The linguistic and literary impact of the Norman invasion of England: Royal legal and juridical writings from 1066 to 1189

This dissertation is a linguistic description and study of England from William I to Henry II (1066-1189). After the battle of Hastings, the Norman invasion of the English realm ruled by King Harold led to the establishment of a bicultural society. More than the domination of the Norman minority over the Anglo-Saxon commoners, the symbol of this cultural duality is the linguistic frontier drawn between the indigenous people and its new aristocracy. Actually, this cultural line was not clearly defined and the linguistic question of the Anglo-Norman period was more complex than this general statement seems to indicate.; Under Anglo-Norman rule, three languages coexisted in England: Old English was spoken by the native population, Norman French by the conquering aristocracy, and Latin was written by the administration and the scholars. Relying mainly on royal legal and juridical writings issued by Anglo-Norman kings, this study aims at revealing why these three languages completed each other. Moreover, it explains how the policy of William and his heirs, as well as some political events---such as the different reorganizations of the witenagemot , the traditional English royal council---and some aspects of the Norman rule---such as the need to protect the new ruling community---led to such coexistence.; The Anglo-Saxon administrative background has also its share of responsibility in the establishment of a trilingual culture in England during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries; the juridical and judicial basis of the native society could not be ignore by the foreign aristocracy. However, the influence of Anglo-Saxon culture upon the settlers is not as much linguistic as it is literary. While Anglo-Normans brought to England a French dialect---and its pronunciation---and a specific vocabulary still present today, they adopted Anglo-Saxon law written practices and the usage of the most important native legal document: the writ.