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Alexander Eydeland's avatar

A curious fact about William the conqueror. He brought French to England (Funny, it took less than 100 years for Vikings in Normandy to switch to French - that is what superior culture does to barbarian conquerers. Compare with Lombardians in Italy, or visigoths in Spain, or mongols in China - barbarian conquerers dissolved in superior culture and within a few generations adopted the culture and the language of the conquered). But returning to William - the subsequent English kings spoke French for 300 hundred years (!) until Henry IV, the first king for whom English was his first language.

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Rebecca's avatar

Also perhaps no nationalism just fighting tribes means do whatever aids power

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Rebecca's avatar

And also what about Russia which spoke French

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Rebecca's avatar

Interesting. But didn't happen with Jews for instance. Perhaps too much infighting between the Viking tribes and lack of monotheism? Although that doesn't account for Greek reign.

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