Thread 17928940

How did the Normans become English?

>>17928940 (OP)
The Normans basically invented "English" as a distinct ethnicity. The Anglo-Saxons were more or less just Germanic tribes

>>17928945
>The Normans basically invented "English" as a distinct ethnicity. The Anglo-Saxons were more or less just Germanic tribes
The idea of being English is as old as Bede and became a reality in the later 10th century. An English identity already existed and was the dominant way that they referred to themselves before the Normans came to the island.

>>17928945
You reckon they were just "Germanic Tribes" in 1066? One of the most structured and established states in Europe, just "tribes"? You probably think the Normans were litterally Vikings as well, right?

>>17928940 (OP)
By moving to England and marrying English women and having children with them.

>>17928945
"England" as a concept was invented by King Alfred.
The Normans simply appropriated the idea and gave it teeth

>>17929046
This didn't really happen though

>>17929181
*laughs in Orderic Vitalis*

>>17929182
the 'really' in 'didn't really' implies it occasionally happened, but not to any great extent

>>17928945
lol
They were all "just Germanic tribes."

>>17929620
English gets its name from the Angles. The Normans invaded England and took over, thus becoming English. They bastardized the language with French and a little bit of other whorehouse mix of babblejizz.

>>17929181
Þū nǣfre wīf bist.