to date individual documents in this set. They say the best approach is one known as the maximum prevalence technique. This is a statistical technique that gives a most probable date by comparing the set of words in the document with the distribution in the training set.

"Tilahun and co say their approach also has other applications. For example, the same technique could be used to work out authorship and to weed out forgeries, of which there are known to be a substantial number.

"So how well does it work in practice? These guys finish their paper with a fascinating anecdote about a medieval English charter that was discovered in a drawer at the library of Brock University near Niagara Falls. T

"The charter lacked a data so various historians attempted to work out when it was written. The first estimates pointed to the 14th century but these were later revised to the 13th century. Eventually, by comparing the charter to other records, one academic pinned it down to a date between 1235 and 1245.

"Inspired by the media interest in this charter, Tilahun and co ran the document through their automated maximum prevalence procedure. 'The date estimate we obtained was 1246,' they say, with just a little hint of pride. Not bad!" (MIT Technology Review [Offsite Link] , 01-16-2013, accessed 01-16-2013).

Gelila Tilahun, Andrey Feuerverger, and Michael Gervers, "Dating medieval English charters [Offsite Link] ," Annals of Applied Statistics VI (2012) 1615-1640.

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Filed under: Economics , Law / Copyrights / Patents, Manuscripts & Manuscript Copying, Social / Political , Statistics / Demography, Survival of Information / Philology, Writing / Palaeography / Calligraphy / Epigraphy

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historyofinformation.com
The Norman Conquest

The Norman Conquest

September 28 - October 14, 1066

"William the Conqueror", seated center, flanked by Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, left, and Rotbert, right. William of Normandy, less well known as William the Bastard, and better known as "William the Conqueror", seated center, flanked by Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, left, and Rotbert, right.

William of Normandy, less well known as William the Bastard, and better known as "William the Conqueror", landed unopposed in England on September 28, 1066.

The Norman Conquest [Offsite Link] of England ocurred with the defeat of the Saxon King Harald's forces at the Battle of Hastings [Offsite Link] on October 14, 1066.

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Filed under: Military / Warfare / Cyberwarfare, Social / Political

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ibiblio.org - HWF
Fowler, Henry Watson
Lexicon - Orthography
Words of Anglo-Saxon Origin

The Lawgiver of English Usage

Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933)

Educated at Rugby and Oxford's Balliol College, H.W. Fowler began his career by teaching English grammar for seventeen years at a Yorkshire secondary school for boys. When offered a promotion to housemaster, he quit and move to London. There, while proving to himself that it was possible to live on 100 pound sterling a year, he was a freelance journalist. Fowler made his real mark on the English language only after moving to the remote island of Guernsey in 1903. He and his brother, Francis George Fowler, proposed to write "a sort of English composition manual, from the negative point of view, for journalists & amateur writers." The outcome, "The King's English", was published by the Oxford University Press and quickly became a de facto standard. Exposing the shortcomings of eminent writers, the tome offering but five basic commandments:

• 1. Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.
• 2. Prefer the concrete to the abstract.
• 3. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.
• 4. Prefer the short word to the long.
• 5. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance.

The majority of "Old English" words are lost to modern usage and have no descendants. Of the small core of survivors, most are readily familiar and seldom have abstract meanings. The roots are typically short and often contain a single syllable. Some have taken on meanings only indirectly related to those in Saxon times. And, others are downright awkward in contemporary usage. Fowler addressed these point in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, first published in 1926 and still in print. He warns that:

"... conscious deliberate Saxionism is folly, that the choice or rejection of particular words should depend not on their descent but on considerations of expressiveness, intelligibility, brevity, euphony, or ease of handling, & yet that any writer who becomes aware that the Saxon or native English element in what he writes is small will do well to take that fact as a danger-signal."

This lexicon of Modern English words contains many of those Saxon words that Fowler would have us prefer. May it - along with Fowler's sage advise - lead to a betterment of your understanding of Modern English and its usage!

Words of Anglo-Saxon Origin

The vocabulary of Englisc during the Anglo-Saxon period (from 449 through 1066 AD) was mostly Germanic in origin, with reluctant borrowings from Latin, Greek, Celtic, Scandinavian, and French. Many words had a single syllable, and compounding was a common practice. Most words with more than one syllable were characterized by a stress accent on the first syllable.

Most of the Old English words are no longer in use. Replacements, mostly from French and Latin, now represent about 70% of the vocabulary. Yet, the relatively small core of those old Anglo-Saxon words that Fowler would have us prefer still do more than their share of the work.

Here are a few of those Saxeon words that have survived, often with interesting changes in meaning. In this listing, the modern spelling is followed by the Old English [spelling, meaning] and an occasional comment. Guides for orthography & pronunciation and verbs are provided as an aid in understanding them.

"Alphabetical Listings"

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infoplease.com
1066
Search Results

Search Results: 1066

63 results found

• Harold: -1066, king of England (1066). ... The family was thus divided when Edward the Confessor died (1066), after naming Harold his heir instead of William.
• Anglo-Norman: meaning and definitions: pertaining to the period, 1066-1154, when England was ruled by Normans.of or pertaining to Anglo-Normans or the Anglo-Norman dialect.n.a Norman who settled in England after 1066, or a descendant of one.Anglo-French (def. 3).
• Norman: meaning and definitions: a member of that branch of the Northmen or Scandinavians who in the 10th century conquered Normandy.Also calledNorman French.one of the mixed Scandinavian and French people who inhabited Normandy and
• Harold III: Harold III or Harold Hardrada härdrä´d?, Norse Harald Harðráði [Harold stern council], d. 1066, king of Norway (1046-66), half-brother of Olaf II. ... In 1066 he accompanied Tostig , the exiled earl of Northumbria, on an invasion of N England. - Day 1064 Day 1066 Clark, December 11, 1805 Wednesday 11th December 1805 rained all the last night moderately we are all employed putting up huts or Cabins for our winters quarters. ... Day 1064 Day 1066 Contents
• William I: -1087, king of England (1066-87). ... Soon afterward Harold , then earl of Wessex, was shipwrecked on the French coast and was turned over to William, who apparently extracted Harold's oath to support the duke's interests in - Day 1066 Day 1068 Clark, December 12, 1805 Thursday 12th December 1805 All hands that are well employ'd in Cutting logs and raising our winter Cabins, detached two men to Split boards- Some rain ... Day 1066 Day 1068 Contents
• Norman Conquest: Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. ... Stenton, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066-1166 (2d ed. 1961) and Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971) J.
• Norman Conquest: meaning and definitions: the conquest of England by the Normans, under "William the Conqueror", in 1066.
• Senlac: meaning and definitions: a hill in SE England: believed by some historians to have been the site of the Battle of Hastings, 1066.
• Battle: The town grew up on the site (then a moorland) of the battle of Hastings (1066).
• Taillefer: Taillefer ti?fer´, fl. 1066, Norman warrior and trouvère.
• Harold II: meaning and definitions: -66, king of England 1066: defeated by "William the Conqueror" at the Battle of Hastings (son of Earl Godwin).
• William of Newburgh: He wrote the Historia rerum Anglicarum, a history of England from 1066 to 1198.
• Norman dynasty: meaning and definitions: a succession of English kings founded by Duke William of the duchy of Normandy in northern France, who conquered England in 1066 and whose successors ruled the country to 1154.
• The Journals of Lewis and Clark: Day 1066 Day 1068 Lewis, March 16, 1806 Sunday March 16th 1806. ... Day 1066 Day 1068 Contents
• The Journals of Lewis and Clark: Day 1064 Day 1066 Lewis, March 15, 1806 Saturday March 15th 1806. ... Day 1064 Day 1066 Contents
• Alp Arslan: In 1065 he led the Seljuks in an invasion of Armenia and Georgia and in 1066 attacked the Byzantine Empire.
• Eadmer: Eadmer's Historiae novorum is a history of England from 1066 to 1122 from the ecclesiastical point of view and is excellent of its kind.
• gavelkind: Most of the lands in England were held in gavelkind tenure prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066, and the custom of dividing lands among the male heirs is still preserved in parts of England, notably the county of Kent.
• Tostig: Tostig tos´tig, d. 1066, earl of Northumbria son of Earl Godwin of Wessex.
• Hastings: meaning and definitions: Thomas,1860-1929, U.S. architect.Warren,1732-1818, British statesman: first governor general of India 1773-85.a seaport in E Sussex, in SE England: "William the Conqueror": preconquest: meaning and definitions - [pre- + conquest]pre-Conquestpre-Con&syl;quest(pre kon&prim;kwest, -kong&prim;-),of or pertaining to the time before the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
• Bayeux tapestry: This so-called tapestry is in fact an embroidery that chronicles the Norman Conquest of England by "William the Conqueror" ( William I ) in 1066.
• Sussex: William I ("William the Conqueror") landed at Pevensey in 1066 and defeated Harold's Saxons at Hastings .
• Hastings: It was made famous by the battle of Hastings, which took place at nearby Battle on Oct. 14, 1066, between the Normans under William, duke of Normandy (later William I ), and the Anglo-Saxons under Harold .
• Adalbert: They accomplished his dismissal in 1066, but Henry IV recalled him in 1069.
• William I: meaning and definitions: (“the Conqueror”) 1027-87, duke of Normandy 1035-87; king of England 1066-87 (son of Robert I, duke of Normandy).Also,Willem I.
• Kickoff Returns for Professional Football's 2001-2002 Season: (Minimum of 20 returns) AFC No Yds Avg Long TD Ronney Jenkins, SD 58 1541 26.6 93-td 2 Jermaine Lewis, Bal. 42 1039 24.7 76 0 Chris Cole, Den. 48 1127 23.5 52 0 Terry Kirby, Oak. 46 1066 23.2 90-td 1
• Growing Pains: (Source/Nelson Chenkin) Everest Links Everest AlmanacA History of Climbing Everest Crossword: Famous Mountains Quiz: Explorers and Adventurers Measuring Mountains Everest TimelineClimbing the
• Amalfi: ., with numerous later additions), which has an imposing facade, fine bronze doors cast (1066) in Constantinople, and a stunning cloister ( chiostro del Paradiso ).
• Edgar Atheling: After the death of King Harold at the battle of Hastings in 1066, Edgar was chosen king, but he submitted to William I in the same year.
• demesne: In England the term ancient demesne, sometimes shortened to demesne, referred to those lands that were held by the crown at the time (1066) of "William the Conqueror" and were recorded in the "Domesday Book".
• game laws: After the Norman Conquest (1066), England enacted stringent game laws, known as the Forest Laws, which made hunting the sole privilege of the king and his nobles.
• Eustace II: Eustace took part in the Norman invasion of England in 1066, but the following year led an unsuccessful revolt against William I.
• Bruce: He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England.
• Spider-Man: Though the special effects-laden show had many pre-production struggles, including multiple injuries to cast members, it ran for 182 previews and then 1066 performances from 2010-2014.
• Local Government | Civics: Links to History: Links to History: Local Government 1000 source: Gianni Dagli Orti, Corbis/Bettmann 1066 Normans conquer England and change name of shires (local administrative divisions) to counties. 1100 1200
• Roland: Existence of an early Roland poem is indicated by the historian Wace's statement that Taillefer sang of Roland's deeds to inflame the men before the Battle of Hastings (1066).
• Edward the Confessor: Edward the Confessor, d. 1066, king of the English (1042-66), son of Æthelred the Unready and his Norman wife, Emma.
• coronation: The pageantry of the English coronation, which since 1066 has taken place in Westminster Abbey , is still that of medieval times.
• aid: meaning and definitions: (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions.
• Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey: Peter Port, 16,488 Monetary units: Guernsey pound; Jersey pound Major sources and definitions Flag of Jersey Flag of Guernsey This group of islands, lying in the English Channel off the northwest
• Normans: In 1066 the Norman Conquest of England made the duke of Normandy king of England as William I ("William the Conqueror").
• Norman architecture: The development of the style was confined chiefly to the period from 1066 to 1154, a period of tremendous building activity.
• History of Climbing Everest: Growing Pains: Adjusting to Everest's New Height If the number 29,028 is seared into your mind along with 1066, 1492, and other seemingly immutable figures, get ready for a big change in the holy canon of statistics.
• Rulers of England and Great Britain: 865-871Alfred the Great 849 871-899Edward the Elder c. 870 899-924Athelstan 895 924-939Edmund I the Deed-doer 921 939-946Edred c. 925
• Rulers of England and Great Britain: Rulers of England and Great Britain(including dates of reign)Saxons and DanesEgbert, 802-39Æthelwulf, son of Egbert, 839-58Æthelbald, son of Æthelwulf,
• Normandy: In 1066, Duke William ("William the Conqueror"), son of Robert I, invaded England, where he became king as William I.
• Henry IV: Henry attained his majority in 1065, but Adalbert retained the regency until jealous nobles persuaded Henry to dismiss (1066) him.Conflict with the Pope:Henry's first task after assuming control
• village: After the Norman conquest (1066) this feudal hold was solidified, and village life changed considerably, especially in its property relations (see feudalism ; manorial system ).
• The Koran/Sura LVII — Iron: No mischance chanceth either on earth or in your own persons, but ere we created them, it was in the Book;[1066] —for easy is this to God— Lest ye distress yourselves if good ... Mar. [1066] Of our eternal decrees. [1067] Brought by Gabriel to Noah, who imparted its use to his posterity.
• Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes: In 1066 England was conquered by William, duke of Normandy, which is in northern France.
• court: Western Europe (after the collapse of Rome) and Anglo-Saxon England had mainly feudal courts of limited territorial authority, administering customary law, which differed in each locale.Courts in
• Millennium Milestones: For a less whirlwind glance at the last thousand years, see our Millennium Timeline. 1066—Norman Conquest of Britain1095—Pope Urban II calls for the Crusades 1100s—Angkor
• Middle English literature: See also English literature and Anglo-Saxon literature .Background:The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 traditionally signifies the beginning of 200 years of the domination of French in English letters.
• tenure: The modern Anglo-American law of land developed out of the institutions of English feudalism established after the Norman Conquest (1066).
• London: London put up some resistance to William I in 1066, but he subsequently treated the city well.
• feudalism: In England the Frankish form was imposed by William I ("William the Conqueror") after 1066, although most of the elements of feudalism were already present.
• English art and architecture: The splendid and unique Anglo-Saxon embroidery, known as the Bayeux tapestry (c.1066-77), attests to the English interest in dramatic narrative.
• history: A pioneer collection of early inscriptions was made, and Ssu-ma Kuang wrote (1066-84) an integrated history of China from 403 BC to AD 959.
• Norway: After Harold died while invading England (1066), Norway entered a period of decline and civil war, precipitated by conflicting claims to the throne.
• United Kingdom: As Rome's strength declined, the country again was exposed to invasion--including the pivotal incursions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in the fifth and sixth centuries AD--up to the Norman conquest in 1066.

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knaw.nl
Engels, een West-Germaanse taal

Engels, een West-Germaanse taal, met 370 miljoen moedertaalsprekers; officiele taal in Antigua, Australie, de Bahama"s, Barba dos, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Brunei, Canada, Domini ca, Fiji, Filippijnen, Gambi a, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Ierse Republiek, India, Jamaica, Kameroen, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberi , Oeganda, Puerto Rico, Seychel len, Sierra Leone, Singapo re, Sint Christop her en Nevis, Sint Lucia, Sint Vincent en de Grenadinen, Swazi land, Tanzania, Trinidad en Tobago, Verenigd Konink rijk, Zambia, Zimbabwe en Zuid-Afrika.

Van oudsher hebben er handelscontacten en contacten op de Noordzee bestaan tussen Nederlands- en Engelssprekenden. Het Engels kent dan ook allerlei Nederlandse scheepstermen, zoals "boeg", "gaarboord", "geitouw", "handspaak", "harpoen", "kabel", "kielhalen".

In 1066 werd Willem van Normandie koning van Engeland en het door hem gesproken Frans werd de taal van de regering, de wetgeving en de aristo cra tie in Engeland. Maar Willems hof bestond niet alleen uit Franssprekenden, ook Vlamingen maakten er deel van uit. Willem bouwde versterkingen en gaf zijn soldaten land om zich te vestigen, en de soldaten werden landeigenaren. Zo rezen ze snel in aanzien en als gevolg hiervan voegden vele immigranten uit de gebieden van herkomst zich bij hun landgenoten. De Vlamingen woonden verspreid over geheel Groot-Brittannie: in de twaalfde eeuw waren er ruim vijftig kleine Vlaamse nederzettingen in Engeland en Ierland; ook in noordelijk Engeland (zie Schots) en Keltischsprekende gebieden (zie Gaelisch).

Vanaf dat moment tot ongeveer 1700 was er een gestage immigratie van Noord- en Zuid-Nederlandse handwerkslieden. Deze waren in industrieel opzicht de meerderen van de Engelsen en konden dus een goed belegde boterham verdienen in Groot-Brittannie. Zij introduceerden nieuwe vormen van nijverheid, waarvan weven de belangrijkste was.

Vandaar dat er Nederlandse woorden werden overgenomen als "doek", "duffel", "laken", "spoel" en "vlok".

Bierbrouwers brachten "hop", "kuip", "tobbe" en "bier" - een woord dat weliswaar Germaans was maar inmiddels uit het Engels verdwenen. De Engelsen namen woorden voor instrumenten over, zoals "drevel", "hak", "peg", "plug" en "takel".

Dankzij Nederlandse klokkenmakers, die hun vakmanschap naar Londen meenamen, kreeg het Engelse "clock" de betekenis "uurwerk" (voordien kwam het incidenteel wel voor, maar in de betekenis "bel").

In deze eeuwen was het aantal Nederlandse leenwoorden in het Engels heel groot en lang niet alle uitleenwoorden hadden te maken met een speciaal vak. Opvallend is juist het grote aantal "algemene" woorden, zoals "babbelen", "blinken", "buizen", "zuipen", "dronkaard", "etsen", "geluk", "glinsteren", "grabbelen", "hazenlip", "hobbelen", "hunkeren", "leuteren", "mummelen", "pak", "slippen" en "smokkelen".

Eind zestiende eeuw wordt er voor het eerst bericht over Nederlandse ontginners die in de laaggelegen gebieden (Fenlands) rond de baai The Wash ten noorden van Londen actief waren. In 1621 arriveerde Cornelius Vermuyden uit het Zeeuwse Sint Maartensdijk in Engeland om te helpen met ontginningswerkzaamheden. Vermuyden raakte in de loop van de jaren betrokken bij diverse projecten die geleid werden door Nederlanders, en waarvoor Nederlandse werklieden werden aangetrokken. Het Engels heeft dan ook uit het Nederlands diverse woorden op dit terrein geleend, zoals "dam", "dijk", "klinker", "baksteen", "moeras", "polder" en "zomp", "moerasland".

Eind zestiende en begin zeventiende eeuw vluchtten veel Nederlanders en Vlamingen tijdelijk of defi nitief voor de Spanjaarden naar Groot-Brittannie, en Engelse troepen waren in de Lage Landen gelegerd om te helpen in de strijd tegen de Spanjaarden. De Engelsen namen Nederlandse legertermen over zoals "aanslag", "belegeren", "granaat", "houwitser", "huurling", "lont", "plunderen" en "taptoe".

