tell me the history of anglo-saxon and norman conquest...?

Answer 1

That is an interesting question. There is no short answer.

The Anglo-Saxons were a culturally related people living in Great Britain from around the mid-5th century AD. Germanic peoples, including the Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes, migrated to southern Britain, beginning after the end of Roman rule, though it is not known whether they substantially replaced the existing population. Over time the different peoples coalesced into a more unified culture. Perhaps under Offa of Mercia, and certainly under Alfred of Wessex and his successors, a kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons existed, which developed into the kingdom of England in the 10th century, one of the main developments of Anglo-Saxon history.

Origins of the word
The term "Anglo-Saxon" is from Latin writings going back to the time of King Alfred the Great, who seems to have frequently used the title rex Anglorum Saxonum or rex Angul-Saxonum.

Bede, writing in the early 8th century in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, (I.15) suggests that:

the people of the more northern kingdoms (East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria) belonged to the Angles, who derive their name from the peninsula of Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).
those of Essex, Sussex and Wessex were sprung from the Saxons, who came from the region of Old Saxony.
those of Kent and southern Hampshire were from the tribe of the Jutes.
Other early writers do not bear out consistent distinctions, though in custom the Kingdom of Kent presents the most remarkable contrasts with the other kingdoms. West Saxon writers regularly speak of their own nation as a part of the Angelcyn and of their language as Englisc, while the West Saxon royal family claimed to be of the same stock as that of Bernicia in the north. On the other hand, it is by no means impossible that the distinction drawn by Bede was based solely on names such as Essex (East Saxons) and East Anglia (East Angles). That Bede could envisage one English people (gentis Anglorum) at least demonstrates that the Anglo-Saxons could be thought of in such terms in the 8th century.

The term Angli Saxones seems to have first come into use by Latin writers on the continent, nearly a century before Alfred's time, in the writings of Paul the Deacon, historian of the Lombards. There can be little doubt, however, that there it was used to distinguish the inhabitants of Britain from the Old Saxons of the continent.

The history of Anglo-Saxon England is the history of early medieval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the Normans in 1066. The 5th and 6th centuries are known archaeologically as Sub-Roman Britain, or in popular history as the "Dark Ages"; from the 6th century larger distinctive kingdoms are developing, still known to some as the Heptarchy; the arrival of the Vikings at the end of the 8th century brought many changes to Britain, and relations with the continent were important right up to the 'end' of Anglo-Saxon England, traditionally held to be the Norman Conquest.

The Norman conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. It is an important watershed in English history for a number of reasons. It tied England more closely with Continental Europe and away from Scandinavian influence, created one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe, created the most sophisticated governmental system in Europe, changed the English language and culture, and set the stage for a long future of English-French conflict. It remains the last successful military conquest of England.

Answer 2

The first poster covered a number of good and correct points. Of course, he should have followed some of the links in Wikipedia to understand better what he cut-and-pasted here.

The "Saxons," however, were a branch of the same tribes that produced the Vikings. "Saxony" today is a region of central eastern Germany that has a very limited connection to the old Saxons. Beginning in the early 400's, at first peacably and later by conquest, the Saxons began taking substantial sections of English territory.

Eventually all Viking settlements in England came under the general rubric, "Saxon," although most were Danish and Swedish Vikings, with some lovely Norwegians thrown in to make the population taller.

By 1066, the "king of England," Harold, was really a king among kings - and he was a Viking. His shirttail relative, William of Normandy, was ALSO a Viking descendant. It is reasonably questionable whether William's invasion could have succeeded if Harold had not first had to fight a battle to defend his crown three days before.

Both the Viking invasions - and that is really what happened for almost 400 years - and the "Norman" invasion by Viking descendants were the consequence of tribal migrations, population pressures, and the lure of wealth in England. The vacuum of a coherent political structure with well-organized strong points and mutually-supporting military forces around the country, which the romans had instituted and then withdrew, left the island open for conquest. Harold may have been on his way to forging such a strcuture when the Normans arrived. They certainly did not fail to fix the problem rather quickly, placing England under the heels of the conquerors for generations until assimilation and subjugation of the cultures was final.

Answer 3

The Norman Conquest deals with William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings in October of 1066. He was crowned king Christmas Day 1066. Anyway, William thought he should be kind because his father, who was the Duke of Normandy and not actually married to his mother (hence the name William the Bastard), was related to the King of England who had no children etc. When the King died, the nobles and Harold took William's crown so he assembled a HUGE fleet and sailed from France to claim what he viewed to be his. All of this is depicted in picture form in the Tapestry of Bayeux which was commissioned by Matilda, William's wife.

Answer 4

Duke William of Normandy laid claim to the throne of England based on a 'promise' by King Edward the Confessor. Upon Edwards death in early 1066, the anglo-saxon nobles picked Harold to succeed Edward. King Harold first had to fend off King Hadrada of Norway's invasion in the North, then tried to beat William at Hastings, where he was defeated by the Normans. The Norman rule under King William (now the Conqueror) unified most of england under one rule...albeit, foreign rule.

Answer 5

If you have a dictionary at home you may find a graph in the very front or back which has all of the known language families. The American Heritage dictionary has a chart that goes back to Proto-European and Indo languages c 5000 BC. You can also try typing in your search bar the exact words of what you are looking for.