In the year 1066, near 7000 infantrymen and Norman knights sailed on ships through the English Channel. Their goal was to conquer England. Around the same period of time, other groups of Normans settled across Europe, with adventures that transcended throughout the history of that continent.
Who were these warriors, and how did they leave their legacy so far?
Our story begins about 200 years ago, when the Vikings began to settle on the coasts of northern France as part of a large Scandinavian migration along the northern coast of Europe. The French locals in the area called these Norman invaders, by the direction they came from. Finally, Charles, the king, negotiated peace with the Viking leader Rollo in 911, granting him a stretch of land along the northern coast of France, which ended up being known as Normandy.
Thanks to this the Norman French language is a combination of French and the Germanic language of the Vikings.
Norman French became the language of the new royal court, while commoners continued to speak Anglo-Saxon. Over time, the two merged to give us the English we know today