Maar in de loop van de zeventiende eeuw veranderde de situatie: de Republiek en Groot-Brittannie werden elkaars concurrenten op de wereldzeeen en in de handel in specerijen vanuit het rijke Azie en ze betwistten elkaar de gebieden in Noord- en Zuid-Amerika. Tussen 1652 en 1674 vochten ze drie oorlogen uit op zee. In deze periode kreeg Dutch allerlei negatieve connotaties, denk aan "Dutch courage" voor "jenevermoed", "Dutch widow" voor "prostituee" en "double Dutch" voor "onzin".

In 1688 besteeg de Nederlandse stadhouder Willem iii, zoon en gemaal van Engelse koningsdochters, de Engelse troon. Daarmee werd het Nederlands overigens niet de hoftaal, want die was in Groot-Brittannie (en heel West-Europa) het Frans; Willem sprak voorts vloeiend Engels.

Uiteindelijk vond er een deels officieuze en deels officiele gebiedsverdeling plaats: Nederlanders vestigden zich in Indonesie, Sri Lanka en Japan, Engelsen in India. Noord-Amerika ging in 1664 over naar de Engelsen, in ruil waarvoor de Nederlanders Suriname en het omringende gebied in Zuid-Amerika behielden.

Dankzij het Nederlands leerde het Engels diverse woorden uit de Oost en de West kennen, zoals "kajapoet", "kajapoetolie", "kaketoe", "kakkerlak", "kampong", "kapok", "koffi" een moesson.

In 1814 ging, na de napoleontische tijd, een aantal gebieden van Nederlandse in Engelse handen over, waaronder Zuid-Afrika. Zowel de Engelse als de Nederlandse taal maakten een ontwikkeling door in de nieuwe continenten, onafh ankelijk van het Europese Engels en Nederlands. Met name in de gebieden die eerst onder invloed stonden van de Nederlanders, oefende het Nederlands invloed uit op de lokale variant van het Engels, zoals het Amerikaans-Engels en het Zuid-Afrikaans-Engels (zie aldaar). Inmiddels ging ook de invloed van het Nederlands op het Engels van Groot-Brittannie in de achttiende, negentiende en twintigste eeuw door, zowel via de nieuwe continenten als via de handel en dankzij Nederlandse uitvindingen of ontdekkingen ("enkelgraf", "klapschaats", "Leidse fles", "lakmoes", "supergeleiding" en "woonerf").

In het alfabetisch lexicon zijn in totaal ongeveer 1600 Nederlandse leenwoorden in het Engels opgenomen. Daarvan zijn zeker 335 verouderd, maar waarschijnlijk zijn het er veel meer - de meeste informatie is afk omstig uit de Oxford English Dictionary (oed), die niet altijd duidelijk aangeeft of een bepaald woord nog steeds in gebruik is. Ter vergelijking: in het eendelige moderne Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology zijn ruim vijfh onderd Nederlandse en nog eens honderd Afrikaanse leenwoorden opgenomen; van die woorden is zeker dat zij nog worden gebruikt. Van de woorden die het Engels uit het Nederlands kent, komt een substantieel deel uit het Afrikaans: ongeveer 350 in de oed. Daarnaast zijn er Afrikaanse woorden die vooralsnog alleen voorkomen in het Zuid-Afrikaans-Engels (zie aldaar).

Het Engels heeft diverse Nederlandse leenwoorden internationaal bekendgemaakt; zo zijn de Nederlandse woorden "bluffen", "brandewijn", "ijsberg", "jenever", "kolf", "kruisen", "schaats", "schets", "schipper", "snakken", "steken" en "wagen" de bron geweest van de Engelse woorden "bluff", "brandy", "iceberg", "gin", "golf", "cruise", "skate", "sketch", "skipper", "snack", "tussendoortje", "ticket" en "wagon", die in heel veel talen, waaronder het Nederlands, bekend geworden zijn.

De Nederlandse persoonsnaam "Dirk", oorspronkelijk de naam van een bepaalde beul, is in het Engels overgenomen als "derrick" met de betekenissen "beul", "galg", "laadboom", "kraan", "telegraafpaal", "boortoren" - vooral in die laatste betekenis hebben andere talen het leren kennen.

In de naam van het spel "Scrabble" vinden we het Nederlandse "schrabbelen", "krabbelen" terug.

Het Nederlandse "droog" is eerst in het Frans overgenomen als benaming van een droog ingredient bij de bereiding van medicijnen, vervolgens ging het een kwakzalversmiddel en een vies drankje aanduiden; het woord is overgenomen in het Engels waar "drug" gebruikt werd voor "verdovend middel" - and the rest is history.

"§"
linguistlist.org
Heiliand was written in 1066

"Many Were they" 1066?

Mon Jun 11 13:39:12 UTC 2007

I remember that the opening line of The Heiliand starts 'manega uuaron, the sia iro mod gespon, ...'

which iirc, works out to 'Many were they, that their mood lead them...'

I also remember hearing that the Heiliand was written in 1066AD.

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militaryhistoryonline.com
The Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings

October 14, 1066

by Steve Beck

• Prelude to Battle
• The Battle of Stamford Bridge
• William's Landing
• The Armies
• The Norman Army
• The Saxon Army
• The Battle Formations
• The Battle

The Aftermath

Sunrise on the 15th was to find Senlac Ridge littered with broken and discarded weapons together with the bodies of around 2000 Normans, up to 4000 Saxons and 6-700 horses. The battle had been of a length and ferocity unheard of in medieval warfare. Normally battles were over quickly as morale and discipline failed on one side or the other. The evenness of the battle was shown by its duration, fought on a knifes edge all day.

With around 30 percent losses, William was unable to march directly on London. After withdrawing to Hastings for five days, William set about subduing the surrounding countryside. As the significance of Hastings began to be appreciated, other areas submitted to his rule without resistance. By November, he had subdued south eastern England and was eventually crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066.

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mondes-normands.caen.fr
1066

• 1066 : Guillaume le Conquérant, les Normands à l'assaut de l'Angleterre
• 1066 : Harald Hardrada, les Norvégiens à l'assaut de l'Angleterre
• 1066 : York, Harold contre Harald
• 1066 : Hastings, Guillaume contre Harold

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newadvent.org
England (Before 1066)
England (1066-1558)

• England (Before 1066) - History of the occupation, conversion, and development
• England (1066-1558) - This term England is here restricted to one constituent, the largest and most populous, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Anglo-Saxon occupation of Britain

The word "Anglo-Saxon" is used as a collective name for those Teutonic settlers — the foundation stock of the English race — who after dispossessing the Celtic inhabitants of Britain in the middle of the fifth century, remained masters of the country until a new order of things was created in 1066 by the coming of the Normans.

Though etymologically open to some objection (cf. Stevenson's "Asser", 149) the term Anglo-Saxon is convenient in practice, the more so because we do not know very much concerning the provenance of the Low German tribes who about the year 449 began to invade Britain.

The Jutes, who came first and occupied Kent and the Isle of Wight, have been supposed to be identical with the inhabitants of Jutland, but it has been recently shown that this is probably an error (Stevenson, ibid., 167). They were, however, a Frisian tribe.

The Saxons of the fifth century were better known and more widely spread, occupying the present Westphalia, Hanover and Brunswick.

The Angles in Tacitus's day were settled on the right bank of the Elbe close to its mouth. They seem to have been nearly akin to their then neighbors, the Lombards, who after long wanderings eventually became the masters of Italy. It is curious to find the great historian of the Lombards, Paul the Deacon, describing their dress as resembling that "which the Anglo-Saxons are wont to wear."

In England the Saxons, after establishing themselves in the south and east, in the localities now represented by "Sussex" and "Essex", founded a great kingdom in the West which gradually absorbed almost the whole country south of the Thames. In fact, the King of "Wessex" ultimately became the lord of the entire land of Britain.

The "Angles", who followed close upon the heels of the Saxons, founded the kingdoms of "East Anglia" (Norfolk and Suffolk), Mercia (the Midlands), Deira (Yorkshire), and Bernicia (the country farther north). The extermination of the native Inhabitants was probably not so complete as was at one time supposed, and a recent authority (Hodgkin) has declared that "Anglo-Celt rather than Anglo-Saxon is the fitting designation of our race."
...

...
"William the Conqueror" had established intimate relations with the Holy See. He came to England armed with the direct authorization of a papal Bull, and his expedition, in the eyes of many earnest men, and probably even his own, was identified with the cause of ecclesiastical reform. The behaviour of Normans and Saxons on the night preceding the battle of Hastings, when the former prayed and prepared for Communion while the latter caroused, was in a measure significant of the spirit of the two parties. Taken as a whole, the Conqueror's dealings with the English Church were worthy of a great mission. All the best elements in the Saxon hierarchy he retained and supported. St. Wulstan was confirmed in the possession of the See of Worcester. Leofric of Exeter and Siward of Rochester, both Englishmen, as well as some half-dozen prelates of foreign birth who had been appointed in Edward's reign, were not interfered with. On the other hand, Stigand, the intriguing Archbishop of Canterbury, and one or two other bishops, probably his supporters, were deposed. But in this there was no indecent haste. It was done at the great Council of Winchester (Easter, 1070), at which three papal legates were present. Shortly afterwards the vacant sees were filled up, and, in procuring Lanfranc for Canterbury and Thomas of Bayeux for York, William gave to his new kingdom the very best prelates that were then available.
...

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ngm
How England began

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nndb.com
Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor

• Born: c. 1004
• Birthplace: Islip, Oxfordshire, England
• Died: 4-Jan-1066
• Location of death: London, England
• Cause of death: unspecified
• Remains: Buried, Westminster Abbey, London, England
• Gender: Male
• Race or Ethnicity: White
• Occupation: Royalty
• Nationality: England
• Executive summary: King of England, 1042-66
• Father: King Ethelred II
• Mother: Emma
• Brother: Alfred
• Wife: Edith of Wessex (23-Jan-1045, never consummated)
• UK Monarch (8-Jun-1042 to 4-Jan-1066)
• Exiled to Normandy (1013-41)
• Canonization 1161

Exiled
EVENT

Canonization
EVENT

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nndb.com
Harald III

Harald III

• Born: 1015
• Died: 25-Sep-1066
• Location of death: Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, England
• Cause of death: War
• Remains: Buried, Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway
• Gender: Male
• Race or Ethnicity: White
• Sexual orientation: Straight
• Occupation: Royalty
• Nationality: Norway
• Executive summary: King of Norway, 1046-66
• Harald III, King of Norway, surnamed "Haardraade", which might be translated "ruthless", was the son of King Sigurd and half-brother of King Olaf the Saint. At the age of fifteen he was obliged to flee from Norway, having taken part in the battle of Stiklestad (1030), at which King Olaf met his death. He took refuge for a short time with Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod (a kingdom founded by Scandinavians), and from there went to Constantinople, where he took service under the empress Zoe, whose Varangian guard he led to frequent victory in Italy, Sicily and North Africa, also penetrating to Jerusalem. In the year 1042 he left Constantinople, the story says because he was refused the hand of a princess, and on his way back to his own country he married Ellisif or Elizabeth, daughter of Yaroslav of Novgorod.
  
  In Sweden he allied himself with the defeated Sven of Denmark against his nephew Magnus, now king of Norway, but soon broke faith with Sven and accepted an offer from Magnus of half his kingdom. In return for this gift Harald is said to have shared with Magnus the enormous treasure which he had amassed in the East. The death of Magnus in 1047 put an end to the growing jealousies between the two kings, and Harald turned all his attention to the task of subjugating Denmark, which he ravaged year after year; but he met with such stubborn resistance from Sven that in 1064 he gave up the attempt and made peace.
  
  Two years afterwards, possibly instigated by the banished Earl Tostig of Northumbria, he attempted the conquest of England, to the sovereignty of which his predecessor had advanced a claim as successor of Harthacnut.
  
  In September 1066 he landed in Yorkshire with a large army, reinforced from Scotland, Ireland and the Orkneys; took Scarborough by casting flaming brands into the town from the high ground above it; defeated the Northumbrian forces at Fulford; and entered York on the 24th of September. But the following day the English Harold II arrived from the south, and the end of the long day's fight at Stamford Bridge saw the rout of the Norwegian forces after the fall of their king (25th of September 1066). He was only fifty years old, but he was the first of the six kings who had ruled Norway since the death of Harald Haarfager to reach that age. As a king he was unpopular on account of his harshness and want of good faith, but his many victories in the face of great odds prove him to have been a remarkable general, of never-failing resourcefulness and indomitable courage.
• Father: King Sigurd (King of Norway)
• Wife: Elizabeth (dau. of Yaroslav of Novgorod, m. 1042)
• King of Norway 1046 to 25-Sep-1066

King of Norway
GOVERNMENT OFFICE

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nndb.com
King Harold II

King Harold II

• AKA Harold Godwinson
• Born: c. 1022
• Died: 14-Oct-1066
• Location of death: Hastings, Sussex, England
• Cause of death: War
• Remains: Buried, Waltham Holy Cross, Essex, England
• Gender: Male
• Race or Ethnicity: White
• Sexual orientation: Straight
• Occupation: Royalty
• Nationality: England
• Executive summary: King of England, 1066
• Harold II, King of the English, the second son of Earl Godwine, was born about 1022. While still very young (before 1045) he was appointed to the earldom of the East-Angles. He shared his fathers outlawry and banishment in 1051; but while Godwine went to Flanders, Harold with his brother Leofwine took refuge in Ireland. In 1052 Harold and Leofwine returned. Having plundered in the west of England, they joined their father, and were with him at the assembly which decreed the restoration of the whole family. Harold was now restored to his earldom of the East-Angles, and on his father's death in 1053 he succeeded him in the greater earldom of the West-Saxons. He was now the chief man in the kingdom, and when the older earls Leofric and Siward died his power increased yet more, and the latter part of Edward the Confessor's reign was virtually the reign of Harold. In 1055 he drove back the Welsh, who had burned Hereford. In 1063 came the great Welsh war, in which Harold, with the help of his brother Tostig, crushed the power of Gruffyd, who was killed by his own people. But in spite of his power and his prowess, Harold was the minister of the king rather than his personal favorite. This latter position rather belonged to Tostig, who on the death of Siward in 1055 received the Earldom of Northumberland. Here, however, his harshness soon provoked enmity, and in 1065 the Northumbrians revolted against him, choosing Morkere in his place. Harold acted as mediator between the king and the insurgents, and at length agreed to the choice of Morkere, and the banishment of his brother.
  
  At the beginning of 1066 Edward died, with his last breath recommending Harold as his successor. He was accordingly elected at once and crowned. The men of Northumberland at first refused to acknowledge him, but Harold won them over. The rest of his brief reign was taken up with preparations against the attacks which threatened him on both sides at once. William challenged the crown, alleging both a bequest of Edward in his favor and a personal engagement which Harold had contracted towards him - probably in 1064; and prepared for the invasion of England. Meanwhile Tostig was trying all means to bring about his own restoration. He first attacked the Isle of Wight, then Lindesey, but was compelled to take shelter in Scotland. From May to September the king kept the coast with a great force by sea and land, but at last provisions failed and the land army was dispersed.
  
  Harold then came to London, ready to meet whichever enemy came first. By this time Tostig had engaged Harald III of Norway to invade England. Together they sailed up the Humber, defeated Edwin and Morkere, and received the submission of York. Harold hurried northwards; and on the 25th of September he came on the Northmen at Stamford Bridge and won a complete victory, in which Tostig and Harald were slain. But two days later William landed at Pevensey. Harold marched southward as fast as possible. He gathered his army in London from all southern and eastern England, but Edwin and Morkere kept back the forces of the north. The king then marched into Sussex and engaged the Normans on the hill of Senlac near Battle. After a fight which lasted from morning till evening, the Normans had the victory, and Harold and his two brothers lay dead on the field (14th of October 1066).
• Father: Godwin, Earl of Wessex (d. 1053)
• Brother: Tostig
• Brother: Gyrth
• Brother: Leofwine
• Wife: Edith (m. c. 1064)
• Mistress: Ealdgyth Swan-neck ("Edith Swanneck")
• UK Monarch (5-Jan-1066 to 14-Oct-1066)

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nndb.com
Edgar Atheling

Edgar Atheling

• AKA Edgar Ætheling
• Born: c. 1051
• Birthplace: Hungary
• Died: c. 1126
• Cause of death: unspecified
• Gender: Male
• Race or Ethnicity: White
• Sexual orientation: Straight
• Occupation: Royalty
• Nationality: England
• Executive summary: King of England 1066
• Father: Edward the Exile (d. 1057)
• Sister: Margaret
• Sister: Christina
• Wife: Margaret
• UK Monarch 14-Oct-1066 to 25-Dec-1066
• Pardoned

UK Monarch
UK GOVERNMENT OFFICE
King or Queen of England.

Pardoned
EVENT

"§"
nndb.com
"William the Conqueror"

"William the Conqueror"

• AKA William
• Born: c. 1027
• Birthplace: Falaise, France
• Died: 9-Sep-1087
• Location of death: Rouen, France
• Cause of death: Accident - Fall
• Remains: Buried, Abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, France
• Gender: Male
• Race or Ethnicity: White
• Sexual orientation: Straight
• Occupation: Royalty, Military
• Nationality: England
• Executive summary: Invaded, conquered England in 1066
• Father: Robert the Magnificent
• Mother: Herleva ("Arletta")
• Wife: Matilda of Flanders (m. circa 1050, four sons, six daughters)
• Son: Robert Curthose
• Daughter: Adeliza
• Daughter: Cecilia
• Son: King William II
• Son: Richard
• Daughter: Adela
• Daughter: Agatha
• Daughter: Constance
• Daughter: Matilda
• Son: King Henry I
• UK Monarch (1066-87)
• Risk Factors: Obesity

Risk Factor: Obesity
LISTS

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normaninvasion.info
The Battle of Hastings - 1066

• The Battle of Hastings -1066
• Battle of Hastings Timeline
• Biographies of the Battle of Hastings Leaders
• Events preceding the Battle of Hastings
• Preparation for the Battle of Hastings
• Battle of Hastings 1066 Sitemap

"§"
nottingham.ac.uk
Compare and Contrast influence on English of the Scandinavian Languages and French
Emma Pardo

French and the Scandinavian languages - often referred to collectively as Norse - are amongst several prolific languages that have dramatically influenced the development of English. Within Old English, only 3% of words had been borrowed from other languages, yet this figure is approximately 70% in Modern English; one drastic change partly due to Scandinavian and French influence. In order to fully understand the contrasting and similar ways in which these languages have contributed to English, several aspects about them must be considered: the classes, functions and quantity of words loaned; the depth and breadth of their influences across England; and how these languages initially came to infiltrate English.
...
When Edward died childless, Harold, his advisor’s son, became King, but William of Normandy (who claimed that Edward had promised him the throne) soon became monarch after victory over Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Baugh and Cable have claimed that this Norman Conquest ‘had a greater effect on the English Language than any other (event) in the course of its history.’ Not only did William bring over friends who spoke his native tongue to fill authoritative positions as Edward and Canute had done, but French became the language of government, law and education, associated with rule and aristocracy.
...
Thus the semantic fields of French and Scandinavian loans clearly link with the historical background of each language’s status and function in England, but the manners in which their influences on English actually arose - for instance, when and where they were felt as affective - are also significant. As previously stated, the influences began at different times: Scandinavian natives first settled in the ninth century, whereas the Norman Conquest largely sparked French influence in 1066. Yet it has been estimated that only 150 Scandinavian terms were borrowed into Old English, with the language filtered slowly into written English ‘only after the Conquest, when training in the West Saxon standard was terminated.’ This indicates that the previous southerly standard prevented Norse influencing written texts in the Old English period.
...

