Why was language not used to establish dominance throughout England 1066 AD–1360s CE?
score:32
There was a separation between the noble french and the vulgar Old English.
Or as I wrote in my comment: Who cares about the language of peasants
I found a nice source for this assumption
Middle English (1100-circa 1500 AD): After William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England in 1066 AD with his armies and became king, he brought his nobles, who spoke French, to be the new government. The Old French took over as the language of the court, administration, and culture. Latin was mostly used for written language, especially that of the Church. Meanwhile, The English language, as the of the now lower class, was considered a vulgar tongue.
By about 1200, England and France had split. English changed a lot, because it was mostly being spoken instead of written for about 300 years. The use of Old English came back, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. Most of the words embedded in the English vocabulary are words of power, such as crown, castle, court, parliament, army, mansion, gown, beauty, banquet, art, poet, romance, duke, servant, peasant, traitor and governor. ("Language Timeline", The British Library Board)
Very intersting :
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 Origin and History of the English Language", Kryss Katsiavriades)
Another source notes, that exaclty the period you asked, is the period, where Old English changed to Middle English:
with the Norman Conquest, the English language underwent some dramatic changes. Anglo-Norman, or early Middle English, had direct effects that can still be seen today. Some of our words with an Anglo-Norman origin include chamber, judge, archer, flour, guarantee, parliament, jury, college, and adventure. In addition to new vocabulary words, English grammar underwent changes, too. After the end of the fourteenth century, early Middle English transformed into late Middle English.
Upvote:4
In most of the European middle ages the rulers/aristocracy were completely detached from the peasants.
They were really just like a set of management consultants brought in to run a company. The Normans had no real interest in dominating the English—so long as rents got paid and nobody revolted, who cared what language the peasants spoke.
In many European countries—like the Piast dynasty in Bohemia, or the Grand dukes of Lithuania—they literally put in a bid to run the country.
Upvote:14
The reasons are so numerous and overlapping.
There would have been very little to gain from establishing dominance of French culture. People did not form sympathies or loyalties based on language or culture – that development had to wait for another 700 years or so.
It would have been completely impossible to enforce such a ban. There were no such institutions as gendarmes, secret police, or indeed police of any kind. Knights lived in their castles and peasants lived in their cottages. Except for the former extracting wealth from the latter, they had very little to do with each other.
There was no practical way that any more than a tiny percentage of the population could have been educated to speak French. Who would even have taught them?
One always has to be careful about projecting modern conditions back on the past. The Norman conquest was not like a modern conquest of one nation by another; better to think of it like a modern "palace coup," where the very top levels of the leadership are replaced, but the basic structure of society remains as before.
In comments, the asker mentions the Anglo-Saxon invasion, which did lead to the displacement of the Celtic languages – but that was a very different situation. Anglo-Saxons migrated en masse under pressure of overpopulation, carved out new kingdoms from the existing ones, and subjugated the Celts under their rule into a new under-class. The Norman invasion was smaller and much more limited in its effects.
More post
- 📝 When did dueling with weapons become socially unacceptable in the western world?
- 📝 Why did Churchill accept the Order of the Garter in 1953?
- 📝 What is the origin of the Scythians?
- 📝 Physics of a heavy cavalry charge?
- 📝 Are there any examples of soldiers faking their death a combat before the modern era?
- 📝 Did Empress Cixi divert funds for the Beiyang Fleet to build the Summer Palace?
- 📝 How was the naval battle of Guadalcanal affected by Japanese ships loading High Explosive shells rather than Armor Piercing?
- 📝 Have democratic nations with their own constitutional monarchies become republics, and in what form?
- 📝 Why did the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and Statute of Westminster (1931) only deal with Dominions?
- 📝 Did Western China have special-named martial arts during Islamic era?
- 📝 What are the dimensions of this pomerium marker?
- 📝 Can someone give me the history on this Japanese Crest symbol
- 📝 Date of birth and the date of death of Marguerite-Claudine Legendre?
- 📝 Did French Seamen Join the US Merchant Marine in WWII?
- 📝 Where can I find an English translation of 'Il Fioretto della Bibbia'?
- 📝 Who had the shortest time in going from imprisonment to head of state within democratic processes?
- 📝 How would 19th century Janissaries remedy the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 Why did Spain trade Florida to the British in exchange for Havana?
- 📝 During the Indian removal were native Americans fed rotten food and taken through diseased areas?
- 📝 Were kamikaze pilots an effective strategy for Japan?
- 📝 Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
- 📝 Why didn't the British attack the Continental Congress?
- 📝 What are the ruins in Turkey near Kömürcü Köyü?
- 📝 Why Europe became more developed although metal was first discovered and used in Asia/Africa?
- 📝 Great Britain's role in Islamic Iran
- 📝 Earliest evidence of surfing
- 📝 What was the first successful non violent independence movement?
- 📝 Were the islands/countries discovered by Hispanic explorers named after Mozarabic feast days?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 How did the mortality of the Native Americans happen?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was language not used to establish dominance throughout England 1066 AD–1360s CE?
- 📝 Why was the German system of interlocking plates not used after WWII for armored vehicle construction?
- 📝 Why the M24 Chaffee was not used as a tank at Dien Bien Phu?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why China was able to unify and not Europe?
- 📝 Why was Britain willing to return Hong Kong but not Gibraltar?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was Germany not as successful as other Europeans in establishing overseas colonies?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Napoleon not executed or imprisoned?
- 📝 Why was Iceland not a part of the Danish-Swedish deal in Kiel in 1814?
- 📝 Why was China not colonized by any country?
- 📝 Why was gold so popular and valuable back when it did not have many real world uses?
- 📝 Why was the Greek alphabet not adopted by other languages, given the Greek influence?
- 📝 Why was Germany unified in Versailles not Berlin?
- 📝 Why was 19th-century Japan able to modernize and not China?
- 📝 Is there convincing evidence that the language of Bulgars (proto-Bulgarians) was not Turkic, but Indo-European?
- 📝 Why was slavery profitable in the Southern colonies and not New England?
- 📝 What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
- 📝 Why did Japan not withdraw from China as its pacific front was crumbling and the threat of US invasion imminent?
- 📝 Why was New Guinea not colonized by Austronesians the way Indonesia was?
- 📝 Why Europe became more developed although metal was first discovered and used in Asia/Africa?
- 📝 Why was Kentucky not admitted to the Union in 1789?
- 📝 Why was Copernicus not persecuted by the church, but Galileo was?
- 📝 Why was the Aeolipile not put to practical use in classical antiquity?
- 📝 When was King John of England given the name 'Dollheart', and who first used it?
- 📝 Why was the Ottoman empire not seen as an Arabic empire?
- 📝 Why was the Me262 not suited for a bomber role?
- 📝 Why was Lithuania not colonized by Soviet Union?
- 📝 Why was William III of England referred to as the British-Batavian Nassau?