Editing Anglo-Saxons (section)

=== After the Norman Conquest ===
Following the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]], many of the Anglo-Saxon nobility were either exiled or had joined the ranks of the peasantry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Robert |title=England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 |publisher=OUP |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-925101-8 |editor=J.M.Roberts |location=London |page=1}}</ref> It has been estimated that only about 8% of the land was under Anglo-Saxon control by 1087.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wood |first=Michael |title=In Search of the Dark Ages |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-563-52276-8 |location=London |pages=248–249}}</ref> In 1086, only four major Anglo-Saxon landholders still held their lands. However, the survival of Anglo-Saxon heiresses was significantly greater. Many of the next generation of the nobility had English mothers and learned to speak English at home.{{Sfn|Higham|Ryan|2013|pp=409–410}} Some Anglo-Saxon nobles fled to Scotland, Ireland, and [[Scandinavia]].<ref name="Daniell">{{Cite book |last=Daniell |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irUdMNNvlakC&pg=PA13 |title=From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta: England, 1066–1215 |date=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-22215-0 |pages=13–14 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wyatt |first=David R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWJGynaKSkkC&pg=PA385 |title=Slaves and Warriors in Medieval Britain and Ireland: 800 - 1200 |date=2009 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-17533-4 |page=385 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Byzantine Empire]] became a popular destination for many Anglo-Saxon soldiers, as it was in need of mercenaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ciggaar |first=Krijna Nelly |url= |title=Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962–1204 : Cultural and Political Relations |date=1996 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-10637-6 |pages=140–141 |language=en}}</ref> The Anglo-Saxons became the predominant element in the elite [[Varangian Guard]], hitherto a largely [[Germanic peoples|North Germanic]] unit, from which the emperor's bodyguard was drawn and continued to serve the empire until the early 15th century.<ref>"Byzantine Armies AD 1118–1461", p.23, Ian Heath, Osprey Publishing, 1995, {{ISBN|978-1-85532-347-6}}</ref> However, the population of England at home remained largely Anglo-Saxon; for them, little changed immediately except that their Anglo-Saxon lord was replaced by a Norman lord.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Hugh M. |url= |title=The Norman Conquest: England After William the Conqueror |date=2008 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0-7425-3840-5 |page=98 |language=en}}</ref>

The chronicler [[Orderic Vitalis]], who was the product of an Anglo-Norman marriage, writes: "And so the English groaned aloud for their lost liberty and plotted ceaselessly to find some way of shaking off a yoke that was so intolerable and unaccustomed".<ref>[[Chibnall, Marjorie]] (translator), ''The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis'', 6 volumes (Oxford, 1968–1980) (Oxford Medieval Texts), {{ISBN|978-0-19-820220-2}}.</ref> The inhabitants of the North and Scotland never warmed to the Normans following the [[Harrying of the North]] (1069–1070), where William, according to the ''Anglo Saxon Chronicle'' utterly "ravaged and laid waste that shire".<ref>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 'D' s.a. 1069</ref>

Many Anglo-Saxon people needed to learn [[Norman language|Norman French]] to communicate with their rulers, but it is clear that among themselves they kept speaking Old English, which meant that England was in an interesting tri-lingual situation: Anglo-Saxon for the common people, Latin for the Church, and Norman French for the administrators, the nobility, and the law courts. In this time, and because of the cultural shock of the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon began to change very rapidly, and by 1200 or so, it was no longer Anglo-Saxon English, but early [[Middle English]].<ref>Jack, George B. "Negative adverbs in early Middle English." (1978): 295–309.</ref> But this language had deep roots in Anglo-Saxon, which was being spoken much later than 1066. Research has shown that a form of Anglo-Saxon was still being spoken, and not merely among uneducated peasants, into the thirteenth century in the West Midlands.<ref name="Drout 2006">Drout, Michael DC, ed. JRR Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and critical assessment. Routledge, 2006.</ref> This was [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s major scholarly discovery when he studied a group of texts written in early Middle English called the [[Katherine Group]].<ref>De Caluwé-Dor, Juliette. "The chronology of the Scandinavian loan-verbs in the Katherine Group." (1979): 680–685.</ref> Tolkien noticed that a subtle distinction preserved in these texts indicated that Old English had continued to be spoken far longer than anyone had supposed.<ref name="Drout 2006" />

Old English had been a central mark of the Anglo-Saxon cultural identity. With the passing of time, however, and particularly following the Norman conquest of England, this language changed significantly, and although some people (for example the scribe known as [[the Tremulous Hand of Worcester]]) could still read Old English into the thirteenth century, it fell out of use and the texts became useless. The [[Exeter Book]], for example, seems to have been used to press gold leaf and at one point had a pot of fish-based glue sitting on top of it. For Michael Drout this symbolises the end of the Anglo-Saxons.<ref>Drout, M. The Modern Scholar: The Anglo-Saxon World [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]</ref>

After 1066, it took more than three centuries for English to replace French as the language of government. The 1362 parliament opened with a speech in English and in the early 15th century, Henry V became the first monarch, since before the 1066 conquest, to use English in his written instructions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=English: language of government |url=https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126569.html |access-date=4 January 2013 |website=[[British Library]] |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326031027/https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126569.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>