Коротка історія Англії, Детальна інформація

How the Norman Conquerors Lived in England

The new masters were strangers in the country. They had different manners, customs and laws from those of the conquered people. They spoke a foreign tongue and the Anglo-Saxon peasants couldn’t understand their speech. The conquerors were few in number but they were harsh and cruel rulers. They punished those who dared to disobey severely, to intimidate and to suppress the conquered people. The Anglo-Saxons felt great hated toward their new masters. The Normans did not feel safe in the conquered country for they could be attacked at any time. They were completed to built large thick stone-walled castles for defence where they lived with their families and vassals.

Before the Norman Conquest the Anglo-Saxon lords lived in timber houses. Sometimes the lord’s house was built on the hill with a strong wooden fence or palisade round it and with a ditch outside the fence. There were not castles. After the Norman Conquest strong castles began to appear in each country. At first they were built wood and later of stone. The first of these stone castles was the Tower of London. The Conqueror ordered it to be built on the north bank of the Thames to protect London. The Great castle of Durham was built to protect northern England from the raids of Scots. Another fortress was built on the river Tyne and was called Newcastle. Many other castles were built in the reign of William I. At first most castles belonged to the King , but later on great castles belonging to the Norman barons arose all over England. The old timber houses were pulled down and the villagers were forced to build strong castles in which the new lords and their fighting men lived. The Norman castle were built on a hill or rock so that it could not easily be attacked. The castle was as a rule a square stone tower with very thick walls and it was surrounded by a thick stone wall wide enough for the archers to walk along. The outer wall was strengthened with towers built on each corner. Outside the wall was a deep ditch, or moat, filled with water. The moat could be crossed by a draw bridge was drawn up by chains.

The chief tower where the baron and his family lived was called the keep. This was the strongest part of the building. Between the keep and the outer massive wall there was a court where stood the stables for horses and horses for the servants. Later the keep in the Norman castle was surrounded by two or even three stone walls.

The castle dominated over the country round. The Anglo-Saxon neighbours saw them selves constantly controlled by the foreign oppressors, who were safe behind the massive wall of their castles. Some of the massive strong towers built by the Normans can be seen in England today, like the White Tower of London Tower or the keep of the castle at Colchester which was the largest Norman castle in England. Some, such as Windsor Castle, are still used as residences. But most of the old Norman castles are ruins which can still be seen in various parts of England. The Norman noble considered war his chief occupation. Each noble was a knight, or a fully armed maunder warrior. The armour of a Norman knight consisted of mail, which fitted close to the body. The lead was covered with a helmet and each knight carried a shield. His horse was also protected by armour. Nobles were trained in warfare from childhood. It was honourable to be a knight and the sons of nobles were trained to become good knights. They were not taught to read and write. Nobles in heavy armour could fight skilfully on the horseback, but they were coarse and youth in military trained and as they grew up they spent their time in wars of feasting with the guest in the halls of their castles. The Norman lords were fond of the tournament, a military competition between knights and hunting as they both were akin to warfare.

William the Conqueror himself was very fond of hunting. He chose the place near Salisbury and gave orders to make it an enormous hunting-ground. Sixty villages were destroyed: barns, houses, churches, were burnt to the ground. Hundreds of poor Anglo-Saxon peasants were driven from the land. This wide space was called the New Forest. There were many other forests set aside for the royal hunting. The King and his nobles would turned into forest for hunting. To be sure, not too much concern was shown for the sown fields either. Very often while hunting the lords rode across the peasants fields and destroyed their crops. That was their right for they felt that they owned the land and the peasants as well.

Affects on the Language

The victorious Normans made up the new aristocracy and the Anglo-Saxon people became their servants. The Norman aristocracy spoke a Norman dialect of French, a tongue of Latin origin, while the Anglo-Saxons spoke English, a tongue of Germanic origin. Thus there were two different languages spoken in the country. All the documents were written in French or Latin. The clergy, whom the Normans brought into the country used Latin for most part. The richer Anglo-Saxon found it convenient to learn to speak the language at the rules. But peasants and townspeople spoke English. The Normans looked upon English as a kind of peasant dialect and continued to speak their own language. They despaired anyone unable to speak their language.

But the Normans couldn’t subdue the popular tongue which was spoken by the majority of the population, those who cultivated the land to produce goods. The conquerors who settled down on English estates had to communicate with the natives of the country and they gradually learned to speak their language. Many of them married Anglo-Saxon wives and their children and grandchildren grew up speaking English. In a few generations the descendants of the Normans who had come with William I learned to speak the mother tongue of the common people of England. In time English became the language of the educated classes and the official language of the state.

This was a gradual process, however and many years passed before the Normans forgot their old tongue. At the time when the two languages were spoken side by side the Anglo-Saxons learned many French words and expressions which gradually came into the English language. They borrowed many French words and equivalents of which did not exist in their own language. For example, the wife of an English earl is called “counless” , a French word, because there was no Anglo-Saxon word meaning the wife of an earl. Many synonyms appeared in English language, because very often both French and English words for the same thing were used side by side.

Words of Germanic origin make up the basic vocabulary of Modern English. The Anglo-Saxons spoke the simple countryman’s language and in Modern English simple everyday words are mostly Anglo-Saxon, like eat, land, house and others. But as there were no English words to describe the many words were adopted from the French language. Thus the vocabulary of the English language was enlarged due to such Norman-French words dealing with feudal relations as manor, noble, baron, serve, command, obey, or words relating to administration and law such as charter, council, accuse, court, crime, or such military terms as arms, troops, guard, navy, battle, victory, and other words characterising the way of life and customs of the Normans aristocracy.

As a result of conquest the English language changed greatly under the influence of the French language. The two languages gradually formed one rich English language which already in the 14th century was being used both in speech and in writing. Gradually the Normans mixed with the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes and from this mixture the English nation finally emerged.

Villages After the Norman Conquest

At the end of the 11th century and at the beginning of the 12th century England had a population of about 1.500.000 people. More than nine-tenth lived in villages and were engaged in agriculture.

The church was the centre of the village. The Anglo-Saxon church would be made of stone with very thick walls and tower. In the life of the village the church was of great importance. The church bell told men when to begin work and when to come home from the fields. The villagers spent their spare time for the most part in church.