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The Reestablishment of the English Language
(1200-1500)

I. Changing Conditions after 1200
The linguistic situation described in the previous chapter did not continue because the conditions under which it arose changed. Shortly after 1200 England lost an important part of its possessions in Europe. The English nobility gradually relinquished their estates in the continent. Rivalry developedbetween England and France, accompanied by an antiforeign movement in England and reaching its culmination in the Hundred Years' War. Social and economic changes affecting the English-speaking part of the population were taking place. In the fourteenth century English won its way back into use all over England, and in the fifteenth century French completely disappeared from the British Isles. Weare going to examine the changing conditions and the steps by which this situation came about, in subsections A-D below.

A. The Loss of Normandy
Normandy was the first link in the chain binding England to France. This link was broken in 1204 when King John lost Normandy, after the French court confiscated his territory according to feudal law. Philip, the French king, proceeded at once to carryout the decision of the court and invaded Normandy and put the greater part of it in his control, and Normandy was thus lost to the English crown.
The loss of Normandy was advantageous to both the English language and England. This is because the King and nobles looked upon England as their first concern. England then had its own political and economic ends and was on its way to becoming a nationonce more.

B. Separation of the French and English Nobility
After the Norman Conquest a large number of people held lands in both England and France, and a kind of interlocking aristocracy existed. It is true that some steps toward a separation of interests had been taken from time to time, as when William the Conqueror left Normandy to his eldest son Robert and England to William Rufus, andas when Henry I confiscated the estates of unruly Norman barons. But in 1204 the process of separation was greatly accelerated when the king of France confiscated the lands of several great barons, and of all knights who lived in England. For the most part the families that had estates in both countries were forced to give up one or the other.
After 1250 there was no reason for the Englishnobility to consider itself anything but English. This was the most valid reason for ceasing to use English. 

C. French Reinforcements
At the same time when the Norman nobility in England was losing its European connections and was led to identify itself wholly with England, the country underwent a new invasion of foreigners, mostly from the south of France. The invasion began in the reign of KingJohn, whose wife was French. Henry III, John's son, was wholly French in his tastes and connections. He was French on his mother's side and was related through his wife to the French king, St. Louis. As a result of Henry's French connections three great streams of foreigners poured into England during his long reign (1216-1272). The first occurred in 1233 when Henry III gave foreigners the chargeof all the counties and baronies. In 1236 Henry's marriage to French lady brought a second influx of foreigners into England. The third inundation occurred ten years later when Henry's mother, upon the death of his father King John, married a Frenchman and bore him five sons. Henry enriched his half-brothers and married their daughters to English nobles. Marriages with the strangers were encouragedby both the king and the queen at that time. For example Henry's brother, Richard, got married to the queen's sister.
The question may now arise as to the impact of such foreign inundations upon England and the English language. An answer is attempted in the following subsection.

D. The Reaction against Foreigners and the Growth of National Feeling
An answer to the question may lie in the...