A short history of the English language: Part 3 - the French arrive

For all you grammar students who want to practice your third conditional (for hypothetical events), here is a classic ‘What if’ from English history that has an important effect on the grammar, spelling and pronunciation that you are learning now…

1066, the year of three kings, ended with the second of two pitched battles fought on English by the Saxon King Harold. After spectacularly defeating an invasion by the Scandinavians in the north of the country he marched his troops down to the south coast to confront a particularly angry William, Duke of Normandy.

At the Battle of Hastings things were going well for the English king and at one point it looked like the home team was going to win, until Fate decided that a well-aimed arrow should land in King Harold’s eye and kill him. William, with his outrageous French accent, won the battle and the country. Over the next one hundred years the English culture and language changed dramatically.

English was wiped away from the corridors of power as King William replaced the English lords with his French buddies. French-speaking barons were appointed, who brought their own families and servants. French-speaking abbots and bishops were appointed to replace the English-speaking clergy. Four years after the battle the new Archbishop of Canterbury was a Frenchman who, like the king, spoke no English.

Within 20 years of the Norman victory, the smell of garlic could be found in almost all the religious houses as they were now run by French-speaking superiors. Large numbers of French merchants and craftsmen crossed the Channel to take advantage of the trade offered by the new French colony.
In order to survive in these politically unstable times it was up to the wealthiest and most power-hungry of English people to brown-nose those in power and learn French if they wanted to maintain any of their previous status.

With the country dominated by the French it is unsurprising that it was not long before French spelling rules, pronunciation and grammar started to have an effect on English. Spelling underwent some radical changes as a result of the conquerors trying to spell English according to French spelling rules. Before 1066 the word 'queen' was spelt 'kwen' but pronounced in the modern way.

However, by the end of the 12th century some children of the nobility spoke English as their first tongue and had to be taught French. Nevertheless, if you were to walk around many English towns and villages at this time you would notice how the French influence had influenced life through the names that the children had. It was now more common to hear parents calling their kids John, Eleanor, Margaret, Simon, Peter and Stephen rather than Godwine, Egbert, Alfred, Wulfric and Eadric.

French continued to be used in Parliament, the courts, and in public proceedings. It is also thought that it wasn’t until the 1300s that the King actually spoke English!

We think that the English language managed to survive, unlike Celtic, because the population of England in 1066 was much greater than when invaders had overrun the Celtic language. Though French became the language of the upper classes and gentry, ‘the masses’ continued to speak English.

So, to return to our third conditional – ‘What if the English had won the Battle of Hastings?’ Well it’s very possible that the language would be much easier to spell and pronounce, but we’d all have some pretty daft names! [AT]