> French-speaking people ruled England for a while starting in the year 1066 Norman French speaking people. Normandy had been heavily colonised by the Norse,

> French-speaking people ruled England for a while starting in the year 1066 Norman French speaking people. Normandy had been heavily colonised by the Norse, just as Anglo-Saxon England had, and left it quite different to French. Harold had as many connections to Scandanavian royalty as William. Attempts to Latinise Englist are still going strong; any time you hear some folk grammaticist inveigh against split infinitives as "bad English", you're hearing someone who is continuing the 19th Century efforts to Latinise the languae.