Your Country's Greatest Foe

^No that was the Stasi.

sleeper wrote: Dean wrote: OT Räihälä wrote: Dean wrote: The Normans were the last people to sucessfully invade Britian and eventhough their rule only lasted about 100 years, their legacy lasted much longer in our culture and language. And still does today... Just think of all the town names especially on the eastern parts of your island: Grimsby, Whitby, Boston, Sunderland, Inverness, Skegness, Scalby, York (former Jurvik), Helmsdale, Musselburgh etc., that's ancient Scandinavian all over the place. Well, the Normans had Viking heritage, which is why William believed he had a rightful claim on the English crown over Harold (and Harald). The blending of Norman (French), Saxon(German) and Viking(Danish) language created not only our language but also our nation. The placenames reflect that mixed heritage - in Northamptonshire there are two towns located geographically close (8km) to each other, Irchester and Irthingborough, one is Saxon/Roman and the other is Viking - because William produced the Domesday Book as a record of placenames soon after the invasion there are very few Norman placenames. I think William's biggest legacy is that it contributed to a rivalry between England and france that has lasted almost a thousand years now. As the King of England was also the Duke of Normandy, he would owe fealty to the French king, a rather embarassing position for a monarch to be in. Also, much of our nobility owned great swaths of land in northern France and considered it their ancestral homes with the result being tension between our two nations and the Hundred Years War, and any number of batles and wars faught over the centeries since until Napoleon's defeat.

And that brings us back to George III and the American War of Independence - Britian had just had the Seven Years War with France (and the French and Indian War in America), which was a contributing factor to the War of Independence and its eventual outcome. The French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars were a continuation of that 100 years of Anglo-French conflict (the bankruptcy of France because of the 7 Years War and the American War of Independence was a contributory factor in the Revolution) ... and George III was in the thick of all of it.

OT Räihälä wrote: Dean wrote: The Normans were the last people to sucessfully invade Britian and eventhough their rule only lasted about 100 years, their legacy lasted much longer in our culture and language. And still does today... Just think of all the town names especially on the eastern parts of your island: Grimsby, Whitby, Boston, Sunderland, Inverness, Skegness, Scalby, York (former Jurvik), Helmsdale, Musselburgh etc., that's ancient Scandinavian all over the place.

sleeper wrote: CPicard wrote:  - the English... From the Middle Age to the 19th, from the Plantagenets to Queen Victoria, there had been countless battles, wars, colonial competitions... Joan of Arc, the Seven Years War, the Fachoda incident... We could make a whole library just with these issues! I'll reference you back to my post of William the Conquerer and just say you started it.

Which is why to this day most English consider themselves to be Anglo-Saxon rather than Norman (and most Scots and Welsh think themselves Celtic or Gaelic) 

Edited by Dean - April 17 2012 at 05:14

OT Räihälä wrote: Dean wrote: The Normans were the last people to sucessfully invade Britian and eventhough their rule only lasted about 100 years, their legacy lasted much longer in our culture and language. And still does today... Just think of all the town names especially on the eastern parts of your island: Grimsby, Whitby, Boston, Sunderland, Inverness, Skegness, Scalby, York (former Jurvik), Helmsdale, Musselburgh etc., that's ancient Scandinavian all over the place.

Well, the Normans had Viking heritage, which is why William believed he had a rightful claim on the English crown over Harold (and Harald). The blending of Norman (French), Saxon(German) and Viking(Danish) language created not only our language but also our nation. The placenames reflect that mixed heritage - in Northamptonshire there are two towns located geographically close (8km) to each other, Irchester and Irthingborough, one is Saxon/Roman and the other is Viking - because William produced the Domesday Book as a record of placenames soon after the invasion there are very few Norman placenames.

Edited by Dean - April 17 2012 at 05:09

OT Räihälä wrote: Dean wrote: The Normans were the last people to sucessfully invade Britian and eventhough their rule only lasted about 100 years, their legacy lasted much longer in our culture and language. And still does today... Just think of all the town names especially on the eastern parts of your island: Grimsby, Whitby, Boston, Sunderland, Inverness, Skegness, Scalby, York (former Jurvik), Helmsdale, Musselburgh etc., that's ancient Scandinavian all over the place.

Er, I think Dean was referencing to the Normans from Normandy, France... (Yeah, I know that this region was invaded by the Vikings, but still...)

Dean wrote: The Normans were the last people to sucessfully invade Britian and eventhough their rule only lasted about 100 years, their legacy lasted much longer in our culture and language.

clarke2001 wrote: My country's greatest foe? Since I'm from Croatia, I guess many will think it's some other South-Slavic Balkan country, perhaps Serbia or Bosnia? Actually, we had quite a lot (still do) shared history of cultural, artistic and national-uprising exchange in the past couple of hundred years. But I won't deny there were/are quarrels (even occasional wars). Our tensions are our rivalry. Historically, greatest foe would be Hungary. We were under Hungarian rule in way or another for almost thousand years. Frankly, I'm wondering why my language and culture aren't much more Hungarian-influenced.

It may not be so surprising: after all, from the Middle Age to the 19th century, big kingdoms/empires never really tried to repress "regional" or minority linguages.
In France, it wasn't until the late 19th century that the Republic decides to make school free, lay and mandatory - with lessons only told in French. So, even in Britanny, Alsatia, French Flanders... the linguage remained "unfrenchized".

Rivalry, rivalry... One of my friends is croatian (born in Bosnia) and she seems to be ready to seize a gun when only referencing the very word "Serbia".

My country's greatest foe?

Since I'm from Croatia, I guess many will think it's some other South-Slavic Balkan country, perhaps Serbia or Bosnia?
Actually, we had quite a lot (still do) shared history of cultural, artistic and national-uprising exchange in the past couple of hundred years. But I won't deny there were/are quarrels (even occasional wars). Our tensions are our rivalry.


Historically, greatest foe would be Hungary. We were under Hungarian rule in way or another for almost thousand years. Frankly, I'm wondering why my language and culture aren't much more Hungarian-influenced.