"§"
orbilat.com - 1066aat
Gillingham, John
1066 and all That

by John Gillingham

the text is from The Oxford Illustrated History of England, published by Oxford University Press, 1991; pp. 104-111

(reproduced on Orbis Latinus with no commercial purpose)

On Christmas Day 1066 Duke William of Normandy was acclaimed king in Westminster Abbey. It was an electrifying moment. The shouts of acclamation - in English as well as in French - alarmed the Norman guards stationed outside the abbey. Believing that inside the church something had gone horribly wrong, they set fire to the neighbouring houses. Half a century later, a Norman monk recalled the chaos of that day. "As the fire spread rapidly, the people in the church were thrown into confusion and crowds of them rushed outside, some to fight the flames, others to take the chance to go looting. Only the monks, the bishops and a few clergy remained before the altar. Though they were terrified, they managed to carry on and complete the consecration of the king who was trembling violently."

Despite his victory at Hastings, despite the surrender of London and Winchester, William's position was still a precarious one and he had good reason to tremble. It was to take at least another five years before he could feel fairly confident that the conquest had been completed. There were risings against Norman rule in every year from 1067 to 1070: in Kent, in the south-west, in the Welsh marches, in the Fenland, and in the north. The Normans had to live like an army of occupation, living, eating, and sleeping together in operational units. They had to build castles - strong points from which a few men could dominate a subject population.

There may well have been no more than 10,000 Normans living in the midst of a hostile population of one or two million. This is not to say that every single Englishman actively opposed the Normans. Unquestionably there were many who co-operated with them; it was this which made possible the successful Norman take-over of so many Anglo-Saxon institutions. But there is plenty of evidence to show that the English resented becoming an oppressed majority in their own country. The years of insecurity were to have a profound effect on subsequent history. They meant that England received not just a new royal family but also a new ruling class, a new culture and language. Probably no other conquest in European history has had such disastrous consequences for the defeated.

Almost certainly this had not been William's original intention. In the early days many Englishmen were able to offer their submission and retain their lands. Yet by 1086 something had clearly changed.

"Domesday Book" is a record of a land deeply marked by the scars of conquest. In 1086 there were only two surviving English lords of any account. More than 4,000 thegns had lost their lands and been replaced by a group of less than 200 barons. A few of the new landlords were Bretons and men from Flanders and Lorraine but most were Normans. In the case of the Church we can put a date to William's anti-English policy. In 1070 he had some English bishops deposed and thereafter appointed no Englishman to either bishopric or abbey. In military matters, the harrying of the north during the winter of 1069-70 also suggests ruthlessness on a new scale at about this time. In Yorkshire this meant that between 1066 and 1086 land values fell by as much as two-thirds. But whenever and however it occurred it is certain that by 1086 Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was no more and its place had been taken by a new Norman elite. Naturally this new elite retained its old lands on the Continent; the result was that England and Normandy, once two separate states, now became a single cross-Channel political community, sharing not only a ruling dynasty, but also a single Anglo-Norman aristocracy. Given the advantages of water transport, the Channel no more divided England from Normandy than the Thames divided Middlesex from Surrey. From now on, until 1204, the histories of England and Normandy were inextricably interwoven.

Since Normandy was a principality ruled by a duke who owed homage to the king of France this also meant that from now on "English" politics became part of French politics. But the French connection went deeper still. The Normans, being Frenchmen, brought with them to England the French language and French culture. Moreover, we are not dealing with a single massive input of "Frenchness" in the generation after 1066 followed by a gradual reassertion of "Englishness". The Norman Conquest of 1066 was followed by an Angevin conquest of 1153-4; although this did not involve the settlement of a Loire Valley aristocracy in England, the effect of the arrival of the court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine was to reinforce the dominance of French culture.

Whereas in 1066 less than 30 per cent of Winchester property owners had non-English names, by 1207 the proportion had risen to over 80 per cent, mostly French names like William, Robert, and Richard. This receptiveness to Continental influence means that at this time it is the foreignness of English art that is most striking. In ecclesiastical architecture, for example, the European terms "Romanesque" and "Gothic" describe the fashionable styles much better than "Norman" and "Early English". Although churches built in England, like manuscripts illuminated in England, often contain some recognizably English elements, the designs which the architects and artists were adapting came from abroad, sometimes from the Mediterranean world (Italy, Sicily, or even Byzantium), usually from France. It was a French architect, William of Sens, who was called in to rebuild the choir of Canterbury Cathedral after the fire of 1174. Similarly Henry III's rebuilding of Westminster Abbey was heavily influenced by French models. Indeed so great was the pre-eminence of France in the fields of music, literature, and architecture, that French became a truly international rather than just a national language, a language spoken - and written - by anyone who wanted to consider himself civilized. Thus, in thirteenth-century England, French became, if anything, even more important than it had been before. Throughout most of the period covered by this chapter a well-educated Englishman was trilingual. English would be his mother tongue; he would have some knowledge of Latin, and he would speak fluent French. In this cosmopolitan society French was vital. It was the practical language of law and estate management as well as the language of song and verse, of chanson and romance. The Norman Conquest, in other words, ushered in a period during which England, like the kingdom of Jerusalem, can fairly be described as a part of France overseas, Outremer; in political terms, it was a French colony (though not, of course, one that belonged to the French king) until the early thirteenth century and a cultural colony thereafter.

It is hardly surprising, then, that generations of patriotic Englishmen should have looked upon the battle of Hastings as a national catastrophe. Yet even if we do not, as E. A. Freeman did, describe Paris as "beastly", it can still be argued that the Norman Conquest was the greatest disaster in English history. Not because it was predatory and destructive - though, of course, like any conquest it was both - but because of the problem of "1066 and All That". With 1066 as the most famous date in English history the Norman Conquest is a "blessedly well-known landmark". It is devastatingly easy to see it as a "new beginning" or a "significant turning-point". Almost everything that happened in late eleventh-century England has been discussed in terms of the impact of the Norman Conquest. But the second half of the eleventh century was a period of rapid development throughout Europe. Countries which suffered no Norman Conquest were, none the less, transformed. So there is the problem. In some respects 1066 wrought great changes; in other respects, great changes occurred but can hardly be ascribed to the Conquest; in yet others, the most striking feature is not change at all, but continuity.
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© Zdravko Batzarov

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orbilat.com - PotRLB
Periodization of the Romance Lexical Borrowings - 1066

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The Third Period (1066-1500)

The Third Period begins in 1066 with the Norman conquest. The Normans brought to England their language, "Norman French", which developed in the Middle ages from the Vulgar Latin. For centuries French was used as official language in England and Modern English derived from it a great part of its vocabulary. A brief classification by semantic fields shows the importance of the French lexical elements:

• state: "alliance", "authority", "crown", "empire", "emperor", "power", "realm", "reign", "sovereignty" ...
• administration: "assembly", "authority", "government", "parliament", "statute" ...
• forms of address: "damsel", "madame", "mister", "mistress" ("Mrs."), "sir", "sire" ...
• rank designation: "baron", "count", "duke", "marquis", "peer", "prince", "squire" ...
• office titles: "chamberlain", "chancellor", "constable", "marshal", "mayor", "minister", "warden" ...
• politics: "allegiance", "liberty", "public", "rebel", "traitor" ...
• war: "ambush", "archer", "army", "arms", "attack", "assail", "battle", "conquer", "defeat", "defense", "garrison", "levy", "military", "navy", "soldier", "spy", "vanquish", "war" ...
• finance: "budget", "exchequer", "revenue", "subsidy,  tally", "tax", "treasury" ...
• business: "bargain", "change", "commerce", "count", "enterprise", "market", "merchant", "pay", "purchase", "value" ...
• religion: "abbey", "cardinal", "convent", "faith", "friar", "image", "novice", "pity", "savior", "saint" ...
• law: "advocate", "attorney", "assize", "bail", "bar", "heir", "judge", "treaty" ...
• literature: "chapter", "lay", "parchment", "poet", "preface", "prose", "rime", "romance", "story", "volume" ...
• urbanization: "castle", "city", "village" ...
• architecture: "ceiling", "chamber", "chimney", "cloister", "edifice", "palace", "square", "tower" ...
• art: "beauty", "color", "figure", "paint", "sculpture", "tone" ...
• social status: "citizen", "marry", "peasant", "serf", "slave", "subject" ...
• human beings and body parts: "face", "female", "gender", "lips", "male", "stomach", "visage" ...
• relationships: "aunt", "cousin", "nephew", "niece", "uncle" ...
• professions: "carpenter", "chandler", "engineer" ...
• knighthood: "chivalry", "exploit", "feat", "joust", "pavilion", "tournament", "valor" ...
• grammar: "grammar", "noun", "language", "tense" ...
• cooking: "boil", "dinner", "fry", "parboil", "roast", "stew" ...
• foods: "bacon", "biscuit", "mutton", "pork", "potage", "prune", "raisin", "veal", "vinegar" ...
• furniture: "carpet", "chair", "curtain", "cushion", "lamp", "lantern", "table" ...
• medicine: "gout", "malady", "pain", "poison", "remedy", "surgery" ...
• botany: "cherry", "date", "fig", "fruit", "herb", "lemon", "melon", "olive", "orange", "peach", "pome" ...
• zoology: "eagle", "falcon", "lion", "mastiff", "spaniel", "squirrel", "terrier", "tiger", "quail", "viper" ...
• geography: "bay", "forest", "mount", "mountain", "river", "valley" ...
• important abstract terms: "glory", "memory", "victory" ...
• colors: "blue", "brown", "vermilion", "scarlet", "russet" ...
• the verbs in -ish: "establish", "finish", "furnish", "punish" etc. from the French Second Conjugation ...

morphological elements:

• the prefixes "en-" ("em-"), "mis-", "sur-": "endow", 2empower", "mischief", "surveil" ...
• the noun suffixes "-son", "-age", "-ment": "reason", "prison", "season", "voyage", "commitment" ...
• the nouns in "-or" ("-our"), "-ty", "-ure": "color", "dolor", "terror" ... "cruelty", "safety" ... "creature", "nature" ...
• the adjective suffixes "-ous", "-ve" etc.: "hideous", "brave" ...
• and a lot of other colloquial words: "acquire", "age", "car", "choice", "common", "core", "cry", "enter", "excuse", "fame", "fashon", "firm", "foreign", "joy", "obey", "peace", "people", "please", "poor", "prefer", "receive", "render", "rich", "save", "scent", "second", "serve", "sure", "travel", "use", "view", "voice", "wait" etc. etc.

After 1200 the French of England adopted a lot of words from the Central French dialects, especially from Francien, that eventually also passed to English. These words were marked by the palatalized [k] and [g] sounds in front of "a", the change of the initial "w-" in the Germanic words in "g-", "gu-", and a nasalized pronunciation represented by "-aun", cf.:

• "chain", "challenge", "change", "charge", "javelin" ...
• "gain", "guard" ...
• "avaunt", "daunt", "launch", "taunt" ...

Modern English inherited a lot of Norman / Francien pairs:

• "canal"  vs.  "channel",
• "catch"  vs.  "chase",
• "reward"  vs.  "regard".

Because of French relationship to Latin, the French words are considered along with those drawn from Latin itself (often more learned, and first found in written language). The dual sources of English vocabulary are well apparent today in word (French / Latin) pairs (often with rather diverged meanings) as:

• "feat"  vs.  "fact",
• "frail"  vs.  "fragile",
• "reason"  vs.  "ration" ...

A lot of triple (Norman / Francien / Latin) correspondences may be shown also:

• "leal"  vs.  "loyal"  vs.  "legal";
• "real"  vs.  "royal"  vs.  "regal".

Modern English preserved many medieval French words that became obsolete or were forgotten in modern French:

• "close", "feature", "fuel", "remain" ...

During the Third Period Latin words were often introduced without orthographical adaptation, in both prose (Trevisa's translation of De Proprietatibus Rerum) and poetry (Dunbar et al.). The translator of the Myroure of Oure Ladye complained in the early 1400s:

• "There ys many wordes in Latyn that we have no propre Englysh accordynge therto."

Almost all of these aureate terms passed into general use only after being reintroduced. Others still current were from Wycliffe's Bible, and gained currency through constant use.

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orbilat.com - TDoFiE
The Domination of French in England
by Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable

Excerpts from The Norman Conquest and the Subjection of English, 1066-1200, a chapter from A History of the English Language, 3rd. ed. (1978)

• 81. The Norman Conquest.
• 82. The Origin of Normandy.
• 83. The Year 1066.
• 84. The Norman Settlement.
• 85. The Use of French by the Upper Class.
• 86. Circumstances Promoting the Continued Use of French.
• 87. The Attítude toward English.
• 88. French Literature at the English Court.
• 89. Fusion of the Two Peoples.
• 90. The Diffusion of French and English.
• 91. Knowledge of English among the Upper Class.
• 92. Knowledge of French among the Middle Class.

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oxforddictionaries.com
1066 and after

The history of English
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1066 and after

The centuries after the Norman Conquest witnessed enormous changes in the English language. In the course of what is called the Middle English period, the fairly rich inflectional system of Old English broke down. It was replaced by what is broadly speaking, the same system English has today, which unlike Old English makes very little use of distinctive word endings in the grammar of the language. The vocabulary of English also changed enormously, with tremendous numbers of borrowings from French and Latin, in addition to the Scandinavian loanwords already mentioned, which were slowly starting to appear in the written language. Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for foreign words and phrases (although both Old English and modern German show plenty of loanwords), whereas Middle English acquired the habit that modern English retains today of readily accommodating foreign words. Trilingualism in English, French, and Latin was common in the worlds of business and the professions, with words crossing over from one language to another with ease. You only have to flick through the etymologies of any English dictionary to get an impression of the huge number of words entering English from French and Latin during the later medieval period. This trend was set to continue into the early modern period with the explosion of interest in the writings of the ancient world.
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oxfordreference.com
1066

1066

• On his death bed in Westminster, Edward the Confessor designates Harold - foremost among England's barons - as his successor
• Edward the Confessor is buried in his new abbey church at Westminster, consecrated only the previous week
• On the day of Edward's burial, Harold is crowned king - almost certainly in the same abbey church at Westminster
• Halley's comet, appearing in the Normans' annus mirabilis, is later depicted in the Bayeux tapestry
• Harold defeats at Stamford Bridge the joint army of his brother Tostig and of the Norwegian king, Harald Hardraade
• The Normans, as seen in the Bayeux tapestry, invade England in Viking longships with fortified platforms for archers
• Harold, hurrying south to confront the Normans after his victory at Stamford Bridge, is defeated and killed at Hastings
• "William the Conqueror" is crowned on Christmas Day at Westminster - giving the new abbey church two coronations and a royal funeral in its first year

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Pardon my French (W3)

• "French disease" = "genital herpes"
• "French door" = die "Fenstertür"
• "French fries" pl. [Amer.] = die "Pommes frites"
• "French horn" = das "Waldhorn"
• "French kiss" = der "Zungenkuss"
• "French kiss" = implies the gratuitous use of the tongue
• "French leave" = "to be absent without leave" = "ohne Erlaubnis abwesend"
• "French letter" = an archaic nickname for a "condom"
• "French novels" (i. e. "sexually explicit")
• "French pox" = "genital herpes"
• "French-sick" = "syphillis"
• "French leave" = "leaving a gathering without saying goodbye and thanking the host"

• pardon my french Dennis R. Preston
• pardon my french GEORGE THOMPSON
• pardon my french Laurence Horn

"pardon my French" / "excuse my French" - an apology for using crude language.

The word "French" has long been used in the English language to express crudeness, stemming from the rivalry, envy and xenophobia that has characterised England's relationship with France and the French for more than a thousand years. Examples include "french letter", "french kiss", "french postcards", and other sexual references. The expression "french leave", meaning to take or use something and depart without paying or giving thanks (based on the reputed behaviour of invading French soldiers) had been in use for several hundred years prior to Brewer's reference of the phrase in 1870.

All of this no doubt reinforced and contributed to the "pardon my french" expression. However, "Pardon my french" may actually have even earlier origins: In the three to four hundred years that followed the Norman invasion of England in 1066, the Norman-style French language became the preferred tongue of the governing, educated and upper classes, a custom which cascaded from the Kings and installed Norman and Breton landowners of of the times. The majority of the population however continued to speak English (in its developing form of the time), which would have provided very fertile circumstances for an expression based on language and cultural mockery. And, perhaps another contending origin: It is said that the Breton people (from "Brittany" in France) swear in French because they have no native swear words of their own. Might this have been the earliest beginning of the expression?

This expression is an apology for using crude language. The word "French" has long been used in the English language to express crudeness, stemming from the rivalry, envy and xenophobia that have characterized England's relationship with France for more than a thousand years.

It also might come from the time of the Norman invasion of England in 1066, when the Norman-style French became the preferred language of the upper classes, while the majority of the population continued to speak English.

Why isn’t it "Pardon my German?" Here’s part answer, part mystery

Often an idiom, “an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its parts,” can seem  like something from “Alice in Wonderland.”  One of the most colorful such idioms combines the profane with a language associated with love.

"Pardon my French", or "excuse my French", is an apology for the use of profanity; the expression dates from 1895. "Pardon" is derived from the old French "pardoner" meaning, "to grant", "forgive".

So why not "Pardon my German" or "Excuse my Mandarin?" One explanation suggests that during the 19th century, the English often used French words in conversation - a foreign language to most people living in England at the time. Realizing the listener may not have understood, the speaker would apologize by saying, "Pardon my French."

Why did the phrase become associated with profanity? That’s an enigma. Perhaps the collective knowledge of you, our readers, can provide some insight. What do you think is the reason? Let us know.

Pardon my French

Why Do We Say “Pardon My French” When We Curse?

BY Matt Soniak October 26, 2012
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The phrase appears in the U.S. in this usage as early as the 1800s, and linguists think that it derives from a more literal usage. That is, English speakers dropped French words or phrases into conversation — whether to display their culture, refinement or social class, or because sometimes only a French phrase has that certain je ne sais quoi — and then apologized for it if the listener wasn’t familiar with the word or didn’t speak the language.

An example of this usage pops up in the 18th - 19th century British fashion magazine The Lady’s Magazine, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement in 1830: “Bless me, how fat you are grown! Absolutely as round as a ball. You will soon be as enbon-point ("excuse my French") as your poor dear father, the major.”

The phrase may have been appropriated for covering foul language because it fits the habit of ascribing unsavory habits or objects to the French through nicknames in English. For example, taking "French leave" is leaving a gathering without saying goodbye and thanking the host; "French letter" is an archaic nickname for a condom; “French kiss” implies the gratuitous use of the tongue; and herpes used to be widely known as the “French disease.”

Pardon my French

The phrase "pardon my French", in which "French" refers to "bad language", is employed when the speaker feels compelled to use an obscenity despite having listeners who might be offended. It's a late 19th century euphemism which first appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1895.

It is thought that the term "French" is employed in this sense as it already had a history of association with things considered vulgar. As far back as the early 16th century, "French pox" and the "French disease" were synonyms for "genital herpes", and "French-sick" was another term for "syphillis". The OED also equates the adjective "French" with "spiciness", as in "French letter" for "condom", "French kiss" (1923) and "French novels" (i. e. "sexually explicit") (from 1749).

English seems to have habit of using words of nationality in a negative manner: see "Mexican standoff" for more examples.

