Entertainment / Literature / Norman: An inhabitant of Normandy, a region along the northern coast of France. The word Norman comes from a cognate for 'northmen,' for the Norman aristocracy of the region originally descended from Danish (i.e. Viking) settlers who took over the French region in the ninth and tenth centuries. Charles the Simple, the somewhat incompetent king of France, was unable to eject these invaders from the region, so in 912 CE he signed a treaty with Rollo, the leader of the Danes in Normandy. This treaty made Rollo a vassal Duke. After a few centuries, these Viking Normans lost their Norse language and 'went native' by adapting the French tongue, French dress, French custom, and French law. However, on the continent, Norman French gradually became considered 'bad French' in contrast with the 'sophisticated' Parisian French. This factor might have been one catalyst in how the Anglo-Normans gradually abandoned French after they conquered the British isles. In terms of English's linguistic development, Norman French profoundly influenced our language after the Norman Invasion of 1066.
Search Google for Norman:
Entertainment / Literature / Normandy: The region along the northern coast of France. See Norman for more information. MORE
Entertainment / Literature / Norman Conquest: Loosely, another term for the Norman Invasion, though technically some historians prefer to differentiate between the 'Norman Invasion' and the 'Norman Conquest' by limiting the scope of the invasion MORE
Entertainment / Literature / Anglo-Norman: The dialect of Norman French that developed in England after William the First conquered England. Scholars abbreviate this as AN. See also Battle of Hastings. MORE