William the Conqueror

Everyone knows, or thinks they know, what happened as a result of the Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest of 1066 ushered in a century of Anglo-Norman rule, in which William of Normandy, his sons and grandson, established a powerful feudal monarchy in England. For the first time since the Romans departed, England was brought into direct conjunction with continental Europe. French became the dominant language of the court and of an aristocracy itself now more French than English. Ruthless Anglo-Norman efficiency triumphed over the ramshackle ‘mucking along’ of Anglo-Saxon England. This is the gist of the matter. In reality, however, each part of this equation could be deconstructed and disproved.