jan 1, 1066 - Battle of Hastings (1066 CE)

Description:

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades and conquers England by winning the Battle of Hastings against the to-be king of England Harold Godwinson.

William becomes King of England, and brings the French (then Norman) language to England with him.

Under William, Norman (French) becomes the language of the nobles and elites, whereas English became the language of the peasants and common people.

Since English was the language of the peasants, it was essentially "dumbed down", leading to random spellings, the removal of grammatical gender, and the removal of many inflectional morphemes.

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