Historical Introduction - Anglo-Norman Period - Chapter III - HELL

[alert-success] HEL - William J. Long [/alert-success]

[alert-warn] UNIT III : THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD[/alert-warn]

[alert-primary] Historical Introduction - Anglo-Norman Period[/alert-primary]

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NORMANS

         Norman is a softer version of Northman. Big, blond, fearless men from Scandinavia sailed in their Viking ships seeking plunder and adventure, bringing terror wherever they went. These "Children of Woden" wiped out Northumbrian civilization in the ninth century. Later, the same race of men came plundering along the French coast and conquered the entire north. Instead of destroying a superior civilization, they abandoned theirs. 

        The name Normandy remains, but the conquerors intermarried with native Franks, adopted French ideals, and spoke French. They adopted and improved Roman civilization so quickly that, from a rude tribe of heathen Vikings, they became Europe's most polished and intellectual people in a century. The union of Norse and French (i.e. Roman-Gallic) blood produced a race with the best qualities of both: willpower, energy, and curiosity. We should think of the conquerors as Frenchmen, not Normans.

 THE CONQUEST

        Harold, the last Saxon king, was defeated at Hastings (1066), and William, duke of Normandy, became king. This Conquest gave three results that influenced our literature. 

        First, the Normans were the first to bring Roman culture and ideals to England,

         Second, they imposed a strong, centralised government on England to replace Saxon chiefs' loose authority over their tribesmen. 

        Third, they brought a new language and literature to England

    After Hastings conquest, French was the language of the upper classes, courts, schools, and literature. However, the common people clung to their own strong speech that English absorbed almost all French words and became the national language. Modern English was created by combining Saxon and French.
        This changeover in a nation's course didn't happen overnight. At first, Normans and Saxons lived apart as masters and servants, with contempt on one side and hatred on the other. But in a short time, these two races were drawn powerfully together each supplying what the other lacks. After conquering England, the Normans adopted a new sense of nationality. Literature plays the leading role in national identity. By the course of time, the two races united, and the new English life and literature emerged.
NORMANS' LITERARY IDEALS 

        The change from Norsemen to Normans, Vikings to Frenchmen is most evident in the literature they brought to England. Old Norse strength and grandeur, the magnificent sagas about men and gods' tragic struggles, all vanished. In their place is a bright, talkative, endless-verse literature that makes every subject romantic. 

        Anglo-Saxon literature was once vastly superior to French, and the latter replaced the former. Before 1066, the Anglo-Saxons had a body of literature superior to anything the Normans or French could claim.  This superior English literature disappears and French remain supreme for nearly three centuries. This is because the two races coexisted in England.

         Without liberty, a great literature is impossible, and the Anglo-Saxons were conquered. The Normans represented France's civilization,and they came to England when nationality was dead, culture had almost vanished, and Englishmen lived in narrow isolation. These Normans brought law, culture, the prestige of success, and above all the strong impulse to share in the great world's work and join in the moving currents of world history. Young Anglo-Saxons felt this new life and turned to the cultured and progressive Normans as literary models. Thus a new literature with the combination of both races emerged with more vitality. 

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