Anglo Norman

Norman language

How do we define 'Anglo-Norman'? Let's get started with a basic definition and then look at the history of the period in more detail.

More specifically, Anglo-Norman combines Old Norman French with a selection of loanwords taken from Old English, hence 'Anglo-Norman'.

But who were the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons? What occurred for this unique 'Anglo-Norman' language to spawn? Let's learn a little bit more about the history of the period to find out.

Anglo-Norman period

Let's answer some common questions to learn a little more about how the Anglo-Norman language came to be.

The Normans in England

The process that would create the Anglo-Norman language was set in motion after the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Before the invasion of the Normans, England had been controlled by the Anglo-Saxons, who had invaded England after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century AD.

In 1066 the Normans sailed across the channel and conquered England during the infamous battle of Hastings. After this conquest, the English way of life was forever altered.

One of the most significant changes made by the Normans was making their native dialect (Old Norman French) the language of the law, nobility and administration. During the 8th and 9th centuries, scholars had begun creating works of literature in Old English; now, Old English fell out of use within written work almost entirely. Even though most of the lower-class population still spoke the language, Old English had become the least important written language in the country.

The birth of the Anglo-Norman language

After conquering England, the Normans slowly began adopting words from the Old English language. This is a common phenomenon known as taking 'loanwords', in which speakers of one language take words from another, adding them to their own vocabulary over a period of many years.

By 1100, the Norman dialect was primarily Old Norman French but with a noticeable Anglo-Saxon influence. We refer to this mix of two languages as 'Anglo-Norman'.

The decline of the Old French dialect

While French was the dominant language in England for hundreds of years after the Norman conquest, by 1350, it had once again been almost completely replaced by English.

This resulted from the gradual isolation of the Normans from mainland France. Numerous conflicts like the Hundred Years War, which was fought between England and France from 1337 until 1453, soured the relationship between the two countries.

Fig 1. This painting, contained within the Jean Froissart Chronicles (1369) depicts the Battle of Auray, one of the deciding battles in the Hundred Years War fought between England and France.

For this reason, the Normans began associating themselves with English culture to distance themselves from their own. Consequently, they slowly started enthusiastically adopting English values, customs and vocabulary, helping English to once again replace French as the language of law and nobility.

But wait! This wasn't the same 'Old English' that it used to be. English speakers now had thousands of French words in their vocabulary. English grammar had also been simplified massively, likely so that the native English and the Normans could understand each other more comfortably. It is this simplified dialect of English mixed with French that we now refer to as 'Middle English'.

Anglo-Norman language example

Let's look at some Anglo-Norman phrases that are still spoken in the parliament of the United Kingdom today. We'll use these phrases to examine the differences between Anglo-Norman, Modern French and Modern English.

The first thing you'll notice here is how much more Anglo-Norman relates to Modern French than it does to Modern English. This makes sense, as the Normans spoke Old French before conquering England in 1066. Anglo-Norman is primarily a French dialect with several loanwords from Old English.

Some of the words in the Anglo-Norman language look very similar to Modern English vocabulary. 'In these examples, 'commons' derives from the Old French 'communes'. You may also notice that the word 's'aviser' sounds a lot like the English 'adviser'. This is because the 'adviser' derives from the Old French 'avis' meaning opinion, so 'Le Roy/La Reyne s'aviser' could be translated to 'The King/Queen will advise on the matter'.

Anglo-Norman literature

Anglo-Norman literature reached its peak between the beginning of the twelfth century and the first quarter of the thirteenth century (approximately 1100-1225). While the style of Anglo-Norman works did mirror traditional French literature in some ways, the cultural differences between England and France prevented Anglo-Norman literature from being a complete imitation of French literature.

For example, much of the religious, political and historical writing from the period was concerned with chronicling England rather than the histories of France. The English nobility were also particularly enthralled with a genre known as 'romance':

Anglo-Norman literature has many examples of the traditional romance narrative, most of which were exclusive to England's social and cultural climate. This tells us there was a significant breakaway from French literature into distinctly English narrative tropes. Let's look in more detail at some famous examples of Anglo-Norman literature.

Roman de Brut

The most important work to arise from the Anglo-Norman period is Wace's (c.1110-1174) Roman de Brut (1155), an expanded version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's (c.1095-c.1155) Latin Historia regum Britanniae (c.1136), which translates to 'History of the Kings of Britain'. This pseudohistorical work provides a largely fictional account of all of the legendary kings of Britain, dating back over 2000 years from the time it was written. Until the 16th century, Monmouth's work was thought to be completely accurate. Today it is seen as unreliable and at least partly falsified.

While the Historia regum Brittaniae has little use as a historical reference, the importance of the text lies in the narratives it created. Many popular cultural figures were first depicted within Monmouth's work, including Brutus of Troy, King Arthur, and Merlin the mage.

In Roman de Brut, Wace translates the original Latin text into Anglo-Norman whilst adding additional material. Wace expanded on Monmouth's description of King Arthur by telling the tale of King Arthur's Round Table for the first time. This story has been adapted countless times and is still a part of popular culture today.

Fig 2. This extract from Roman de Brut depicts King Arthur finding a giant roasting a pig.

Le Roman de Waldef

This romance narrative was created by an unknown author in Medieval England during the early thirteenth century, making it a prominent example of Anglo-Norman literature. It follows the exploits of an East Anglian King named Waldef. The narrative focuses on political strategy, battle and adventure, all typical features of the romance genre.

Tristan

Thomas of Britain (c.12th century) is famed for creating an early Anglo-Norman adaptation of the famous Celtic legend 'Tristan and Iseult.' His version, Tristan (c.1155-1160), only exists in eight fragments but contains over 3000 lines of verse.

The writer also evidently used Wace's Roman de Brut as a reference guide to plan their narrative, as Thomas's Tristan frequently references the largely fictional dynasties present in the list of Kings.

Anglo-Norman words

To end with a little bit of fun, let's look at some Anglo-Norman words and see how they compare to both Modern English and French English.