English Literature / Unit 4 ENL 0301 short lesson, about 20 seconds
After 1066: French, Latin and English
Captions available
The idea
William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings in ten sixty-six, and Norman French became the language of court, law and government. English absorbed French words, giving pairs like drink and beverage. A statute of thirteen sixty-two restored English to the law courts.
In practice
Hastings, French at court, English returning.
Where people slip
Three languages coexisted for centuries.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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