Changes

==Conquest==

==Conquest==

The Normans spoke French, not English, and imposed a new leadership class on England, giving all the land to their own nobles. The "Old English" language added many French and Latinate words to its Germanic base, becoming "Middle English."  The Conquest brought England--then a backwater--into closer contact with European culture.   

The Normans spoke French, not English, and imposed a new leadership class on England, giving all the land to their own nobles. The "Old English" language added many French and Latinate words to its Germanic base, becoming "Middle English."  The Conquest brought England—then a backwater—into closer contact with European culture.   

The Normans, with a much more complex legal and political system, created an effective government. The first three Norman kings, [[William I]], [[William Rufus]], and [[Henry I]], reigned from 1066 to 1135. They had to confront and suppress rebellious Englishmen, unreconciled Welsh and Scots, foreign enemies on the continent, and deal with the internal rivalries among the Normans themselves.  These kings were soldiers and were brutal and violent when necessary. As itinerant warlords they kept their new subjects under control through force and intimidation rather than through charters and legal formalities.  The new institutions that emerged came out of English roots rather than being created by the Normans. The Normans did impose a new legal system, called the "common law", on top of the old localistic system.

The Normans, with a much more complex legal and political system, created an effective government. The first three Norman kings, [[William I]], [[William Rufus]], and [[Henry I]], reigned from 1066 to 1135. They had to confront and suppress rebellious Englishmen, unreconciled Welsh and Scots, foreign enemies on the continent, and deal with the internal rivalries among the Normans themselves.  These kings were soldiers and were brutal and violent when necessary. As itinerant warlords they kept their new subjects under control through force and intimidation rather than through charters and legal formalities.  The new institutions that emerged came out of English roots rather than being created by the Normans. The Normans did impose a new legal system, called the "common law", on top of the old localistic system.

* Thomas, Hugh M. ''The Norman Conquest: England after William the Conqueror'' (2007)

* Thomas, Hugh M. ''The Norman Conquest: England after William the Conqueror'' (2007)

* Williams, A. ''The English and the Norman Conquest'' (1995). , good narrative history

* Williams, A. ''The English and the Norman Conquest'' (1995). , good narrative history

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[[category:English History]]

[[Category:English History]]

[[category:Medieval History]]

[[Category:Medieval History]]