Pardon my French

If you'll pardon my French

Pardon Our French

Posted by Grant Barrett on April 17, 2010 · Add Comment

South African English is a rich mix of Afrikaans, English, and indigenous languages such as Zulu and Xhosa. Martha and Grant discuss some favorite terms from that part of the world, including "lekker", "diski", and "ubuntu". Also, where’d we get the term "hurt locker" and why do we say "pardon my French" after cursing? What’s the difference between "supposedly" and "supposably"? And is having a vast vocabulary filled with obscure words really all that important?

This episode first aired April 17, 2010.

Pardon my French!
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The phrase began to appear around the first third of the nineteenth century, the excuse version then being more common.
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The background is the centuries-old adversarial relationship between the English and the French, which had culminated in the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the century. French had long appeared as one element in deprecatory formations, often with implications of sexual adventurousness or explicitness — "French pox" (syphilis), "French letter" (condom), and "French novel" and "French print" (pornographic material) — together with "French leave" (going somewhere without asking permission). There is a parallel with the "Dutch", who had been maritime competitors of the English in the seventeenth century and whose name appears in such formations as "Dutch uncle" and "Dutch comfort".

The compliment has been returned: in France, "French leave" is "filer à l’anglaise", "to flee in an English way", a "French letter" is a "capote anglaise", an "English cap", and the "French pox" has been called la "maladie anglaise". Then there’s le "malaise anglais" and le "vice anglais", which seem to have been used for everything the French have from time to time found distasteful about the English: rickets, economic incompetence, football hooliganism, depression, food, flagellation and homosexuality.

The earliest examples, however, are attached to actual French words and phrases. Most seem to have been genuine apologies for using a French term that the listener might not have understood:
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royal.uk
1066 in the Royal Encyclopaedia

• William I 'The Conqueror' (r. 1066-1087) - Read more
• Harold II (r. Jan- Oct 1066) - Read more
• Edgar Atheling (r. Oct- Dec 1066) - Read more
• Edward III 'The Confessor' (r. 1042-1066) - Read more
• The Normans
• Anglo Saxon Kings

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sciencedaily.com
English is a Scandinavian language

Linguist makes sensational claim: English is a Scandinavian language

Date: November 27, 2012

Source: University of Oslo

Summary:

"Have you considered how easy it is for us Norwegians to learn English?" asks Jan Terje Faarlund, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo. "Obviously there are many English words that resemble ours. But there is something more: its fundamental structure is strikingly similar to Norwegian. We avoid many of the usual mistakes because the grammar is more or less the same."

Faarlund and his colleague Joseph Emmonds, visiting professor from Palacký University in the Czech Republic, now believe they can prove that English is in reality a Scandinavian language, in other words it belongs to the Northern Germanic language group, just like Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. This is totally new and breaks with what other language researchers and the rest of the world believe, namely that English descends directly from Old English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is a West Germanic language, which the Angles and Saxons brought with them from Northern Germany and Southern Jylland when they settled in the British Isles in the fifth century.

Old English died out

"Modern English is a direct descendant of the language of Scandinavians who settled in the British Isles in the course of many centuries, before the French-speaking Normans conquered the country in 1066," says Faarlund. He points out that Old English and Modern English are two very different languages. Why?

"We believe it is because Old English quite simply died out while Scandinavian survived, albeit strongly influenced of course by Old English," he says.

The 'cohabitation' between the British and the Scandinavians was largely hostile. Both fought for political hegemony. The descendants of the Vikings gained control of the eastern and northern parts of the country. The Danelaw was under the control of Scandinavian chiefs for half a century.

Like most colonists, the Scandinavian-speaking inhabitants found no reason to switch to the language of the country they had arrived in. "One especially important, geographic point in our study is that the East Midlands region, where the spoken language later developed into Modern English, coincides almost exactly with the densely populated, southern part of the Danelaw," says the professor.

The language changed a great deal in the period after the Normans arrived. The miserable conditions people lived in at the time resulted in a complete merger of the two previously separate groups of people - the Old English speakers and the Scandinavian speakers - and out of this came Middle English - the predecessor of Modern English.

Adopted words they already had

The language adopted many words from the Danelaw's inhabitants who were of Norwegian and Danish descent. For example, all the lexical words in this sentence are Scandinavian: He took the knife and cut the steak. Only "he", "the" and "and" come from Old English.

"What is particularly interesting is that Old English adopted words for day-to-day things that were already in the language. Usually one borrows words and concepts for new things. In English almost the reverse is true - the day-to-day words are Scandinavian, and there are many of them," says Faarlund.

Here are some examples: "anger", "awe", "bag", "band", "big", "birth", "both", "bull", "cake", "call", "cast", "cosy", "cross", "die", "dirt", "dream", "egg", "fellow", "flat", "gain", "get", "gift", "give", "guess", "guest", "hug", "husband", "ill", "kid", "law", "leg", "lift", "likely", "link", "loan", "loose", "low", "mistake", "odd", "race", "raise", "root", "rotten", "same", "seat", "seem", "sister", "skill", "skin", "skirt", "sky", "steak", "though", "thrive", "Thursday", "tight", "till", "trust", "ugly", "want", "weak", "window", "wing", "wrong".

The researchers believe that Old English already had 90 per cent of these concepts in its own vocabulary.

Took over the grammar

But the Scandinavian element was not limited to the vocabulary, which is normal when languages come into contact with each other. Even though a massive number of new words are on their way into a language, it nevertheless retains its own grammar. This is almost a universal law.

"But in England grammatical words and morphemes - in other words the smallest abstract, meaningful linguistic unit - were also adopted from Scandinavian and survive in English to this day."

Scandinavian syntax

The two researchers show that the sentence structure in Middle English - and thus also Modern English - is Scandinavian and not Western Germanic. "It is highly irregular to borrow the syntax and structure from one language and use it in another language. In our days the Norwegians are borrowing words from English, and many people are concerned about this. However, the Norwegian word structure is totally unaffected by English. It remains the same. The same goes for the structure in English: it is virtually unaffected by Old English."

"How can you illustrate this?"

"We can show that wherever English differs syntactically from the other Western Germanic languages - German, Dutch, Frisian - it has the same structure as the Scandinavian languages." Here are some examples:

* Word order: In English and Scandinavian the object is placed after the verb:

• I have read the book.
• Eg har lese boka.

German and Dutch (and Old English) put the verb at the end.

• Ich habe das Buch gelesen.

* English and Scandinavian can have a preposition at the end of the sentence.

• This we have talked about.
• Dette har vi snakka om.

* English and Scandinavian can have a split infinitive, i.e. we can insert a word between the infinitive marker and the verb.

• I promise to never do it again.
• Eg lovar å ikkje gjera det igjen.

* Group genitive:

• The Queen of England's hat.
• Dronninga av Englands hatt.

"All of this is impossible in German or Dutch, and these kinds of structures are very unlikely to change within a language. The only reasonable explanation then is that English is in fact a Scandinavian language, and a continuation of the Norwegian-Danish language which was used in England during the Middle Ages."

"But why the inhabitants of the British Isles chose the Scandinavian grammar is something we can only speculate on," says Jan Terje Faarlund.

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sciencedaily.com
Viking Legacy On English

Viking Legacy On English:

What Language Tells Us About Immigration And Integration

Date: April 22, 2009

Source: University of Nottingham

Summary:

They're a firm part of our language and even speak to us of our national culture -- but some words aren't quite as English as we think. Terms such as "law", "ugly", "want" and "take" are all loanwords from Old Norse, brought to these shores by the Vikings, whose attacks on England started in AD 793.

They’re a firm part of our language and even speak to us of our national culture — but some words aren’t quite as English as we think.

Terms such as "law", "ugly", "want" and "take" are all loanwords from Old Norse, brought to these shores by the Vikings, whose attacks on England started in AD 793. In the centuries following it wasn’t just warfare and trade that the invaders gave England. Their settlement and subsequent assimilation into the country’s culture brought along the introduction of something much more permanent than the silk, spices and furs that weighed down their longboats — words.
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The loanwords which appear in English — such as "husband" — suggest that the invaders quickly integrated with their new culture. The English language soon adopted day-to-day terms, suggesting that the cultures lived side-by-side and were soon on intimate terms. This is in marked contrast to French loanwords. Though there are many more of these terms present in the standard English language — around 1,000 Scandinavian to more than 10,000 French — they tend to refer to high culture, law, government and hunting. French continued to be the language of the Royal Court for centuries after the invasion in 1066. In contrast, Old Norse had probably completely died out in England by the 12th century, indicating total cultural assimilation by the Scandinavian invaders.

Another clear indicator of this is the type of loanwords seen in English. The majority of loanwords tend to nouns, words and adjectives, open-ended categories which are easily adapted into a language. But one of the most commonly-seen loanwords in English today is "they" — a pronoun with its origins in Old Norse. Pronouns are a closed category, far more difficult to adapt into a new language, which again indicates a closeness between the two languages and cultures not present in previous or subsequent invading forces.

Dr Pons-Sanz has ‘cleaned up’ the list of loanwords thought to have come to English from Old Norse by painstakingly tracking the origins of each word. Her original texts include legal codes, homilies, charters, literary texts and inscriptions. By comparing the texts chronologically and dialectally, the introduction and integration of words can be tracked. For example, the word "fellow" — which came from an Old Norse word originally meaning "business partner" — is first attested in East Anglia.

Dr Pons-Sanz said: “Language is constantly evolving; loanwords are being assimilated into English — and other languages — all the time. By examining the types of words that are adopted, we can gain insight into the relationships between different cultures.”

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thehistoryofenglish.com
Norman Conquest

"William the Conqueror" (from Bayeux Tapestry)

The event that began the transition from Old English to Middle English was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when "William the Conqueror" (Duke of Normandy and, later, William I of England) invaded the island of Britain from his home base in northern France, and settled in his new acquisition along with his nobles and court. William crushed the opposition with a brutal hand and deprived the Anglo-Saxon earls of their property, distributing it to Normans (and some English) who supported him.
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theweek.com
What the English of Shakespeare, Beowulf, and King Arthur actually sounded like

James Harbeck, March 20, 2015

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Shakespearean England

First stop: the early 1600s. The time of Shakespeare! Of course the English of Shakespeare and the King James Bible may seem flowery, but it's basically just an older version of what we speak now. In fact, it's what linguists call Early Modern English. But the way they spoke it was not quite what we probably expect — or what you hear in the movies. Do you imagine some Queen's English accent? Or perhaps Cockney for the lower classes? Guess what: the way they spoke it would sound to us more like a mix of Irish and pirate. Here, listen to Ben Crystal (son of linguist David Crystal) perform a sonnet in the pronunciation of Shakespeare's time: ...

Medieval England

Next stop: the 1300s. That's when Geoffrey Chaucer lived. Do you remember the Canterbury Tales? Here's how it starts: ...

You can probably sort out what's being said, generally. It has a few differences here and there, but with a little help and attention you can figure it out. But could you carry on a conversation in it? Could you even understand it if you heard it? Here's how it sounded, as read by Diane Jones: ...

Let's take the time machine back just another century — still in the Middle English period — and have a listen to a song from that time, as sung by the lovely ensemble Anonymous 4: ...

Here's a bit of the text (the þ characters are how we used to write th): ...

But wait, there's more. A lot more. So far, we're still after English lost most of its heavy noun inflections and complex verbal conjugations — and changed a lot of its words. We can thank invaders for that: French in the south (starting in 1066) and Scandinavians in the north (starting in the mid-800s but having more influence later on). Before they got to it, English was a whole other thing…

Old English

Old English is a bit of a misleading name. It's not understandable at all to modern English speakers; you'd have an easier time learning Dutch or Danish. Some people prefer to call it Anglo-Saxon, since it's the language that was brought over by the Angles and Saxons, invaders from northern Germany who took over Britain in the 600s.

The most famous bit of literature from the Old English period is Beowulf. I'm sure we all know the beginning of Beowulf, right? No? Well, if you don't, here it is: ...

Now get back into the machine. We're going to the 400s and 500s, to the time of King Arthur (if he existed).

Arthurian Britain

Did King Arthur speak Old English? Noooo. Do you remember that I said the Angles and Saxons took over Britain in the 600s? Arthurian Britain was before the Germanic invaders came and made the place England (Angle-land). What Arthur and his knights of the round table, and all the other people around then and there, would have been speaking was something we now call "Brythonic" or "Brittonic": a Celtic language. Completely unlike modern English. ...

Brittonic didn't stop existing when the Anglo-Saxons invaded, you see. Anglo-Saxon didn't simply replace it. The people who spoke it retreated, some to Wales, some to Cornwall, some a little farther. Over the centuries, the language of the ones who retreated to Wales became modern Welsh, in which "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll" means "Parish of St. Mary in White Hazel Hollow". The language of those who retreated to Cornwall became Cornish, which was quite nearly wiped out in recent centuries, but is having a bit of a revival.

But our time machine is following the ones who kept the name of the Britons. They retreated across the English Channel — to a part of France that came to be named after them: "Bretagne", or, in English, "Brittany". The Celtic language spoken there, "Breton", is descended from "Brittonic", the language of King Arthur (with some French influence, of course). Listen to the Breton singer Nolwenn Leroy singing a Breton song about three young sailors (tri martolod yaouank): ...

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thoughtco.com
A History of the Norman Conquest of 1066

Key Events in the History of the English Language

Timelines of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English
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Mid 11th century Edward the Confessor, King of England who was raised in Normandy, names William, Duke of Normandy, as his heir.

1066 The Norman Invasion: King Harold is killed at the Battle of Hastings, and William of Normandy is crowned King of England. Over succeeding decades, Norman French becomes the language of the courts and of the upper classes; English remains the language of the majority. Latin is used in churches and schools. For the next century, English, for all practical purposes, is no longer a written language.
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Invasions of England: Battle of Hastings

By Kennedy Hickman

Updated May 17, 2016

Battle of Hastings - Conflict:

The Battle of Hastings was part of the invasions of England that followed the death of King Edward the Confessor in 1066.

Battle of Hastings - Date: William of Normandy's victory at Hastings occurred on October 14, 1066.

Armies & Commanders:

• Normans, William of Normandy, Odo of Bayeux, 7,000-8,000 men
• Anglo-Saxons, Harold Godwinson, 7,000-8,000 men

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William's invasion marks the last time that Britain was conquered by an outside force and earned him the nickname "the Conqueror."

by Robert Wilde

Updated April 07, 2017

In 1066, England experienced (some contemporaries might say suffered) one of the few successful invasions in its history. While Duke William of Normandy needed several years and a firm military grip to finally secure his hold on the English nation, his major rivals were eliminated by the end of the Battle of Hastings, one of the most pivotal events in English history.

Edward the Confessor was king of England until 1066, but a set of events during his childless reign had seen the succession disputed by a group of powerful rivals.

William, Duke of Normandy, might have been promised the throne in 1051, but he certainly claimed it when Edward died. Harold Godwineson, leader of the most powerful aristocratic family in England and long term hopeful for the throne, was supposed to have had it promised to him while Edward was dying.

The situation was complicated by Harold possibly having sworn an oath to support William, albeit while under duress, and Harold’s exiled brother Tostig, who allied with Harald III Hardrada, King of Norway after persuading him to try for the throne. The result of Edward’s death on Jan 5th, 1066 was that Harold was in control of England with the English armies and a largely allied aristocracy, while the other claimants were in their lands and with little direct power in England. Harold was a proven warrior with access to large English lands and wealth, which he could use to sponsor/bribe supporters.

The scene was set for a power struggle, but Harold had the advantage.
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Consequences

Historians once attributed many administrative changes to the Normans, but increasing amounts are now believed to be Anglo-Saxon: effective tax and other systems were already in place under the preceding governments. However, the Normans worked on tweaking them, and Latin became the official tongue.
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There is also an embroidery of unknown origin - the Bayeux Tapestry - which showed the events of the conquest.

The Consequences of the Norman Conquest

by Robert Wilde

Updated September 25, 2017

William of Normandy’s success in the Norman Conquest of 1066, when he seized the crown from Harold II, used to be credited with bringing in a host of new legal, political and social changes to England, effectively marking 1066 as the start of a new age in English history. Historians now believe the reality is more nuanced, with more inherited from the Anglo-Saxons, and more developed as a reaction to what was happening in England, rather than the Normans simply recreating Normandy in their new land.

Nevertheless, the Norman Conquest still bought many changes. The following is a list of the major effects.

Anglo-Saxon elites, the largest landholders in England, were replaced by Franco-Normans. Those Anglo-Saxons nobles who had survived the battles of 1066 had the chance to serve William and retain power and land, but many rebelled over contentious issues, and soon William had turned away from compromise to importing loyal men from the continent. By William’s death, the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was all but replaced. In the "Domesday book" of 1086, there are only four large English landowners. However, there may only have been around 25,000 Franco-Normans out of a population of two million when William died. There was not a massive importation of a new Norman population, just the people at the top.

Much of the upper reaches of church government was replaced. By 1087, eleven of fifteen bishops were Norman, and only one of the other four was English. The church had power over people and land, and now William had power over them.

Castles: Anglo-Saxons did not, in general, build castles, and the Normans started a huge building programme in order to help secure their power. The most common early type was wooden, but stone followed. The castle building habits of the Normans has left a mark on England still visible to the eye (and the tourist industry is thankful for it.)

The importance of receiving land from a lord in return for loyalty and service grew enormously under the Normans, who created a system of land tenure unmatched in Europe. Quite how homogenous this system was (probably not very), and whether it can be called feudal (probably not) are still being discussed. Before the conquest, Anglo-Saxons owed an amount of service based on regularised units of land holding; afterward, they owed service based entirely on the settlement they had achieved with their overlord or the king.

The idea that a person held two types of land - his ‘patrimony’ / family land which he had inherited, and his extended lands which he had conquered - and the idea that these lands could go to different heirs, came into England with the Normans. Familial relationships, of heirs to parents, changed as a result.

The links between Scandinavia and England were deeply severed. Instead, England was brought closer to events in France and this region of the continent, leading to the Angevin Empire and then the Hundred Years War. Before 1066 England had seemed destined to stay in the orbit of Scandinavian, whose conquerors had taken hold of large chunks of the British Isles. After 1066 England looked south.

Increased use of writing in government. While the Anglo-Saxons had written some things down, Anglo-Norman government vastly increased it.

After 1070, Latin replaced English as the language of government.

The power of the earls was reduced after Anglo-Saxon rebellions. Earls now held less land, with correspondingly reduced wealth and influence.

Royal forests, with their own laws, were created.

Higher taxes: most monarchs are criticised for heavy taxes, and William I was no exception. But he had to raise funds for the occupation and pacification of England.

A new court, known as the Lords, honourial or seigniorial, was created. They were held, as the name suggests, by lords for their tenants, and have been called a key part of the “feudal” system.

Murdrum fines: if a Norman was killed, and the killer not identified, the entire English community could be fined. That this law was needed perhaps reflects on the problems faced by the Norman raiders.

Trial by battle was introduced.

There was a large decline in the numbers of free peasants, who were lower class workers who could quit their land in search of new landlords.

Far more English land was given to continental monasteries, to hold as ‘alien priories’, then before the Norman Conquest. Indeed, more monasteries were founded in England.

Continental architecture was imported en mass. Every major Anglo-Saxon cathedral or abbey, apart from Westminster, was rebuilt bigger and more fashionably. Parish churches were also widely rebuilt in stone.

