William The Conqueror's Influence On The English Language

I. 1 At the time of the Norman invasion, Harold Godwinson was king of England. His brother Tostigg had been exiled, after trying to claim the throne for himself. While in exile, King Harald of Norway decided he wanted the English throne too. Tostigg offered his services to the king, and was accepted. Meanwhile, William the Conqueror was preparing to invade as well. This meant that Harald 's forces were both spread out, and lessened, since this was at the end of summer and most of Harald 's forces had gone home to the harvest. Harald defeated the Norse, then marched to meet William. And of course, William defeated Harald there, at the Battle of Hastings, and England was never the same again. I. 2 William the Conqueror 's ascension to the British throne hugely affected the English language. When the Normans invaded, they brought with them their language. This then blended into Old English. Old English gradually became more and more French, borrowing French words and grammar, until it eventually became Middle English. Without the Normans, the …show more content…
The advances in transportation allowed English speakers, one of the largest demographics able to afford travel abroad, to do so. Other countries found themselves with an influx of English-speaking tourists. This was great for the income of these countries, but they had to accomodate the tourists in order to keep them coming back. Before the 1900s, English already had a sizeable influence throughout the world, thanks to the British Empire. The advances in tourism only heightened its influence. Another way English has spread is through the internet. As the language with the highest number of foreign speakers, it would make sense that most internet articles designed to reach international audiences would be in English, facilitating the spread of English even