This scene from the Bayeux Tapestry shows the Normans getting ready to invade England. The Latin words say: ‘These men are carrying arms‘.

This scene from the Bayeux Tapestry shows the Normans getting ready to invade England. The Latin

words say: ‘These men are carrying arms‘.

A bronze carving showing three Norman knights.

For 200 years after 1066, all of England‘s rulers spoke French. Kings, earls, barons, and bishops were French. They knew enough English to give

orders to their servants, but no more. “Old English“, as we call it, was the language of the peasants. But there were far more peasants than lords. In time, English took over, and by the year 1400 everyone spoke it. By then, though, it was a mixture of “Old English“ and the French the Normans brought to

England.

Attacking a castle: a knight urges on the footsoldiers. The picture was drawn in about

1250.

The castle of Angers, one of Henry II‘s strongholds in France.