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tripod.com - geoff
The Effect of 1066 on the English Language

All is the same - All is changed

The Effect of 1066 on the English Language.

by Geoff Boxell

The English language that is spoken today is the direct result of 1066 and the Norman Conquest. Modern English is vastly different from that spoken by the English prior to the Conquest, both in its word-hoard and its grammar. In order to understand what happened, and why, it is necessary to look at both English and Norman French before 1066, and then the Middle English that resulted from their interaction.

• Old English ...
• Norman French ...
• Middle English ... So, how had the changes come about? When the Norse had settled in England they brought with them a language that was from the same linguistic family, and indeed enabled them to be understood by their English neighbours. The culture was also similar, not surprising considering that the original English had come from Scania, Denmark and the North Sea coast bordering Denmark. In addition the new comers supplemented, rather than replaced, both the aristocracy and the commons. As a result assimilation was very quick and easy even before the fighting stopped. The Normans brought with them an alien culture and language. Add to this their social status as the new ruling class, and it is no shock to find that assimilation was slower, and the new society and language that emerged was so radically changed from that which they found when they arrived uninvited in 1066. ...

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typepad.com
Party Like It's 1066

September 22, 2008

Party Like It's 1066

Can you believe it's already been 942 years since the Battle of Hastings? Seems like only yesterday. Garrison Keillor is celebrating all week on his Writer's Almanac radio segment, with interesting bits about the influence of the French-speaking Normans on the English language. If you missed today's radio broadcast, you can read a transcript, listen, or download the podcast.
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This week,, we celebrate the anniversary of the Norman invasion of 1066. It was this week in 1066 that "William the Conqueror" of Normandy first arrived on British soil. The French-speaking Normans eventually defeated Old English-speaking Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066 — which had a larger and more pronounced effect on the development of the English language than any other event in history. Within the course of a few centuries, English went from being a strictly Germanic language to one infused with a large Latinate vocabulary, which came via French.

The Normans of course imposed their ideas and practices of governing on their conquered English subjects, and our vocabulary still reflects a huge number of French-based words. Government is a word of French origin that came in during Middle English. The Old French word is governer from Latin "to steer" or "to rule."
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Uni Duisburg-Essen
History of English

History of English
- a brief introduction a brief introduction

Raymond Hickey - English Linguistics - University of Duisburg and Essen
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There are three main divisions in the history of English and these were reflected in the presentations which were given during the term:

• Old English (450 to 1066)
• Middle English (1066 to 1500)
• Early Modern English (1500 onwards)

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Old English Old English (450-1066)

External history

• The coming of the Germanic tribes to England (c 450)
• The Christianisationof England (c 600)
• The Scandinavian invasions (c 800)

Literature

• Epic literature: Beowulf (c 800, manuscript from c 1000)
• Minor poetry (600 onwards)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (8th century onwards)

Structure of language

• Sound system
• Grammatical system
• Vocabulary (Latin borrowings; Scandinavian borrowings)

Middle English Middle English (1100-1500)

External history

• The coming of the Anglo-Normans to England (1066)
• The break with France (1204)
• The introduction of printing (1476)

Literature

• Continuations of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• Alliterative verse revival (14th century)
• Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1399)

Structure of language

• Sound system
• Grammatical system
• Vocabulary (Anglo-Norman and Central borrowings)

Early Modern English Early Modern English (1500 onwards)

External history

• The Renaissance in England (16th century and later)
• Development of overseas colonies (17th century and later)
• Transporationof English to the Caribbean, North American
• Civil war in England and later Restoration
• 18th century: Transportation of English to overseas locations
• The development of prescriptive attitudes in 18th and 19th century England

Literature

• 16th century writers
• The age of Shakespeare
• Restoration writers (drama)
• The Augustan age
• The rise of the novel (18th century)
• 19th centrypoetry and prose
• Journalistic literature from pamphlets to newspapers

Structure of language

• Sound system The Great Vowel Shift
• Grammatical system
• Vocabulary
• The Inkhorn Controversy
• Classical borrowings, Latin and Greek
• Later French loans, borrowings from other languages

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Periods in the development of English Periods in the development of English

It is common to divide the history of English into three periodsand old, a middle and an early modern one. The justification for this is partly external and partly internal.

• The Old English period begins in the middle of the 5th century with the coming of Germanic tribes to settle in England.
• The Middle English period begins with the conquest of England by Normans after their success in the Battle of Hastingsin 1066, the end of this period is marked by the introduction of printing by William Caxtonin 1476.
• The early modern period begins with the 16th century and is characterisedby an expansion in vocabulary by borrowing from classical languages, by the gradual conclusion ofthe Great Vowel Shift (see below) and by the regularisation of English grammar after the demise of the language's former inflectional morphology.

... Middle English Middle English

After the invasion of England by the Normans in 1066, the West Saxon 'standard', which was waning anyway due to natural language change, was dealt a death blow. Norman French became the language of the English court and clergy. English sank to the level of a patois (an unwritten dialect). With the loss of England for the French in 1204 English gradually emerged as a literary language again. For the development of the later standard it is important to note (1) that it was London which was now the centre of the country and (2) that printing was introduced into England in the late 15th century (1476 by Caxton). This latter fact contributed more than any single factor to the standardisationof English. It is obvious that for the production of printing fonts a standard form of the language must be agreed upon. This applied above all to spelling, an area of English which wasquite chaotic in the pre-printing days of the Middle English period.
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Danish Kings

• 1016-1035 Cnut (Canute)
• 1040-1042 Harthacnut
• 1035-1037 Harold (Regent)
• 1042-1066 Edward (the Confessor)
• 1037-1040 Harold I (Harefoot)
• 1066 Harold II

Norman Kings

• 1066-1087 William I (the Conqueror)
• 1087-1100 William II (Rufus)
• 1100-1135 Henry I

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Uni Rice
A Brief History of English

A Brief History of English, with Chronology
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The Norman Invasion and Conquest of 1066 was a cataclysmic event that brought new rulers and new cultural, social and linguistic influences to the British Isles. The Norman French ruling minority dominated the church, government, legal, and educational systems for three centuries. The Norman establishment used French and Latin, leaving English as the language of the illiterate and powerless majority. During this period English adopted thousands of words from Norman French and from Latin, and its grammar changed rather radically. By the end of that time, however, the aristocracy had adopted English as their language and the use and importance of French gradually faded. The period from the Conquest to the reemergence of English as a full-fledged literary language is called Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, in Middle English in the late 1300s.
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1066

January. Edward dies childless, apparently recommending Harold Godwinson as successor. Harold duly chosen by Wessex earls, as nearest of kin to the crown is only an infant. Mercian and Northumbrian earls are hesitant to go along with choice of Harold.

William of Normandy claims that Harold once promised to support HIM as successor to Edward. Harold denies it. William prepares to mount an invasion. Ready by summer, but the winds are unfavorable for sailing.

September. Harald Hardradi of Norway decides this is a good time to attack England. Harold Godwinson rushes north and crushes Hardradi's army at Stamford Bridge. The winds change, and William puts to sea. Harold rushes back down to the south coast to try to repel William's attack. Mercians and Northumbrians are supposed to march down to help him, but never do. They don't realize what's in store for them.

October. Harold is defeated and killed at the battle of Hastings.

December. William of Normandy crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.

Excursus: The Bayeux Tapestry

1066-1075

William crushes uprisings of Anglo-Saxon earls and peasants with a brutal hand; in Mercia and Northumberland, uses (literal) scorched earth policy, decimating population and laying waste the countryside. Anglo-Saxon earls and freemen deprived of property; many enslaved. William distributes property and titles to Normans (and some English) who supported him. Many of the English hereditary titles of nobility date from this period.

English becomes the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves). Norman French becomes the language of the court and propertied classes. The legal system is redrawn along Norman lines and conducted in French. Churches, monasteries gradually filled with French-speaking functionaries, who use French for record-keeping. After a while, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is no longer kept up. Authors write literature in French, not English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language.

Bilingualism gradually becomes more common, especially among those who deal with both upper and lower classes. Growth of London as a commercial center draws many from the countryside who can fill this socially intermediate role.
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Uni Texas
Old English Online
In 1066 numerous words came to be adopted from French and Latin

Old English Online

Series Introduction

Jonathan Slocum and Winfred P. Lehmann

Old English is the language of the Germanic inhabitants of England, dated from the time of their settlement in the 5th century to the end of the 11th century. It is also referred to as Anglo-Saxon, a name given in contrast with the Old Saxon of the inhabitants of northern Germany; these are two of the dialects of West Germanic, along with Old Frisian, Old Franconian, and Old High German. Sister families to West Germanic are North Germanic, with Old Norse (a.k.a. Old Icelandic) as its chief dialect, and East Germanic, with Gothic as its chief (and only attested) dialect. The Germanic parent language of these three families, referred to as Proto-Germanic, is not attested but may be reconstructed from evidence within the families, such as provided by Old English texts.

Old English itself has three dialects: "West Saxon", "Kentish", and "Anglian". West Saxon was the language of Alfred the Great (871-901) and therefore achieved the greatest prominence; accordingly, the chief Old English texts have survived in this dialect. In the course of time, Old English underwent various changes such as the loss of final syllables, which also led to simplification of the morphology. Upon the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066, numerous words came to be adopted from French and, subsequently, also from Latin.

For a reconstruction of the parent language of Old English, called Proto-Germanic, see Winfred Lehmann's book on this subject. For a sketch of the evolution of the Germanic and other Indo-European language families, with links to online maps showing homeland areas, see IE Maps. For access to our online version of Bosworth and Toller's dictionary of Old English, see An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.
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universalis.fr
Grande-Bretagne, histoire, le Moyen Âge de 1066 à 1485

Grande-Bretagne, histoire, le Moyen Âge de 1066 à 1485

• 72 articles
• 21 médias

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visit1066country.com
Official tourism website for
Hastings & 1066 Country

• Things To Do
• What's On
• Accommodation
• Food & Drink
• History
• Explore 1066 Country
• Visitor Info

History

• Battle of Hastings
• William of Normandy
• Hastings Castle

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welt.de
Mit einer List eroberten die Normannen England

Von Jan von Flocken

Veröffentlicht am 23.01.2016

• 1 von 13: Wilhelm der Eroberer (1027/28 -1087), Herzog der Normandie, gründete seinen Anspruch auf den englischen Thron auf ein Versprechen, das ihm König Eduard 1051 gegeben haben soll: Wilhelm soll die Krone erhalten.
• 2 von 13: Sein Gegenspieler war Harald II. (1022-1066). Er hatte England in der Schlacht von Stamford Bridge erfolgreich gegen ein norwegisches Invasionsheer verteidigt.
• 3 von 13: Wilhelm landete am 18. September (jul. Kalender) 1066 in Südengland, dargestellt auf dem Teppich von Bayeux, der einige Jahre nach der Schlacht entstand.
• 4 von 13: Die Angelsachsen kämpften überwiegend zu Fuß ...
• 5 von 13: … während die Normannen auf ihre Reiterei vertrauten.
• 6 von 13: Als sich die Angreifer scheinbar zurückzogen, verließen die Sachsen ihre erhöhten Stellungen ...
• 7 von 13: ... gerieten sie in das Schussfeld der normannischen Bogenschützen. König Harald wurde im Auge getroffen und kurz darauf niedergemacht.
• 8 von 13: Der Sieger Wilhelm ließ sich zu Weihnachten 1066 zum König von England krönen.
• 10 von 13: Auf dem berühmten Teppich von Bayeux dokumentierten die Normannen kurz darauf ihren Sieg: Wilhelm der Eroberer landet in England mit 7500 Mann und 2000 Pferden
• 11 von 13: Geschickt verteidigen sich Haralds Sachsen auf einer Erhebung zunächst gegen den Sturmangriff der Normannen
• 12 von 13: Daraufhin befiehlt Wilhelm zum Schein einen Rückzug. Die normannischen Bogenschützen nehmen die ungeordnet nachdrängenden Sachsen unter Beschuss
• 13 von 13: Schließlich wird König Harald erst von einem Pfeil ins Auge getroffen, dann von den Normannen getötet

Mit 7500 Mann landete der Normannen-Herzog Wilhelm 1066 in Südengland. Bei Hastings konnte König Harald die Angriffe zunächst abwehren. Dann aber beging er einen verhängnisvollen Fehler.
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Wie die Wikinger England zum Schlachtfeld machten

Von Berthold Seewald

Veröffentlicht am 14.10.2016

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wikipedia.org
1066 (MLXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

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By area

Norman conquest of England:

• January 5 - Edward the Confessor of York dies. The Witenagemot proclaims Harold Godwinson King of England.
• January 6 - Harold II is crowned King of England, probably in the new Westminster Abbey.
• January (approx.) - Harold marries Ealdgyth, daughter of Earl Ælfgar, and widow of Welsh ruler Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.
• March 20 - Halley's Comet reaches perihelion. Its appearance is subsequently recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry.
• September 18 - Norwegian king Harald Hardrada lands on the beaches of Scarborough and begins his invasion of England.
• September 20 - Battle of Fulford: Norwegian king Harald Hardrada defeats the northern English earls Edwin and Morcar.
• September 25 - Battle of Stamford Bridge: Word of the Battle of Fulford reaches King Harold Godwinson, who decides to ride north to meet the invaders. Harold defeats Harald Hardrada and his brother Tostig Godwinson.
• September 27 - "William the Conqueror" and his army set sail from the mouth of the River Somme, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
• September 28 - Duke William of Normandy lands in England at Pevensey.
• October 14 - Battle of Hastings, between King Harold II of England and Duke William of Normandy: Harold is killed by an arrow to the eye (some[who?] say he was killed by a band of Norman knights sent to assassinate him). William is victorious.
• December 25 - Duke William of Normandy is crowned King William I of England in Westminster Abbey.

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William the Conqueror (W3)

"Brett" is the ethnic name for a "Breton", from the Old French word "bret" [= zu lat. "Britto" = dt. "Brite", "Bretone"]. The "Bretons" were Celtic-speaking folks who were driven from SW England to NW France in the 6th century by the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Some returned in the 11th century with "William the Conqueror". As an English surname it is most commonly found in E. Anglia where many Bretons settled after the Conquest. Variations are "Britt", "Breton", "Bretton", "Brittain", "Bret", "Lebret", "Breton", "Bretonnier", "Bretegnier", "Bretagne", and "Bretange". There are numerous cognative versions as well.

"Disney" is an English Place name derived from a French place "Isigny" which was "Isinius' estate" in France. Many who followed "William the Conqueror" into England became known by the French towns from which they emigrated. Micky Mouse is said to have been from there.

"Gough": English Occupational Name of Celtic origin for the man who worked as a "smith", from the Gaelic "gobha" or "goff". It was common in E. Anglia and was introduced by the followers of "William the Conqueror". It is also sometimes derived from the Welsh nickname for a red-haired man - "coch" = "red".

"Perkins" is a Welsh Patronymic name derived from the given name "Peter", which was introduced into the area with "William the Conqueror". There were many other varieties in England, but "Perkins" was most popular in Wales.

"Pomeroy" is a French Place name given to the person from any of the several locations in France by that name, generally spelled similar to "pomeroie", which was Old French for "apple orchard". The "Pomeroy" family of Devon can trace their heritage to a close associate of "William the Conqueror", "Ralph de la Pomerai", whose descendants lived for over 500 years in a castle near Totnes, Devon.

"Richmond": English Place Name. "William the Conqueror" brought many French names with him, including "Richemont" "lofty mountain" which was Anglicized to "Richmond".

"Tracy": English Place name based on a French town called "Tracy" which meant "terrace". Many English surnames were those based on the name of the former home of those who emigrated with "William the Conqueror" or soon after.

"bastard": An illegitimate child, a despicable person, a "SON OF A BITCH". The term has been so overused that it has lost much of its force, with the result that speakers frequently feel the need to embellish it in various ways, e. g., "Where have you been you stupid prick bastard?" (Ring Lardner, Jr., The Ecstasy of Owen Muir, 1954). In extended, attenuated, and even friendly contexts, a "bastard" can be any person, chap, fellow, guy — even a thing, as in, "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off" (Sir Edmund Hillary to George Lowe, first words upon descending from the summit of Mount Everest, 5/28/53, Walt Unsworth, Everest -. A Mountaineering History, 1981).

Though heavily tabooed for most of the past couple of centuries because of its association with unbridaled sexuality, "bastard" has not always been an insult. It derives from "fils de bast", "son of a packsaddle", the notion being that the child was conceived in irregular circumstances. In olden times, when this happened a lot, the term did not carry a great deal of emotional freight and was used in place of the surname that the child otherwise would have had, e.g., "William the Bastard", commonly referred to this way in his lifetime (1027-87), though school texts today usually call him "William the Conqueror". The word does not seem to have gained much force as an epithet until the eighteenth century, when it began superseding WHORESON and acquired that word's pejorative connotations. Thus, François Rabelais, a brave author indeed, lambasted critics: "As for you, little envious prigs, snarling bastards . . . you will soon have railed your last: go hang yourselves" (Pantagruel, tr., Peter A. Motteux, 1737). With examples like this before him, Captain Francis Grose mistakenly interpreted "bastard" as a slang word, including it along with the piquant bastardly gullion (a bastard's bastard) in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796).

The taboo was never so strong that the word disappeared, of course. Rather, it tended to be restricted to use by males and it rarely appeared in print in its principal, illegitimate sense. Normally, it was replaced by such "euphemisms" as "love child", "natural child", "outside child", "wood's colt", and the still wilder, "Darling, I'm the son of a seacook", (Arsenic and Old Lace, film, 1944). The taboo was reflected by the gradual disappearance of "bastard" as an adjective to denote that which is inferior, impure, or of a hybrid nature, as "bastard cannon", "bastard wine", "bastard goose", etc. For example, polite bird-watchers now refer to the "bastard wing" (the small group of feathers attached to the first joint of a bird's wing and corresponding to the human thumb) as the "alula", which is a coinage of the eighteenth century (from the Latin "ala", "wing"), when English was being prettied up for Victorian times.

Class differences in the use of "bastard" also have been noted. For instance, Robert Graves pointed out that among the lower classes the term was regarded as an unforgivable insult while upper classes tolerated it, perhaps because so many of the latter have "noble or even royal blood in their veins . . . under the courtesy title, 'natural sons and daughters' " (The Future of Swearing and Improper Language, 1936).

The rough talk of soldiers in World Wars I and II did much to break down the taboos against "bad" words, more so in the case of "bastard" in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries than in the United States. In Australia, for instance, the term is bandied about quite freely in public, e.g., Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's comment in 1974 to his supporters: "I do not mind the Liberals . . . calling me a bastard. In some cases, I am only doing my job if they do. But I hope you will not publicly call me a bastard, as some bastards in the Caucus have" (Wall Street Journal, 6/27/83). In the United States, by contrast, the government mounted an investigation to identify the leaker after The Washington Post reported (2/18/82) that Secretary of State Alexander Haig had referred during a departmental meeting to British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington as a "duplicitous bastard." See also "BUGGER", "GIT",

Burgess, Thomas, Historien-, Porträt- u. Landschaftsmaler, in London schon seit 1749, Vater des William B., stellte zwischen 1778 u. 1791 wiederholt in der Roy. Academy aus:

• William the Conqueror dismounted by his eldest Son;
• Hannibal swearing enmity to the Romans;
• The death of Duke Athelwold.

