The development of written English

[Amor de Cosmos]

One of the many interesting things I've learned from J.C. Holt's Robin Hood is that English, as a written language, didn't exist prior to the Black Death. It was widely spoken of course, but until the mid-14th century all writing in Britain was in French. Why this changed after the plague, Holt doesn't discuss. Perhaps it was coincidental, but in the context of our own exposure to a major epidemic recently it seems evident that major cultural, as well as social changes, can and do take place. Any ideas?

[Guy Profumo]

One of the many interesting things I've learned from J.C. Holt's Robin Hood is that English, as a written language, didn't exist prior to the Black Death. It was widely spoken of course, but until the mid-14th century all writing in Britain was in French. Why this changed after the plague, Holt doesn't discuss. Perhaps it was coincidental, but in the context of our own exposure to a major epidemic recently it seems evident that major cultural, as well as social changes, can and do take place. Any ideas?

That probably came as news to Caedmon

[Etienne]

Well, obviously no-one was writing in French in England prior to 1066.

But does that mean that the switch was primarily from Old English to French after the conquest, or from Latin to French (I'd guess the latter, but when and why did that switch happen)

[diggedy derek]

The Black Death wrought all kinds of huge social changes, naturally – some villages disappeared, some rural estates could no longer be managed, etc. But I think a change which might be quite pertinent to your question is that there was large migration from the countryside to the cities as people were forced to try and find work. So, more people speaking all kinds of dialects of English in the main centres all of a sudden

[Lang Spoon]

Anglo-Saxon writing continued post Norman conquest in England (the Anglo Saxon Chronicle continued for a while) but then petered out, as the ruling class became wholly frenchified, and progression in the clergy/administration would have required fluency in Norman French as well as Latin.

I wonder if the English population falling from 6 to 2 million forced the ruling class to engage with their plebs in their own tongue (suddenly peasants had bargaining power over their labour and were no longer tolerating unfree serfdom which was on the increase pre-plague), and eventually the 14th to early 15th cent saw the native tongue of the rulers become (Middle) English.

Also the repeated fractures of the pan-European English realm from the disaster of King John to the fluctuations of the 100 years war.

Nobles would have had to choose at different points if they were Norman (or Aquitanian or..) or English and pick a side and place to reside. And eventually they would diverge culturally too. Just as the wars between England and Scotland from Longshanks on finally stopped nobles (and the Scottish King) holding lands in both countries.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Anglo-Saxon writing continued post Norman conquest in England (the Anglo Saxon Chronicle continued for a while) but then petered out, as the ruling class became wholly frenchified, and progression in the clergy/administration would have required fluency in Norman French as well as Latin.

Good point. Clearly Alcuin's lower case text was used at a very early date in England. So, post-Black Death, it could be revived relatively easily rather than created from scratch.