 Illuminated manuscript of the prologue to 'The Canterbury Tales' written by Geoffrey Chaucer (1380s) ©
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The Prologue: The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer (1380s)
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The Norman Conquest 1066
In 1066, William of Normandy invades England, ushering in a new social and linguistic era. But the change at the top takes a while to sink in, and manuscripts continue to be written in Old English as late as 1100.
French is rapidly established as the language of power and officialdom. William appoints French-speaking supporters to all the key positions of power, and this elite of barons, abbots and bishops retains close ties with its native Normandy.
But English is far too entrenched and continues to be used by the majority of people. With Latin the language of the church and of education, England becomes a truly trilingual country.
Language development
English continues to evolve after the Norman Conquest, particularly in grammar. Word order becomes increasingly important in conveying the meaning of a sentence, rather than the traditional use of special word endings.
Clever new constructions enter the language, such as the auxiliary verbs 'had' and 'shall' (had made, shall go).
Spelling and pronunciation begin to shift too, as Norman scribes spell words using their own conventions, such as qu- instead of cw-. Slowly but surely, distinctive Old English characters begin to die out.
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