1770-73 war er mit mehreren Bildnissen, darunter 1772 mit einem Selbstporträt, in der Free Society, 1774 und 75 mit 3 Bildnissen in der Society of Artists vertreten. Er war der Lehrer Gainsboroughs auf der St. Martin’s Lane Academy.

Redgrave, Dict. of art., 1878. - Graves, Roy. Acad. Exhib., 1905 I; Soc, of art. etc., 1907. - The Art Journ. 1880 p. 297. H. V.

Jumièges, France

Ruins of the Jumiège Abbey

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by "William the Conqueror", dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution — these ruins have it all.
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In the middle of all the invasions and rebuilding, in 1067 coming home from his victory across the Channel, "William the Conqueror" stopped by for a re-consecration. With his protection, things started off again on a long course of (mostly) smooth sailing. The order was able to rebuild — spiritually, financially, scholarly, and artistically — although with some setbacks during the Huguenot Wars of the 16th century.
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Armorial Shield With Three Lions Emblem

The three lions are the emblem of England. "William the Conqueror" used two lions on a red background as his coat of arms and brought this symbol to the English throne. It was King Henry II who first used three lions on a red background, adding a lion to "William the Conqueror"'s two when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, probably to represent his marriage into that family. The three lions shield can be seen today on the England football team kit and is recognised around the world.

How did William the Bastard become William the Conqueror?

Presented by Professor Robert Bartlett, Presenter and historian

From a French cradle to the English crown

In 1028, an unmarried French woman bore a son to the Duke of Normandy. People taunted the boy with the nickname "William the Bastard". Yet he not only became a formidable Norman ruler: he became one of England's most brutal and influential kings.

From the "Battle of Hastings" to the "Domesday Book", William was responsible for truly extraordinary events in England's history. Find out how a brutal childhood, some lucky breaks and a festering angry grudge shaped the man who changed Britain forever.
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• A bloody awful childhood
• The ruthless young duke
• A Norman king of England
• When Harold met William
• William is betrayed
• The Battle of Hastings
• Slaughter and starvation in northern England
• England goes Norman
• Domesday Book
• William dies

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Regimen sanitatis salernitanum; a poem on the preservation of health in rhyming Latin verse. Addressed by the school of Salerno to "Robert of Normandy", son of "William the Conqueror", with an ancient translation: and an introduction by Sir Alexander Croke ...

• By Croke, Alexander, Sir, 1758-1842
• Genre: Book
• Material Type: Published material
• Publication info: Oxford, D.A. Talboys,1830.
• BHL Collections: Missouri Botanical Garden's Materia Medica
• Holding Institution: Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library
• Sponsor: Missouri Botanical Garden
• Date Scanned: 11/11/2008
• View Volume

Wardens and Guardians

By Maeve Maddox

A discussion prompted by Daniel’s word of the day "ward" put me in mind of one of my favorite etymological factoids: the relationship between words like "warden" and "guardian".

English suffers a bad rap for its spelling, but the variety of spellings is an inevitable side effect of the richness of vocabulary acquired by borrowing words from different languages at different periods of history.

From 1066 until about 1250, English and French were spoken side by side in England. Then, because of political changes, the French-speaking ruling class shifted to English.

The words "warden" and "guardian" are good examples of the linguistic mingling that went on between the two languages at that time.

Old English had the verb "weardian" "to keep guard", +and the noun "weard" "a guard", "a watchman", "a sentry".

Old French had the verb "guarder", "to guard".

Speakers of Norman French were people who had been Vikings a hundred years before "William of Normandy" invaded England in 1066. They brought their own distinctive pronunciations to French. One peculiarity was that Normans tended to pronounce the letter combination "gu-" as "w-".

For example, Old French "guarder", "to guard", became "warder" in Norman French. However, Parisian French kept the "gu-" spelling and pronunciation. As a result, English ended up with words derived from both forms.

The OED gives numerous meanings for the word "warden", including one that is identical to one of its definitions for "guardian". In general usage, however, a "guardian" is a "protector", while a "warden" is a "keeper".

A similar pair of words is "warranty" and "guarantee". Both words have the sense of an assurance that a certain standard of quality or integrity will be upheld.

As a legal term, "warranty" means "a written statement of good quality of merchandise", "clear title to real estate or that a fact stated in a contract is true". An "express warranty" is a definite written statement and "implied warranty" is based on the circumstances surrounding the sale or the creation of the contract. (www.law.com [https://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=2237])

A new car comes with a "warranty". If anything goes wrong with the car during a specified period, the "warranty" is a document that entitles the owner to have the problem corrected without charge.

The word "guarantee" is often used as a synonym for "warranty". However, a "guarantee" can be something more concrete.

Warring sides might exchange hostages as a "guarantee" that neither will fight during an agreed period of truce. A parent might confiscate a child’s cell phone as a "guarantee" that he won’t be texting instead of doing homework.

Etymology nerds can have fun looking for modern French words beginning with "gu-" that correspond to English words beginning with "w-". For example:

"war" / "guerre": Old English "wyrre"; Norman French "werre"; Modern French "guerre".

And of course there’s "William the Conqueror" whom the French refer to as "Guillaume le Conquérant".

William the Conqueror's Leniency cost him -- 10/21/16

Today's selection - from William I by Marc Morris.

William the Conqueror became one of England's most famous kings by defeating King Harold of England in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and thus changing England more profoundly than at any time in its history. After becoming England's new king, he practiced a policy of leniency that soon proved unwise, and led to a policy reversal embodied by the infamous "Harrying of the North" and the death of 100,000 from among the rebels, a staggering number for that era:
...
This episode, known to posterity as the "Harrying of the North", was one of the most notorious incidents of William's career. Harrying itself was standard practice in medieval warfare, but the scale of the destruction visited upon northern England that winter had such terrible consequences that even contemporary writers felt it was exceptional and excessive. A widespread famine followed, with starving refugees dragging themselves into southern England, and even reports of cannibalism. Orderic put the death toll at over 100,000, and an analysis of Domesday data suggests he was probably correct. Writing half a century later, the half-English monk lambasted William for causing such indiscriminate death, lamented the suffering of the innocent and declared that God would punish the king for his 'brutal slaughter'.

"Brutal as it undoubtedly was, the Harrying was effective in bringing the rebellion of the North to an end."

author: Marc Morris

William the Conqueror

The "Domesday Book" was commissioned in December 1085 by "William the Conqueror", who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time).

The original "Domesday Book" has survived over 900 years of English history and is currently housed in a specially made chest at The National Archives in Kew, London. This site has been set up to enable visitors to discover the history of the "Domesday Book", to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation, and provide information and links on related topics.

What is the "Domesday Book?

The "Domesday Book" is a great land survey from 1086, commissioned by "William the Conqueror" to assess the extent of the land and resources being owned in England at the time, and the extent of the taxes he could raise. The information collected was recorded by hand in two huge books, in the space of around a year. William died before it was fully completed.
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Domesday Landholders

The majority of landholders in England at the time of the "Domesday Book" had accompanied "William the Conqueror" from France in 1066, and were granted areas of land previously held by English natives. The alphabetised list on the following pages contains brief notes on almost 200 of the most well-known landholders at the time. A complete list can never be drawn up due to fact that many of those mentioned in the "Domesday book" have vanished into obscurity.

Craon/Creon, Guy de - Large holdings in Lincolnshire. A member of the noble family of Anjou, one of the most illustrious of those who came into England with "William the Conqueror".

Falaise, William de - From "Falaise", Calvados, "William the Conqueror"'s home town. Married daughter of Serlo de Burcy. Holdings in Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts.

William, (the) King - "William the Conqueror". Duke of Normandy 1035-87. King William I of England 1066-87.

Landholding and Feudalism

The system of landholding as portrayed throughout the "Domesday Book" was based on a rigid social hierarchy called the feudal system, imposed in England by "William the Conqueror" following his successful 1066 conquest. Rather than being owned, as is the case nowadays, land was held from a member of society higher up the social tree. At the top sat King William who granted land to tenants-in-chief - usually lords or members of the Church, in return for their assistance in the Norman Conquest. Next down the ladder came under-tenants who held land from the tenants-in-chief, and so it continued with the bottom of the ladder being occupied by peasants - villagers, bordars and cottars - who earned their opportunity to hold a small amount of land by working on the land of the lordship, and slaves, who held no land.

The basic unit of land in the "Domesday Book" is the "manor"; manors could be larger or smaller than just one village, but all consisted of land and had jurisdiction over the tenants. These were part of larger administrative subdivisions of land called hundreds (wapentakes in Danish areas of the country), which contained several manors and had their own assembly of notables and representatives from local villages.

William the Conqueror

Portrait of King William I

• His early years (1028-1050)
• Battle for France (1051-1066)
• The English Conquest (1066)
• The post-Conquest years (1067-1087)
• William's parents
• The Norman family tree

...
William's parents

The keep of Falaise Castle, in William's home town in Normandy

William's father was Robert I, sixth Duke of Normandy. He was no older than 21 at the time of William's birth, and came from a family with a rich heritage. He was a direct descendant of "Rollo the Viking", ruler of Neustria, who landed in Normandy and claimed the land after being ejected from Norway by the king. Rollo's power was inherited first by William, nicknamed 'Longsword' (d.942), then Duke Richard I (942-966), then by William the Conqueror's grandfather, Duke Richard II.

When William was born in 1027/28, Robert was Count of Hiesmois; he acceded to the title "Duke of Normandy" in 1028. In 1034 he left for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and died before his return in late 1035, leaving William as his successor at just 7 years old. Despite being so young and a bastard son, William was accepted by Norman nobles, though several attempts were made to despose him of his position, including while he was ruling England. It was for this reason that during his reign as King, William spent as much time in Normandy enforcing his power as he did overseeing affairs in England.

His mother Herleva, daughter of Fulbert the tanner, came from Falaise and rose to a prominent status in French nobility despite her ordinary upbringing. At the age of 16 she met Gilbert, Count of Brionne, and had a son, Richard fitzGilbert (fitz denoting his illegitimacy). Just a couple of years later, with Robert, Duke of Normandy, she gave birth to William in 1027/28 and a daughter, Adelaide. Shortly before Robert's death in 1035 she was persuaded by him to marry Herlwin, Viscount of Conteville. By him she bore a daughter, Muriel and 2 sons, Odo - who would become Bishop of Bayeux - and Robert - who would become Count of Mortain. Both men, along with fitzGilbert, would play major parts in assisting William's conquest of England.

Great Dates in Medieval History

By Stephen Batchelor

Part of Medieval History For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Famine, plague and public execution - the medieval period wasn’t the best time for some, but heroic rulers like Charlemagne, "William the Conqueror" and Henry V made sure that it was full of action. Here are the key dates for the big events of the medieval period.
...

...
Normans

• William I ‘the Conqueror’ 1066-1087
• William II ‘Rufus’ 1087-1100
• Henry I ‘Beauclerc’ 1100-1135
• Stephen 1135-1154

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• 1066 Battle of Hastings, Abbey and Battlefield
• 4.52 miles from William Road & Conqueror Road, St. Leonards, England TN38 8
• For a memorable family day out in Sussex visit Battle Abbey, the site of the 1066 Battle of Hastings. An enjoyable way to discover more about the most famous date in English history.
• East Sussex, South East
• Pevensey Castle
• 8.70 miles from William Road & Conqueror Road, St. Leonards, England TN38 8
• With a history stretching back over 16 centuries, Pevensey Castle chronicles more graphically than any other fortress the story of Britain's south coast defences.
• East Sussex, South East
• St Leonard's Tower
• 30.36 miles from William Road & Conqueror Road, St. Leonards, England TN38 8
• An early and well-preserved example of a small free-standing Norman tower keep, surviving almost to its original height.
• Kent, South East
• ...

"Arms of Attribution": Arms that are fictitious, such as indulged in to absurd extent by the heralds of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

"Almost all the older genealogists attribute coats of arms to ancestors long before they were in use. On the tomb of Queen Elizabeth are emblazoned the arms of "William the Conqueror" and Matilda of Flanders, and of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, all, of course, pure inventions. It is only of very late years, since a critical spirit has found its way even into heraldry, that these absurdities have been exposed." -- Ency. Brit., vol xi (1902).

William the Conqueror - Makers of History (English) (as Author)

PREFACE

In selecting the subjects for the successive volumes of this series, it has been the object of the author to look for the names of those great personages whose histories constitute useful, and not merely entertaining, knowledge. There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. This knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtain in respect to such personages as "Hannibal", "Alexander", "Cæsar", "Cleopatra", "Darius", "Xerxes", "Alfred", "William the Conqueror", "Queen Elizabeth", and "Mary Queen of Scots", it is the design and object of these volumes to communicate, in a faithful, and, at the same time, if possible, in an attractive manner. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness.

CONTENTS

• I. NORMANDY 13
• II. BIRTH OF WILLIAM 31
• III. THE ACCESSION 51
• IV. WILLIAM'S REIGN IN NORMANDY 72
• V. THE MARRIAGE 96
• VI. THE LADY EMMA 119
• VII. KING HAROLD 142
• VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION 164
• IX. CROSSING THE CHANNEL 189
• X. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 212
• XI. PRINCE ROBERT'S REBELLION 242
• XII. THE CONCLUSION 265

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William the Conqueror (English) (as Author)

PREFACE

This small volume, written as the first of a series, is meant to fill quite another place from the Short History of the Norman Conquest, by the same author. That was a narrative of events reaching over a considerable time. This is the portrait of a man in his personal character, a man whose life takes up only a part of the time treated of in the other work. We have now to look on William as one who, though stranger and conqueror, is yet worthily entitled to a place on the list of English statesmen. There is perhaps no man before or after him whose personal character and personal will have had so direct an effect on the course which the laws and constitution of England have taken since his time. Norman as a Conqueror, as a statesman he is English, and, on this side of him at least, he worthily begins the series.

16 St. Giles’, Oxford, 6th February 1888. CONTENTS

• CHAPTER I - Introduction - 1
• CHAPTER II - The Early Years of William - 6
• CHAPTER III - William’s First Visit to England - 26
• CHAPTER IV - The Reign of William in Normandy - 34
• CHAPTER V - Harold’s Oath to William - 51
• CHAPTER VI - The Negotiations of Duke William - 63
• CHAPTER VII - William’s Invasion of England - 82
• CHAPTER VIII - The Conquest of England - 100
• CHAPTER IX - The Settlement of England - 122
• CHAPTER X - The Revolts against William - 147
• CHAPTER XI - The Last Years of William - 181

Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6) - England (1 of 12) William the Conqueror (English) (as Author)

THE THIRD VOLUME OF CHRONICLES, BEGINNING AT DUKE WILLIAM THE NORMAN, COMMONLIE CALLED THE CONQUEROR;

AND DESCENDING BY DEGREES OF YEERES TO ALL THE KINGS AND QUEENES OF ENGLAND IN THEIR ORDERLIE SUCCESSIONS:

FIRST COMPILED BY RAPHAELL HOLINSHED, AND BY HIM EXTENDED TO THE YEARE 1577.
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• William the Conqueror - Edited - 18%
• The Battle of Hastings - 14 October, 1066 - Edited - 6%
• Rochester Castle, Kent, UK - Edited - 5%
• Domfront, Lower Normandy, France - Edited - 5%
• Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight, UK - Edited - 4%
• Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex, England - Edited - 4%
• Nottingham Castle - from Normans to Tudors - Edited - 3%
• Cheshire, England, UK - Edited - 3%
• The First Crusade - Edited - 2%
• Isle of Wight Shipwrecks: Medieval - Edited - 2%
• Hawarden, North Wales - Edited - 2%
• The Scenic River Thames, England, UK - Edited - 2%
• King Stephen - a Good Bloke - Edited - 2%
• PG Wodehouse - Humorist - Edited - 2%
• A Brief History of Winchester - Edited - 2%
• Waltham Abbey, Essex, UK - Edited - 2%
• Solihull, West Midlands, England, UK - Edited - 2%
• A Walk Around The Walls Of York - Edited - 2%
• Shropshire, UK - Edited - 2%
• The New Forest, Hampshire, UK - Edited - 2%
• Anglo-Saxon Isle of Wight: Churches - Edited - 2%
• Yorkshire's Castles: Skipton Castle - Edited - 2%
• Guy's Tower, Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, UK - Edited - 2%
• Hampshire Earthwork Castles - Edited - 2%
• The Great Fire of London, UK - Edited - 2%
• English Chartered Markets: The South Midlands, East Anglia and Wales - Edited - 2%
• Antiquated Words and Phrases - Edited - 2%
• Yorkshire's Castles: Richmond Castle - Edited - 2%
• Yorkshire's Castles: York Castle - Edited - 2%
• Hampshire, England, UK - Edited - 2%
• Missing, Misplaced and Muddled Monarchs - Edited - 2%
• Gloucester, Gloucestershire, UK - Edited - 1%
• Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK - Edited - 1%
• Yorkshire's Castles: Middleham Castle - Edited - 1%
• Yorkshire's Castles: Ripley Castle - Edited - 1%
• The h2g2 Calendar - 10 - October - Edited - 1%
• The h2g2 Calendar - 9 - September - Edited - 1%
• A Bus Driver's Prayer - The Song - Edited - 1%
• Eltham Palace, London, UK - Edited - 1%
• Oxfordshire, England, UK - Edited - 1%
• Wolvesey Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, UK - Edited - 1%
• Christchurch Castle, Dorset, UK - Edited - 1%
• Kirkstall Abbey, West Yorkshire, UK - Edited - 1%
• 'Age Of Empires II: Age Of Kings' - The Game - Edited - 1%
• Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire, UK - Edited - 1%
• Winchester Castle, Hampshire, UK - Edited - 1%
• Some Great Castles of England - Edited - 1%
• The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words - Edited - 1%
• English History - A Condensed Version for the Average Tourist - Edited - 1%
• Topsham, Devon, and the River Exe - Edited - 1%
• The Battle of Trafalgar - Edited - 1%
• Tracing your Family Tree - Part 2: 1837-1538 - Edited - 1%
• St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London, UK - Edited - 1%
• Colchester, Essex, England, UK - Edited - 1%

William the Conqueror

Created Nov 25, 2005 | Updated Nov 3, 2011

"William the Conqueror", also known as "King William I of England", "Duke William of Normandy" and "William the Bastard", is remembered as one of England's most powerful kings. He introduced laws that gave the Crown and the aristocracy more power, completely changed England's formerly Saxon political, social and cultural practices, and radically shifted England's perspective on the world.

William in Normandy

William was born around 1027, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy, Robert I, who was a direct descendent of Rolf the Viking. Robert I died when William was seven, and William became the Duke of Normandy. William's uncle, the Archbishop of Rouen, protected William and acted as regent until he turned 18. William's reign was plagued by wars with neighbouring countries Brittany, Maine and Anjou, as well as internal rebellions as the barons of Normandy tested William's strength. In 1049 William married Matilda, the daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders and descendent of Alfred the Great. He gained a reputation in battle as a brutal and unyielding opponent and gradually got Normandy under his control.
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Episode 71: On The Hunt

In this episode, we explore the events leading to the death of "William the Conqueror". And we’ll look at the reign of his son and namesake, "William Rufus". The story of William’s succession is also the story of a sibling rivalry. William’s three sons fought with each other - and even with their father - for control of the Anglo-Norman kingdom. But one thing that William and all of his sons had in common was a love for hunting, and the importance of hunting is reflected in the English language which contains many words and phrases originating in the language of Medieval hunters.

