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Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Frenchmen in all high offices; kings of England spoke French, took French
wives and lived mostly in France; French-speaking court; imposition of feudal
system, vassalage, peasants bound to the land
2
1066-1204 Decline of English
Henry II (House of Plantagenet, Angevine) (r. 1154-1189), married to
Eleanor of Aquitaine; Henry II and Eleanor were the parents of
Richard I, the Lionheart (r. 1189-1199) and John Lackland
lack of prestige of English; French was the language of the court; Latin
was the written language of the Church and secular documents;
Scandinavian still spoken in the Danelaw; Celtic languages prevailed
in Wales and Scotland
3
1066-1204 Decline of English
examples of words of French origin: tax, estate,
trouble, duty, pay, table, boil, serve, roast, dine,
religion, savior; pray, trinity
4
1204-1348 Rise of English
King John (John Lackland) (r. 1199-1216); loss of Normandy in 1204; beginnings of the
political and cultural separation between England and France
Henry III (r. 1216-1272), son of John; francophilia of Henry III, many Frenchmen given
official positions
5
1348-1509 Dominance of English
French remained official language of England until second half of 14th
c.; by mid to late 14th c. English was normal medium of instruction; in
1362 English became official language of legal proceedings; everyone
in England spoke English by end of 14th c., displacing French, Norse,
and Celtic languages
6
1348-1509 Dominance of English
Edward III (Windsor) (r. 1327-1377); his claim to French throne led to
Hundred Years' War (1337-1453); eventual French victory; England lost
all of its continental holdings; English hostility to French language
and culture
War of the Roses (1455-1485), House of York (white rose) vs. House of
Lancaster (red rose)
7
1348-1509 Dominance of English
9
The End!