The Normans - what good did they do?

[Albion]

If you have any examples then feel free to post away. It is pretty self explanatory. But this really only concerns them in the British Isles more than anything.

[Nglund]

We could broadly resume it around Parliament, cathedrals, the Crown, Saint George's Cross, Empire, and the joys of Anglo-French rivalry

[Savant]

Haha, Joe and I have gone back and forth about this endlessly, I'm sure he'll chime in.

Ahhh, ok here goes. *I* think that the Normans were the beginning of what we associate with high midevil culture in Europe. They took Enlgand from huts and halls to castles and keeps. They introduced many of the conventions we associate with high midevil culture: Knighthood, chivalry, court culture. Of course, it didn't hurt that they brought a uniform system of writing with them too. That's why there are often many different spellings of Saxon names, because they didn't have one uniform standard of spelling and grammar. They were also probably the very first "British Empire", and were certainly the first instance of England as a world power, and maybe even a regional one. If I'm not mistaken the Normans founded the very first universities in Engalnd at Oxford and Cambridge. In any case, I'm sure there's more and maybe I'll add more later. Of course the Magna Carta was created under Norman rule and, I believe, drafted by a Norman King(John?). I think it's hard to scoff at these facts. But that's what I can think of immediately.

If you have any examples then feel free to post away. It is pretty self explanatory. But this really only concerns them in the British Isles more than anything.

[Laubach]

The Normans conquered and united England, at the Battle of Hastings. Left an important legacy in France, which not only limited to Basse-Normandie and Haute-Normandie. They came to southern Italy.

Norman influence spread from these new centres to the Crusader States in the Near East, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, and to Ireland.

I could write pages about the great importance of the Normans to Europe

[Laubach]

Haha, Joe and I have gone back and forth about this endlessly, I'm sure he'll chime in.

. Of course the Magna Carta was created under Norman rule and, I believe, drafted by a Norman King(John?). I think it's hard to scoff at these facts. But that's what I can think of immediately.

Yeah, King John

[Albion]

the Normans were the beginning of what we associate with high midevil culture in Europe.

Well they certainly put it more in tune with the rest of Western Europe, switching it's priorities from Scandinavia to Western Europe. Maybe that was a good contribution.

They took England from huts and halls to castles and keeps.

I like castles, some Welsh do too, others hate them as a sign of "English" oppression.

it didn't hurt that they brought a uniform system of writing with them too.

I think that developed later with chancery English. I think this would have developed in time based on the Wessex dialect anyway.

That's why there are often many different spellings of Saxon names, because they didn't have one uniform standard of spelling and grammar.

That's what makes a language more interesting.

They were also probably the very first "British Empire", and were certainly the first instance of England as a world power, and maybe even a regional one.

Yes, at least they did something good for England there (The Celts will probably differ on that though).
They brought a whole new military system to England and turned the nation a heck of a lot more militarist than before.

They introduced heavy cavalry for example - Anglo-Saxons traditionally fought on foot, despite the horse being a Pan-Saxon symbol. Strange.

Of course the Magna Carta was created under Norman rule and, I believe, drafted by a Norman King(John?).

Only because the Norman kings were so bad. The population needed guarantees and restraints of the kings power.

The Normans conquered and united England, at the Battle of Hastings.

England was united by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex when it annexed West Mercia to form a "Kingdom of the English". It subsequently took over almost all the Germanic areas of Southern Britain - Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish alike.
An early English identity had developed with the Anglo-Saxons, despite the divisions. The Anglo-Danes in Northern England - the mix of Anglo-Saxons and Danish Vikings were also quickly incorporated into this identity due to the similarities and relatedness of the peoples.

[Treffie]

They gave us awesome architecture!

[Graham]

Norman influence spread from these new centres to the Crusader States in the Near East, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, and to Ireland.

There was no Norman Conquest of Scotland. But Norman french knights were invited into Scotland since the time of King Macbeth(MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh).

King David I(Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim) was responsible for the Normanisation of the Scottish government and leaving behind the Gaelic lowlands. He created the hereditary title High Stewards of Scotland.

The House of Stuart descends from Walter fitzAlan who's father (Alan fitz Flaald) was from Brittany.

King David I also invited the Anglo Norman Douglases, Balliols, Giffards, Lindsays, Morvilles, Murrays, Oliphants, Sinclairs, Grants, Comyns, Bruces, Ridles etc..

Most of the famous Scottish lowland names in history come from the Normans.

[Beorn]

Well, they mutilated the body of the last English king and denied future generations of Englishmen the chance to pay their respects to his final resting place, they raped and molested the English women and children and murdered in cold blood Englishman in their homes, they committed great acts of genocide which, of course is glossed over in history lessons at school, they crushed and wiped out the English language and culture (it thankfully reared its head a few centuries later, but wasn't the same after), they imposed great structures upon the landscapes which later went onto house many an English "criminal"...not to mention they actually charge us to go see the things. The Normans started the whole 'troubles' in Ireland and even had the cheek to assimilate so closely with the Irish that even a Fitzgerald is thought less to blame than an innocent Englishman born of lowly serfs.

etc, etc...blah the Normans did great things eg: imposed themselves on the European continent to the detriment of thousands blah blah.

[Osweo]

from huts and halls ...

The halls were superb. Surviving wooden architecture in Norway and Karelia might give some indication of the possibilities here. And there WAS stone architecture before 1066. Some provincial examples are still standing, and are impressive enough in their way. Clearly, the centres will have had finer stuff, but the Normans bulldozed it.
Look at Stow near Lincoln. It's no Salisbury Cathedral, but it's no shack either. And this was a mere subsidiary parish to Lincoln's See;


Nice pic here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/lincolnian/220854545/

Or Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire;


The equally provincial Brixworth in Northants;


Norman architecture was finer, but that's what happens when state extortion is made law by force.

midevil ... Enlgand ... Of course, it didn't hurt that they brought a uniform system of writing with them too.

Which I see you are doing your best to abandon. Actually, what you say is rubbish, as Norman French, and Norman attempts to write English, were nowhere near as regular in orthography as you indicate.

That's why there are often many different spellings of Saxon names, because they didn't have one uniform standard of spelling and grammar.

The three major dialects had phonologically consistent and regular orthography. Each name had a particular spelling in each. Things were not chaotic, as the notion of etymologically correct spelling had not been established whereby we now insist that words be written as they were pronounced several centuries ago.

King David I(Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim) was responsible for the Normanisation of the Scottish government and leaving behind the Gaelic lowlands.

'Dafid Eadgyfing', more like!

****

The military advances and financial structures of the Normans were their most important legacy for England, and the manner in which they brought us more 'up to date' with Carolingian Europe. For better or ill, they are now part of us.