Audio Player: 00:00:00 - 01:03:39

• go on the hunt
• forest (woods) - "outdoors", ("forum")
• park, enclosed natural area
• frz. "Maine", le Maine historische Provinz in Westfrankreich - Maine, US, (Staat im Nordosten der USA)
• castle
• poor
• deer
• horn
• hunt - venery - chase - catch
• retrieve - retriever
• terrier
• falconry
• abate - with bated breath
• at the end of my tether
• trainer
• lure (n. & v.), allure
• stool pigeon - Lockvogel
• snipe - (Sumpf)Schnepfe / sniper - Heckenschütze
• fed up - I'm fed up - ich habe die Nase voll
• under someone's thumb - unter jemandes Fuchtel
• rap around one's little finger
• perch / catch / catcher / ?
• arouse
• ???
• ...

Episode 68: Rebels With a Cause

It may come as a surprise that "William the Conqueror" embraced English after the Norman Conquest. He also maintained much of the existing Anglo-Saxon bureaucracy. Had William continued those policies, the English language would be very different today. Despite William’s attempt to rule as an ‘English’ king, his favorable policies quickly vanished in the wake of a series of rebellions throughout his newly conquered kingdom. Afterwards, William initiated the process by which the Anglo-Saxon nobility and land holders were removed from power and replaced with his French allies. The new French aristocracy established a social environment which shaped the transition of Old English into Middle English.

Audio Player: 00:00 - 48:43

Episode 64: Feudalism and Early Normans

The Normandy of "William the Conqueror" was a product of the feudal age of Western Europe. In this episode, we explore the history of feudalism, and we examine words associated with feudalism which entered the English language. We also look at the early history of Normandy to see how it fits into the feudal puzzle. Along the way, we examine certain aspects of Norman French, and we explore some of the differences between the Norman French dialect and the standard Old French spoken in places like Paris.

Audio Player: 00:00 - 01:03:26

Edward I Expells the Jews from England

1290

The infamous Edward I. (View Larger) The infamous Edward I.

In 1290 King Edward I of England (Longshanks) [Offsite Link] issued an edict expelling all Jews from England.

Lasting for the rest of the Middle Ages, it would be over 350 years until it was formally overturned in 1656. The edict was not an isolated incident but the culmination of over 200 years of conflict on the matters of usury. The first Jewish communities of significant size came to England with "William the Conqueror" [Offsite Link] in 1066. On the conquest of England, William instituted a feudal system in the country, whereby all estates formally belonged to the king, who appointed lords over vast estates, subject to duties and obligations (financial and knights) to the king. Under the lords were further subjects such as serfs, which were bound and obligated to their lords. Merchants had a special status in the system as did Jews. Jews were declared to be direct subjects of the King, unlike the rest of the population. This had advantages for Jews, in that they were not tied to any particular lord, but were subject to the whims of the king. Every successive King formally reviewed a royal charter granting Jews the right to remain in England. Jews did not enjoy any of the guarantees of Magna Carta of 1215.
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Domesday Book
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William the Conqueror
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"harlot": not an eponym; a now-debunked tale is that it is from "Arlette", unwed mother of "William the Conqueror"

Thursday, 28 April 2011

William the Conqueror

I was casting about in my tiny mind for something about regal nuptials, and couldn't think of anything. However, I did remember a story about a previous King William. The following is a piece of gossip noted down by a Londoner called Manningham in 1602. You'll need to know that Richard Burbage was the lead actor in Shakespeare's company. He was the first Hamlet, the first Macbeth, and the first Richard III. Now read on:

Upon a time when Burbage played Richard III there was a citizen grew so far in liking with him that before she went from the play she appointed him to come that night with her by the name of Richard III. Shakespeare, overhearing their conclusion, went before, was entertained, and at his game ere Burbage came. Then message being brought that Richard III was at the door, Shakespeare caused return to be made that "William the Conqueror" was before Richard III, Shakespeare’s name William.
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William the Conqueror

King of England and Duke of Normandy.

William was the natural son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, his mother, "Herleva", being the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. In 1035 Robert set out upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in which he died. Before starting he presented to the nobles this child, then seven years old, demanding their allegiance. "He is little", the father said, "but he will grow, and, if God please, he will mend." In spite of the murder of three of his guardians, and of attempts to kidnap his own person, the child, after a period of anarchy, became the ruler of Normandy in his father's place. He seems to have been a youth of clean life and of much natural piety, while the years of storm and stress through which he passed gave him an endurance and far-sighted resolution of character which lasted to his life's end. In 1047 a serious rebellion of nobles occurred, and William with the aid of Henry, King of France, gained a great victory at Val-ès-Dunes, near Caen, which led, the following year, to the capture of the two strong castles of Alençon and Domfront. Using this as his base of operations, the young duke, in 1054 and the following years, made himself master of the province of Maine and thus became the most powerful vassal of the French Crown, able on occasion to bid defiance to the king himself.
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William the Conqueror (1027 ? - 1087)

Encyclopædia Orbis Latini

Duke of Normandy and king of England (1066-87). Earnest and resourceful, William was not only one of the greatest of English monarchs but a pivotal figure in European history as well.

Duke of Normandy

The illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, and Arletta, daughter of a tanner, he is sometimes called "William the Bastard". He succeeded to the dukedom on his father’s death in 1035. William and his guardians were hard pressed to keep down recurrent rebellions during his minority, and at least once the young duke barely escaped death.

In 1047, with the aid of Henry I of France, he solidly established his power. William is said to have visited England in 1051 or 1052, when his cousin Edward the Confessor probably promised that William would succeed him as king of England. Despite a papal prohibition, William married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders, in 1053. The union, which greatly increased the duke’s prestige, did not receive papal dispensation until 1059.

William’s growing power brought him into conflict with King Henry of France, whose invading armies he defeated in 1054 and 1058. The accession (1060) of the child Philip I of France, whose guardian was William’s father-in-law, improved his position, and in 1063 William conquered the county of Maine. Soon afterward Harold, then earl of Wessex, was shipwrecked on the French coast and was turned over to William, who apparently extracted Harold’s oath to support the duke’s interests in England.

King of England

The Norman Conquest

Upon hearing that Harold had been crowned (1066) king of England, William secured the sanction of the pope, raised an army and transport fleet, sailed for England, and defeated and slew Harold at the battle of Hastings (1066). Overcoming what little resistance remained in SE England, he led his army to London, received the city’s submission, and was crowned king on Christmas Day.

Although William immediately began to build and garrison castles around the country, he apparently hoped to maintain continuity of rule; many of the English nobility had fallen at Hastings, but most of those who survived were permitted to keep their lands for the time being. The English, however, did not so readily accept him as their king.

A series of rebellions broke out, and William suppressed them harshly, ravaging great sections of the country. Titles to the lands of the now decimated native nobility were called in and redistributed on a strictly feudal basis (see "feudalism"), to the king’s Norman followers. By 1072 the adherents of Edgar Atheling and their Scottish and Danish allies had been defeated and the military part of the Norman Conquest virtually completed. In the only major rebellion that came thereafter (1075), the chief rebels were Normans.

Later Reign

William undertook church reform, appointed Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury, substituted foreign prelates for many of the English bishops, took command over the administration of church affairs, and established (1076) separate ecclesiastical courts. In 1085-86 at his orders a survey of England was taken, the results of which were embodied in the "Domesday Book". By the Oath of Salisbury in 1086, William established the important precedent that loyalty to the king is superior to loyalty to any subordinate feudal lord of the kingdom. William fought with his factious son Robert II, duke of Normandy, in 1079 and quarreled intermittently with France from 1080 until his death. He invaded the French Vexin in 1087, was fatally injured in a riding accident, and died at Rouen, directing that his son Robert should succeed him in Normandy and his son William (William II) in England.

81. The Norman Conquest.

Toward the close of the Old English period an event occurred which had a greater effect on the English language than any other in the course of its history. This event was the Norman Conquest in 1066. What the language would have been like if "William the Conqueror" had not succeeded in making good his claim to the English throne can only be a matter of conjecture. It would probably have pursued much the same course as the other Germanic languages, retaining perhaps more of its inflections and preserving a preponderantly Germanic vocabulary..., and incorporating words from other languages much less freely. In particular it would have lacked the greater part of that enormous number of French words which today make English seem, on the side of vocabulary, almost as much a Romance as a Germanic language. The Norman Conquest changed the whole course of the English language. An event of such far-reaching consequences must be considered in some detail.
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86. Circumstances Promoting the Continued Use of French.

The most important factor in the continued use of French by the English upper class until the beginning of the thirteenth century was the close connection that existed through all these years between England and the continent. From the time of the Conquest the kings of England were likewise dukes of Normandy. To the end of his life "William the Conqueror" seems to have felt more closely attached to his dukedom than to the country he governed by right of conquest. Not only was he buried there, but in dividing his possessions at his death he gave Normandy to his eldest son, and England to William, his second son. Later the two domains were united again in the hands of Henry I. Upon the accession of Henry II, English possessions in France were still further enlarged. Henry, as count of Anjou, inherited from his father the districts of Anjou and Maine. By his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine he came into possession of vast estates in the south, so that when he became king of England he controlled about two-thirds of France, all the western part of the country from the English Channel to the Pyrenees.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the attention of the English should often be focused upon affairs in France. Indeed English kings often spent a great part of their time there. The Conqueror and his sons were in France for about half of their respective reigns. Henry I (1100-1135) was there for a total of more than seventeen out of the thirty-five years of his reign, sometimes for periods of three and four years at a time. (13) Although conditions at home kept Stephen (1135-1154) for the most part in England, Henry II (1154-1189) spent nearly two-thirds of his long reign in France. When we remember that, except for Henry I, no English king till Edward IV (1461-1483) sought a wife in England, it is easy to see how continentally minded English royalty was and how natural a thing would seem the continued use of French at the English court.

What was true of the royal family was equally true of the nobility in general. The English nobility was not so much a nobility of England as an Anglo-French aristocracy. Nearly all the great English landowners had possessions likewise on the continent, frequently contracted continental marriages, and spent much time in France, either in pursuance of their own interests or those of the king. When we remember that on many of the occasions when the king and his nobles crossed the Channel they were engaged in military operations and were accompanied by military forces, that the business of ecclesiastics and merchants constantly took them abroad, we can readily see how this constant going and coming across the narrow seas made the continued use of French by those concerned not only natural but inevitable.

87. The Attítude toward English.

There is no reason to think that the preference which the governing class in England showed for French was anything more than a natural result of circumstances. The idea that the newcomers were actively hostile to the English language is without foundation. (14) It is true that English was now an uncultivated tongue, the language of a socially inferior class, and that a bishop like Wulfstan might be subjected to Norman disdain in part, at least, because of his ignorance of that social shibboleth. (15) Henry of Huntington's statement that it was considered a disgrace to be called an Englishman may be set down to rhetorical exaggeration. It is unreasonable to expect a conquered people to feel no resentment or the Norman never to be haughty or overbearing. But there is also plenty of evidence of mutual respect and peaceful cooperation, to say nothing of intermarriage, between the Normans and the English from the beginning. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis, himself the son of a Norman father and an English mother, in spite of the fact that he spent his life from the age of ten in Normandy, always refers to himself as an Englishman.

According to the same chronicler (16) "William the Conqueror" made an effort himself at the age of forty-three to learn English, that he might understand and render justice in the disputes between his subjects, but his energies were too completely absorbed by his many other activities to enable him to make much progress. There is nothing improbable in the statement. Certainly the assertion of a fourteenth-century writer (17) that the Conqueror considered how he might destroy the "Saxon" tongue in order that English and French might speak the same language seems little less than silly in view of the king's efforts to promote the belief that he was the authentic successor of the Old English kings and in the light of his use of English alongside of Latin, to the exclusion of French, in his charters. His youngest son, Henry I, may have known some English, though we must give up the pretty story of his interpreting the English words in a charter to the monks of Colchester. (18) If later kings for a time seem to have been ignorant of the language, (19) their lack of acquaintance with it is not to be attributed to any fixed purpose. In the period with which we are at the moment concerned - the period up to 1200 - the attitude of the king and the upper classes toward the English language may be characterized as one of simple indifference. They did not cultivate English - which is not the same as saying that they had no acquaintance with it - because their activities in England did not necessitate it and their constant concern with continental affairs made French for them much more useful.
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• § 13. W. Farrer, "An Outline Itinerary of King Henry the First," Eng. Hist. Rev., 34 (1919), 303-82,505-79. =>
• § 14. On this subject see the excellent discussion in Shelly, English and French in England. =>
• § 15. Roger of Wendover, ed. H. 0. Coxe, II, 52. =>
• § 16. Ordencus Vitalis, ed. Prevost, II, 215. =>
• § 17. Robert Holkot, on the authority of John Selden, Eadmeri Monachi Cantuariensis Historiae Novorum sive sui Saeculi Libri VI (London, 1623), p. 189. =>
• § 18. The story was considered authentic by so critical a student as J. Horace Round ("Henry 1 as an English Scholar," Academy, Sept. 13, 1884, p. 168), but the charter has since been proved by J. Armitage Robinson to be a forgery. Cf. C. W. David, "The Claim of King Henry 1 to Be Called Learned," Anniversary Essays in Medieval History by Students ofCharles Homer Haskins (Boston, 1929), pp. 45-56. =>
• § 19. We do not know whether William Rufus and Stephen knew English. Henry II understood it although he apparently did not speak it (see § 91). Richard 1 was thoroughly French; his whole stay in England amounted to only a few months. He probably knew no English. Concerning John's knowledge of English we have no evidence. As Freeman rernarks (Norman Conquest, II, 128), the royal family at this time is frequently the least English in England and is not to be used as a norm for judging the diffusion of the two languages. =>
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• § 30. Some of "William the Conqueror"'s English writs were addressed to Normans. But this hardly implies that they understood English any more than the king himself did. It is doubtful whether the recipients in many cases could have read the writ themselves in any language. =>

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1066: "William the Conqueror" is crowned on Christmas Day at Westminster - giving the new abbey church two coronations and a royal funeral in its first year

1087: On the death of his father, "William the Conqueror", "William II" becomes king of England

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Etymology of a Couple of Famous Surnames

Tom Hiddleston as himself

Actors with some wonderfully Anglo-Saxon-sounding surnames are seizing headlines of late. There's the delightful "Tom Hiddleston", who plays Loki (swoon!) in the Marvel movie universe, and is soon to be seen in Only Lovers Left Alive with Tilda Swinton (must see!). Then there's the enigmatic "Benedict Cumberbatch", turning up everywhere from BBC's Sherlock (I'm addicted!) to providing the voice of Smaug in Peter Jackson's latest Hobbit installment (loved it!). So what's a "hiddle" and why is it in town, and how does one get a "batch of cumbers", and would that be "cumbersome"?

Surnames have origins similar to those of regular words. My maiden name is "Jeanes", and while some think it is simply a form of "John", there are others who assert that it actually denotes a person from "Genoa", suggesting that the original Jeanes folk likely went to England as mercenaries for "William the Conqueror". "Jeans" as in "blue jeans" has that same origin ("fabric of Genoa"). So what about "Hiddleston" and "Cumberbatch"?

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock

"Hiddleston" is a form of "Huddleston", which is ultimately a place name: "the settlement of (a man named) Hudel." "Hudel" is a diminutive form of the name "Hud", "Hudd", from which we also get "Hudson" (son of Hud(d)). So this must mean that Tom Hiddleston lived with Paul Newman!?!? (Derp!) The "settlement" meaning arises from the "-ton" affix. It was "tun" in Old English and meant "settlement or enclosure" (most settlements were enclosed by a wall or fence of some sort) and of course gives us the word "town". This suggests that Tom's family came from Yorkshire or possibly even Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland (both locations are home to towns called "Huddleston"; the one in Yorkshire is the original). Any road... (for us Americans, that's Yorkshirespeak for "anyway..."), if your name is "Hiddleson", it's possible that your family dropped the T, but it's also possible that your ancestor was the son of "Hudel" (making "Hiddleson" a patronymic).

"Cumberbatch" is another place name, suggesting that Mr. C's family hails from Cheshire, where there was a stream of that name. The stream got its name from the personal name "Cumbra", which ultimately means "Cumbrian" or "Welsh" and was a popular given name, and Old English "bæce" "stream" or "beck". Alternatively, the stream could have been named for the more general "stream of the Welshmen" (no potty jokes please!). Some people prefer to minimize any Welsh family heritage, but the "Cumberbatches" should be proud to be the owners of such a venerable old surname (after all, the Welsh have had professional poets since the Dark Ages and they have a National Eisteddfod - they can't be all bad!). But, of course, since "Cumbra" was apparently a popular name at the time, there may be no Welsh connection here at all.
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Indeed, "Ousley" (of which "Ouseley" is likely a variant) and "Owsley" are thought to derive from "Ouse" (name of the river that flows through York, England) and Old English "leah" "clearing". "Ouse" is ultimately a very ancient British word, from "ud-" "water". This would make "Ouseley" a habitation name, meaning people who lived "in the clearing on the Ouse" took that as their name.

Norman Conquest

IMAGE: "William the Conqueror" (from Bayeux Tapestry) (from History of Information)

The event that began the transition from "Old English" to "Middle English" was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when "William the Conqueror" (Duke of Normandy and, later, William I of England) invaded the island of Britain from his home base in northern France, and settled in his new acquisition along with his nobles and court. William crushed the opposition with a brutal hand and deprived the Anglo-Saxon earls of their property, distributing it to Normans (and some English) who supported him.

The conquering Normans were themselves descended from Vikings who had settled in northern France about 200 years before (the very word "Norman" comes originally from "Norseman"). However, they had completely abandoned their Old Norse language and wholeheartedly adopted French (which is a so-called Romance language, derived originally from the Latin, not Germanic, branch of Indo-European), to the extent that not a single Norse word survived in Normandy.

However, the Normans spoke a rural dialect of French with considerable Germanic influences, usually called "Anglo-Norman" or "Norman French", which was quite different from the standard French of Paris of the period, which is known as "Francien". The differences between these dialects became even more marked after the Norman invasion of Britain, particularly after King John and England lost the French part of Normandy to the King of France in 1204 and England became even more isolated from continental Europe.

"Anglo-Norman French" became the language of the kings and nobility of England for more than 300 years (Henry IV, who came to the English throne in 1399, was the first monarch since before the Conquest to have English as his mother tongue). While "Anglo-Norman" was the verbal language of the court, administration and culture, though, Latin was mostly used for written language, especially by the Church and in official records. For example, the "Domesday Book", in which William the Conqueror took stock of his new kingdom, was written in Latin to emphasize its legal authority.

However, the peasantry and lower classes (the vast majority of the population, an estimated 95%) continued to speak English - considered by the Normans a low-class, vulgar tongue - and the two languages developed in parallel, only gradually merging as Normans and Anglo-Saxons began to intermarry. It is this mixture of "Old English" and "Anglo-Norman" that is usually referred to as "Middle English".
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Great Vowel Shift

IMAGE: The Great Vowel Shift (from ELLO)

A major factor separating "Middle English" from "Modern English" is known as the "Great Vowel Shift", a radical change in pronunciation during the 15th, 16th and 17th Century, as a result of which long vowel sounds began to be made higher and further forward in the mouth (short vowel sounds were largely unchanged). In fact, the shift probably started very gradually some centuries before 1400, and continued long after 1700 (some subtle changes arguably continue even to this day). Many languages have undergone vowel shifts, but the major changes of the English vowel shift occurred within the relatively short space of a century or two, quite a sudden and dramatic shift in linguistic terms. It was largely during this short period of time that English lost the purer vowel sounds of most European languages, as well as the phonetic pairing between long and short vowel sounds.

