Legacy
The Norman Conquest changed the course of English history, dragging England into mainstream Europe.
The links forged with Normandy and the marriages of William’s children led to a great Angevin Empire in the 12th century, stretching from Scotland to the Pyrenees. It also led to the loss of Normandy in 1204 and subsequent struggles with France in the Hundred Years War of the 14th and 15th centuries. Customary rivalry did not stop until the alliances forged in the 19th century and after. Trade was largely in wool, exported to the Low Countries for weaving into cloth. This love-hate relationship with Europe has continued until today.
The government has changed immensely since the Conquest but sheriffs still preside in counties. The chancery and exchequer remain common words on public lips, though the accounting systems have been somewhat updated. The laws rigorously enforced by the Normans have been augmented and improved upon enormously but England is still thick with ancient rights and regulations. The royal mint, which became until the 19th century based in the royal fortress of the Tower of London, still functions. Some consider that William introduced the first form of income tax.
The New Forest is the best monument to the Norman desire to preserve the game for royal hunting. It may be argued that, had the kings not had such a vested interest in preserving the deer and other wildlife for their own sport, some species would have disappeared long ago. Many other forests have been heavily thinned, often for ship-building, but remain in name, as do parks and chases. French place names, Christian and surnames abound, and many French words have entered our language.
Perhaps the most obvious legacy are the numerous churches, abbeys, cathedrals and castles throughout our countryside and towns. Some religious buildings have been partly concealed or destroyed by subsequent rebuilding but still function as centres of worship. Many castles are ruinous, indeed some now survive only as grassy earthworks, mute testament to their former importance.
However, in all this the Norman Conquest did not produce a simple overlay of one society upon another. It may be argued that the Angevin kingship introduced with Henry II in 1154 brought more of a French influence, because by then it was more defined. Yet the French still regard the English as Anglo-Saxons. The Normans brought new ideas, took over and improved where necessary, and left alone anything working efficiently. Gradually they themselves were assimilated into the society they conquered.
The legacy of the Conquest is a blend of old, new and augmented institutions, thoughts and beliefs, which has helped to produce the Britain of today.
Further Reading:
The Hundred Years' War, 1337-1453 (Essential Histories 19), Osprey Publishing