Tom Shippey: Who’d want to be English?

Created
Fri, 15/12/2023 - 00:00
Updated
Fri, 15/12/2023 - 00:00
The Hundred Years War created a sense of nationhood, especially in France. In England, the Anglo-Norman dialect died out, and though French was still part of the equipment of ladies and gentlemen, it was Parisian French they learned, and they learned it as a foreign tongue. In France, speaking English was enough to get your throat cut – because, after all, who spoke English except the English?