Lecture: “Communication in the Later Plantagenet Empire: The Use of Anglo-French in England and in Continental Domains”
Serge Lusignan (Université de Montréal)
A lecture sponsored by Centre d'études de la France et du monde francophone (CEFMF) & CERES, Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS), Département d'Études Françaises.
From the time of Edward the first to the beginning of the reign of Henry VI, the English royal administration used exclusively Latin and Anglo-Norman for its written communication. We will first try to understand how a communication system could operate which borrowed two languages that were not native to the inhabitants of the kingdom. We will then assess the geographical area where this mode of communication was in use. Finally, we will propose a hypothesis to explain why the English royal power did stick for so long to the Latin and Anglo-Norman, while elsewhere in Europe governments most often used the vernacular of the people.