The causes of the shift are still highly debated, although an important factor may have been the very fact of the large intake of loanwords from the Romance languages of Europe during this time, which required a different kind of pronunciation. It was, however, a peculiarly English phenomenon, and contemporary and neighbouring languages like French, German and Spanish were entirely unaffected. It affected words of both native ancestry as well as borrowings from French and Latin.

In "Middle English" (for instance in the time of Chaucer), the long vowels were generally pronounced very much like the Latin-derived Romance languages of Europe (e.g. "sheep" would have been pronounced more like "shape"; "me" as "may"; "mine" as "meen"; "shire" as "sheer"; "mate" as "maat"; "out" as "oot"; "house" as "hoose"; "flour" as "floor"; "boot" as "boat"; "mode" as "mood"; etc).

"William the Conqueror"’s "Domesday Book", for example, would have been pronounced "doomsday", as indeed it is often erroneously spelled today. After the "Great Vowel Shift", the pronunciations of these and similar words would have been much more like they are spoken today. The Shift comprises a series of connected changes, with changes in one vowel pushing another to change in order to "keep its distance", although there is some dispute as to the order of these movements. The changes also proceeded at different times and speeds in different parts of the country.

Thus, Chaucer’s word "lyf" (pronounced "leef") became the modern word "life", and the word "five" (originally pronounced "feef") gradually acquired its modern pronunciation. Some of the changes occurred in stages: although "lyf" was spelled "life" by the time of Shakespeare in the late 16th Century, it would have been pronounced more like "lafe" at that time, and only later did it acquired its modern pronunciation. It should be noted, though, that the tendency of upper-classes of southern England to pronounce a broad "a" in words like "dance", "bath" and "castle" (to sound like "dahnce", "bahth" and "cahstle") was merely an 18th Century fashionable affectation which happened to stick, and nothing to do with a general shifting in vowel pronunciation.

The "Great Vowel Shift" gave rise to many of the oddities of English pronunciation, and now obscures the relationships between many English words and their foreign counterparts. The spellings of some words changed to reflect the change in pronunciation (e.g. "stone" from "stan", "rope" from "rap", "dark" from "derk", "barn" from "bern", "heart" from "herte", etc), but most did not. In some cases, two separate forms with different meaning continued (e.g. "parson", which is the old pronunciation of "person"). The effects of the vowel shift generally occurred earlier, and were more pronounced, in the south, and some northern words like "uncouth" and "dour" still retain their pre-vowel shift pronunciation ("uncooth" and "door" rather than "uncowth" and "dowr"). "Busy" has kept its old West Midlands spelling, but an East Midlands/London pronunciation; "bury" has a West Midlands spelling but a Kentish pronunciation. It is also due to irregularities and regional variations in the vowel shift that we have ended up with inconsistencies in pronunciation such as "food" (as compared to "good", "stood", "blood", etc) and "roof" (which still has variable pronunciation), and the different pronunciations of the "o" in "shove", "move", "hove", etc.

SOUND CLIP: Great Vowel Shift pronunciation changes (35 sec) (from National Science Foundation)

Other changes in spelling and pronunciation also occurred during this period. The Old English consonant "X" - technically a "voiceless velar fricative", pronounced as in the "ch" of "loch" or "Bach" - disappeared from English, and the Old English word "burX" ("place"), for example, was replaced with "-burgh", "-borough", "-brough" or "-bury" in many place names. In some cases, voiceless fricatives began to be pronounced like an "f" (e.g. "laugh", "cough"). Many other consonants ceased to be pronounced at all (e.g. the final "b" in words like "dumb" and "comb"; the "l" between some vowels and consonants such as "half", "walk", "talk" and "folk"; the initial "k" or "g" in words like "knee", "knight", "gnaw" and "gnat"; etc). As late as the 18th Century, the "r" after a vowel gradually lost its force, although the "r" before a vowel remained unchanged (e.g. "render", "terror", etc), unlike in American usage where the "r" is fully pronounced.

So, while modern English speakers can read Chaucer’s Middle English (with some difficulty admittedly), Chaucer’s pronunciation would have been almost completely unintelligible to the modern ear. The English of "William Shakespeare" and his contemporaries in the late 16th and early 17th Century, on the other hand, would be accented, but quite understandable, and it has much more in common with our language today than it does with the language of Chaucer. Even in Shakespeare’s time, though, and probably for quite some time afterwards, short vowels were almost interchangeable (e.g. "not" was often pronounced, and even written, as "nat", "when" as "whan", etc), and the pronunciation of words like "boiled" as "byled", "join" as "jine", "poison" as "pison", "merchant" as "marchant", "certain" as "sartin", "person" as "parson", "heard" as "hard", "speak" as "spake", "work" as "wark", etc, continued well into the 19th Century. We retain even today the old pronunciations of a few words like "derby" and "clerk" (as "darby" and "clark"), and place names like "Berkeley" and "Berkshire" (as "Barkley" and "Barkshire"), except in America where more phonetic pronunciations were adopted.
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1066: The Norman conquest under William the Conqueror

William I (c. 1028 - 9 September 1087), usually known as "William the Conqueror" and sometimes "William the Bastard", was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy (as "Duke William II") from 1035 onward. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.

William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Robert's mistress "Herleva". His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule. During his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and abbots in the Norman church. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine.
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English and Its Historical Development, Part 18

(Norman Invasion and Conquest by William the Conqueror)

In 1066, "William the Conqueror" and his Normans (plus mercenaries) invaded and took over Britain

Edward the Confessor died childless in January, 1066

At his succession, Edward found England divided into a few large districts, each under the control of a powerful earl. The most influential of these nobles was Godwin, earl of the West Saxon earldom.

He had the reputation of being a shrewd, capable man and he was soon Edward's principal adviser. At the time of his death, his oldest son, Harold succeeded to his title and influence, and during the last twelve years of Edward's reign, Harold exercised a firm and capable influence over national affairs.
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False Eponyms

People often ascribe word origins to famous people. This is complicated because many words are, in fact, eponyms; "Amelia Bloomer" gave us the name for a type of undergarment and "William Bowdler" was quite a censor of literary works. But, "harlot" does not come from "Arlette", the unmarried mother of "William the Conqueror", "crap" does not derive from "Thomas Crapper", nor did a New Orleans gambler nicknamed "Johnny the Toad" (Crapaud in French) give his name to a certain game of dice, and General "Fighting Joe" Hooker did not bequeath us the word for a camp follower.

The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)

"William the Conqueror", the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD. (The Bayeux Tapestry, details of which form the navigation buttons on this site, is perhaps the most famous graphical depiction of the Norman Conquest.) The new overlords spoke a dialect of "Old French" known as "Anglo-Norman". The Normans were also of Germanic stock ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") and "Anglo-Norman" was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as "priest", "vicar", and "mass" came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance ("Anglo-Norman") words.

The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, "beef" and "cow". "Beef", commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic "cow". Many legal terms, such as "indict", "jury", and "verdict" have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.

Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; "crime" replaced "firen" and "uncle" replaced "eam". Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French "gentle" and the Germanic "man" formed "gentleman". Other times, two different words with roughly the same meaning survive into modern English. Thus we have the Germanic "doom" and the French "judgment", or "wish" and "desire".
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"§"
wordinfo.info
1066
"William the Conqueror"
Middle English

In 1066, "William the Conqueror" and his Normans (plus mercenaries) invaded and took over Britain.
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On September 28, 1066, he landed at Pevensey, on the south coast of England, with his formidable force; one third of them Normans, the others consisting of land-hungry mercenaries.
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From 1066-1200, the Norman Conquest and the settlement of England

The Norman Conquest changed the whole course of the English language. There was a loss of the Old English word-stock and the addition of thousands of words from French and Latin.

A.D. 1150-1500 is considered to be the Middle English Period
...
The Norman Conquest and Middle English

"William the Conqueror", the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 A.D. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman.

The Normans were also of Germanic stock; "Norman" comes from "Norseman", and "Anglo-Norman" was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as "priest", "vicar", and "mass" came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.

The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, "beef" and "cow". "Beef", commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic "cow".

Many legal terms, such as "indict", "jury", and "verdict" have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts.

This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.

Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; "crime" replaced "firen" and "uncle" replaced "eam".

In other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word; such as, the French "gentle" and the Germanic "man" formed "gentleman".

It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c.1000) sample:

French		English

close            shut
reply            answer
odour            smell
annual           yearly
demand           ask
chamber          room
desire           wish
power            might
ire              wrath / anger

Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English ("ox", "cow", "calf", "sheep", "swine", "deer") while the words for the meats derived from them are French ("beef", "veal", "mutton", "pork", "bacon", "venison").

The Germanic form of plurals ("house", "housen"; "shoe", "shoen") was eventually displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding an "s" ("house", "houses"; "shoe", "shoes"). Only a few words have retained their Germanic plurals: "men", "oxen", "feet", "teeth", "children".

French also affected spelling so that the "cw" sound became "qu"; for example, "cween" became "queen".
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"§"
Fischer, Ulrich
Stadtgestalt im Zeichen der Eroberung
Englische Kathedralstädte in frühnormannischer Zeit (1066-1135)

Rezension von:

Ulrich Fischer: Stadtgestalt im Zeichen der Eroberung. Englische Kathedralstädte in frühnormannischer Zeit (1066-1135), Köln / Weimar / Wien: Böhlau 2009

Rezensiert von Jörg Peltzer

"§"
Hardy, Justin (Regie)
1066 - Die Schlacht um England

Die dreiteilige Dokumentation stellt die Ereignisse im England des Jahres 1066 dar, die in der Schlacht von Hastings ihren Höhepunkt fanden.

Die beiden Bauern Leofric und Tofi werden nicht ganz freiwillig von Ordgar zum Kriegsdienst verpflichtet. Zunächst gilt es den Süden des Landes vor einem möglichen Angriff der Normannen zu schützen. Als zur selben Zeit ein Wikingertrupp im Norden an Land geht, marschiert Ordgar mit seiner Truppe nach Norden und schlägt die Wikinger in der Schlacht von Stamford Bridge.

Im zweiten Teil fallen die Normannen in England ein. Ordgar und seine Leute haben keine Zeit sich von der Schlacht zu erholen, denn in Sussex ist ein Normannenheer aus Frankreich gelandet und hat die Ortschaft Crowhurst gebrandschatzt.

Im dritten Teil der Doku kommt es zum Höhepunkt der Ereignisse in der Schlacht von Hastings, in der Willhelm der Eroberer die Engländer unter König Harold vernichtend schlägt.

• Genre: Dokumentation, Geschichte
• Land: Großbritannien
• Regie: Justin Hardy
• Produktion: Hardy Pictures Ltd.
• Drehbuch: Peter Harness
• Darsteller: Mike Bailey, Francis Magee
• Originaltitel: 1066 - The War For Middle Earth

"§"
Hogg, Richard M. (Editor)
The Cambridge History of the English Language

"The Cambridge History of the English Language" is the first multi-volume work to provide a full and authoritative account of the history of English. Each chapter gives a chronologically-oriented presentation of the data, surveys scholarship in the area and takes full account of the impact of current and developing linguistic theory on the interpretation of the data. The chapters have been written so as to be accessible to both specialists and nonspecialists and each volume contains a glossary of linguistic terms and a comprehensive bibliography and index.

Volume 1, The Beginnings to 1066
Edited by Richard M. Hogg
Print publication: 31 July 1992

"The Cambridge History of the English Language" is the first multi-volume work to provide a full account of the history of English. Its authoritative coverage extends from areas of central linguistic interest and concern to more specialised topics such as personal and place names. The volumes dealing with earlier periods are chronologically based, whilst those dealing with more recent periods are geographically based, thus reflecting the spread of English over the last 300 years.

Volume 1 deals with the history of English up to the Norman Conquest, and contains chapters on Indo-European and Germanic, phonology and morphology, syntax, semantics and vocabulary, dialectology, onomastics, and literary language. Each chapter, as well as giving a chronologically-oriented presentation of the data, surveys scholarship in the area and takes full account of the impact of developing and current linguistic theory on the interpretation of the data. The chapters have been written with both specialists and non-specialists in mind; they will be essential reading for all those interested in the history of English.

Volume 2, 1066-1476
Edited by Norman Blake

"The Cambridge History of the English Language" is the first multi-volume work to provide a comprehensive and authoritative account of the history of English from its beginnings to its present-day worldwide use.

Volume 2 deals with the Middle English period, approximately 1066-1476, and describes and analyses developments in the language from the Norman Conquest to the introduction of printing. This period witnessed important features like the assimilation of French and the emergence of a standard variety of English. There are chapters on phonology and morphology, syntax, dialectology, lexis and semantics, literary language, and onomastics. Each chapter concludes with a section on further reading; and the volume as a whole is supported by an extensive glossary of linguistic terms and a comprehensive bibliography. The chapters are written by specialists who are familiar with modern approaches to the study of historical linguistics.

Volume 3, 1476-1776
Edited by Roger Lass

This volume of the "Cambridge History of the English Language" covers the period 1476-1776, beginning at the time of the establishment of Caxton's first press in England and concluding with the American Declaration of Independence, the notional birth of the first (non-insular) extraterritorial English. It encompasses three centuries which saw immense cultural change over the whole of Europe: the late middle ages, the renaissance, the reformation, the enlightenment, and the beginnings of romanticism. During this time, Middle English became Early Modern English and then developed into the early stages of indisputably 'modern', if somewhat old-fashioned, English. In this book, the distinguished team of six contributors traces these developments, covering orthography and punctuation, phonology and morphology, syntax, lexis and semantics, regional and social variation, and the literary language. The volume also contains a glossary of linguistic terms and an extensive bibliography.

Volume 4, 1776-1997
Edited by Suzanne Romaine

This volume deals with the history of the English language from 1776 to 1997. An extensive introduction details the changing socio-historical setting in which English has developed in response to a continuing background of diversity as it was transplanted to North America and beyond. Separate chapters on phonology, syntax, and vocabulary chronicle the linguistic features of the language during this period, taking as the basis for discussion the common core inherited from the sixteenth century and shared by what are now the two principal varieties, American and British English. In addition, there are chapters on English as a literary language, English grammar and usage, and onomastics. A separate volume on North American English is in preparation.

Volume 5, English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development
Edited by Robert Burchfield

"The Cambridge History of the English Language" is the first multi-volume work to provide a full account of the history of English. Its authoritative coverage extends from areas of central linguistic interest and concern to more specialised topics such as personal names and place names. The volumes dealing with earlier periods are chronologically based, whilst those dealing with more recent periods are geographically based, thus reflecting the spread of English over the last 300 years.

Volume 5 looks at the dialects of England since 1776, the historical development of English in the former Celtic-speaking countries of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and at varieties of English in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. This unique volume will be welcomed by all those interested in the spread of English around the world.

Volume 6, English in North America
Edited by John Algeo

Volume VI of The Cambridge History of the English Language traces the history of English in North America from its British background to its present position among the varieties of English used around the globe. The influences that have formed American English include the political, social, and cultural changes in American life, contact with other languages in North America, and continuing immigration from the British Isles and around the globe. In this book, sixteen leading authorities in the field consider how the vocabulary (both standard and slang), grammar, spelling, and usage in both the standard language and regional and social dialects have evolved in response to these influences, and examine the relationship of and interaction between British and American English. Separate chapters deal with African-American English, Canadian English and Newfoundland English and the volume also includes suggestions for further reading, a glossary of linguistic terms, and an extensive bibliography.

Volume I - Contents

Volume II - Contents

Volume III - Contents

Volume IV - Contents

Volume V - Contents

Volume VI - Contents

"§"
Sellar, W. C.
Yeatman, R. J.
1066 and All That - A Memorable History of England

Introduced by Ned Sherrin
Illustrated by John Reynolds

With only two genuine dates, this irreverent romp is history as every schoolboy would wish it - hilarious and memorable.

‘History is not about what you thought. It is what you can remember.’ So say W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman in their celebrated potted history of England. "1066 and All That" is an uproarious and irreverent satire of schoolroom misrememberings that has become one of the best-loved humour titles this side of ‘Broody’ Mary. Its hilarious accounts are guaranteed to drive out all the nonsense you might, however reluctantly, have picked up at school, and replace it with the only kind of history that is truly worthwhile - that is, history that is ‘memorable’. This reissue of a classic 1990 Folio edition contains an introduction by broadcaster Ned Sherrin and inimitable illustrations by John Reynolds.

Bound in Kraft paper printed with a design by David Eccles
Set in Old Style
160 pages with 55 integrated black & white line drawings by John Reynolds
Page edges have ‘ink splash’ effect
8" x 5¼"

...
This humorous "history" is a book that has itself become part of the UK's history. The authors made the claim that "All the History you can remember is in the Book," and, for most Brits, they were probably right. But it is their own unique interpretation of events that has made the book a classic; an uproarious satire on textbook history and a population's confused recollections of it.
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Speaking Volumes: W.C. Sellar's and R.J. Yeatman's 1066 and All That

August 29, 1997

My father, a man of genial but sceptical disposition, refrained from introducing me to this remarkable book until I had decided to read history. He, a journalist turned policeman by the economic fortunes of the 1930s, had not had such an opportunity, but in the everyday sense he too read history. He loved 1066 And All That, not just for its satire, but for the affection behind the satire. It is a book which can be approached on many levels.
...

1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first appeared serially in Punch magazine, and was published in book form by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1930.

Contents

• Overview
• Musical comedy
• Works inspired by 1066
• Works with titles inspired by 1066
• See also
• References
• Bibliography
• Further reading

Overview

The book is a parody of the style of history teaching in English schools at the time, in particular of Our Island Story. It purports to contain "all the History you can remember", and, in sixty-two chapters, covers the history of England from Roman times through 1066 "and all that", up to the end of World War I, at which time "America was thus clearly Top Nation, and history came to a ." [full-stop, like a telegram]. The book is full of examples of half-remembered and mixed-up facts.
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"§"
Waßenhoven, Dominik
1066
Englands Eroberung durch die Normannen

2016. Buch. 128 S.: mit 5 Abbildungen, 2 Stammtafeln und 2 Karten. Softcover, C.H.BECK ISBN 978-3-406-69844-6, Format (B x L): 11,8 x 18,0 cm, Gewicht: 119 g

Der 14. Oktober 1066 war ein Schicksalstag der englischen Geschichte. Damals besiegten in der Schlacht von Hastings die Truppen Herzog Wilhelms das Aufgebot der Angelsachsen, die unter ihrem König Harald II. tapfer kämpften. Die dramatischen Ereignisse von damals sind in einer einzigartigen Bildquelle, dem weltberühmten Teppich von Bayeux, festgehalten. Aber eine nicht weniger herausragende Schriftquelle, das sogenannte "Domesday Book", lässt uns erkennen, wie stark sich nach diesem Sieg der Normannen die Gesellschaft in England veränderte und ein vollständiger Austausch der Eliten stattfand. Dominik Waßenhoven erhellt kundig und verständlich die Voraussetzungen der Ereignisse von 1066, erzählt die spannende Geschichte der Kämpfe und erläutert die Folgen des Sieges der Normannen.