Norman Influence On Vikings

Vikings were Scandinavian seafaring pirates, explorers, and traders who raided and settled in many parts of northwestern Europe in the 8th–11th centuries. These Vikings settled in France and created generations of Normans. The Normans had a positive influence on modern language, architecture, government, and agriculture on northwestern Europe. Although the Normans forcefully conquered many territories, they had a very positive influence on modern language, architecture, government, and agriculture in the areas they conquered. The Normans were a people of mixed Frankish and Scandinavian origin who settled in Normandy from about AD 912 and became a dominant military power in western Europe and the Mediterranean in the 11th century

When they conquered England, they brought the French fashion of wine drinking, instead of the traditional Anglo-Saxon and Viking mead drinking. The English also adopted many French names, including ‘William’, ‘Henry’ and ‘Robert’. In the last decade, William has still been in the top ten names of baby boys in England and Wales. Luke Mastin states, “The Normans contributed about ten thousand words to the English language, including a huge number of abstract nouns ending in the suffixes “-age”, “-ance/-ence”, “-ant/-ent”, “-ment”, “-ity” and “-tion”, or starting with the prefixes “con-”, “de-”, “ex-”, “trans-” and “pre-.” Most of these words are related to matters of the crown and nobility, because the Norman’s language was mostly used by nobles, and was the language of the government, and associated with wealth and

Encyclopedia Britannica states, “Probably the most regrettable effect of the conquest was the total eclipse of the English vernacular as the language of literature, law, and administration.” There were negative consequences to the invasion of England, including the ceasing of the speaking of the English language, the weakening link between Scandinavia and England, higher taxes for the citizens, and a large decline in the number of free peasants (Wilde, Robert). The weakened link between Scandinavia and England hurt England’s economy because of the decrease in trade between the two territories, and the higher taxes that the government gave the citizens made many of them live in poverty. The number of free peasants decreased because many of them were living in poverty, and became serfs to be provided with food and shelter, in exchange for their manual labor. The English language was originally used for official documents, but the Normans used Latin for theirs, resulting in a decline in the speaking of English for many years. While there were negative consequences of the Norman invasion, there were many more positive impacts on the English people. The Normans introduced many positive things to the lands they conquered. They introduced new ways of farming and battling. The Normans also had a massive influence on the English language,