The Battle of Hastings (1844)
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Norman conquest of England had long-lasting consequences, not least for the English language. Before the Conquest, the Anglo-Saxon population of England spoke a German language called Old English. The Normans had been living in Europe for two centuries and spoke Old French, a combination of Frankish and Latin. Modern English reflects not only both linguistic traditions, but largely maintains the Conquest's ruling/working class distinctions. Everyday English words (like "father," "cow," "farm," and "house") have Germanic roots, whereas more technical words (like "paternal," "bovine," "agricultural," and "domestic") have French/Latin roots. In addition, although the "king" kept an Old English title, the apparatus of government took on a distinctively French vocabulary, complete with a "parliaments," "palaces," and "aristocracy."

Early English poems were often sung by travelling musicians called scops or bards, often in the "mead halls" of noblemen. Old English is no longer intelligible to a modern English speaker:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeod-cyninga þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

However, after William the Conqueror invaded from France, Old English was infused with a great deal of French and Latin vocabulary, and drifted apart from German, becoming Middle English. While still considered a separate language, Middle English is easier to understand.

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour..."

Middle English is well documented in literature and has been preserved in a number of musical compositions as well. As the Norman rulers spoke French and Latin, these songs would have been sung by the English peasant class. Some well-known Middle English songs from this era, such as "Sumer is icumen in," are sung as "rounds," where a melody is layered over itself, creating a polyphonic texture.