The History of the English Language, Part One, Old English
news that Norman attack is impending. A frightful omen, now known to have been Haley's Comet, appears in the sky.
Ultimately, as is well known to history, Harold lost the battle for Britain. The Norman French established their French-speaking court, and English became the low prestige language of the serfs and peasants. For the next two hundred years, English splintered into hundreds of mutually unintelligible dialects, as its speakers were kept to the land, and towns were few and difficult to visit. What turned the tide? Look for the Part Two of The Troubled (but ultimately victorious) History of the English Language.
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