I've heard here and there that Tolkien always hated that William the Bastard bested King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, because he felt that it prevented a full flourishing of Anglo-Saxon culture and allowed French to "pollute" the language (for more detail on that opinion, scroll to the last section of this post). I have two primary questions:

Q1) To what extent was Tolkien correct that the Norman Conquest prevented a full flourishing of Anglo-Saxon culture by introducing French nobility, ideas, and language to the British Isles?

I always thought it odd that Tolkien, a linguist and scholar, would be so distressed that the Normans upset the Anglo-Saxon applecart, so to speak, when the Angles, Saxons, and other Germanic tribes upset the “native” British applecart. This leads to my second question:

Q2) With respect to the breadth, depth, timeline, and methods of influence: were the arrivals of the Angles/Saxons/other Germanic tribes substantively different than the arrival of the Normans? If so, how? Is Tolkien unfairly bemoaning the French/Norman influence while dismissing the Germanic influence? Perhaps the English penchant for Francophobia is rearing its ugly head here?

I’ve found the following threads that contain similar information, and these are the closest answers I could find, but none of them quite hit the mark I’m aiming at (a comparison between Norman and Anglo-Saxon “disruption”):

“I know nothing about genetics. I'm not sure what you mean by "Brittonic," which usually refers to a Celtic language group. The Anglo-Saxons crushed the Celtic inhabitants of England and very few traces of their culture influenced that of the ruthless Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who overran them. The early Germanic invaders seemed to have used some the leftovers of Roman organization, that the Celts were still using, as early forms of organization for themselves, but beyond there there was very little influence. The Celts were pushed to the far corners of the country and/or enslaved (yes, the Anglo-Saxons, and everybody else at the time, had slaves). There was no feeling of kinship with the Normans, who were perhaps just as cruel to the Anglo-Saxons as they were to the Celtic tribes”.

“by the eleventh century all the names recorded in the Domesday Book were either Norman, Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Danish would suggest that the Britons were successful assimilated……Likewise for language, though I doubt that all British culture died out in their entirety or in a short span of time, it is only because our sources don't tell us about these things that we think this. More likely, the process of transformation probably lasted centuries, rather than decades.”

”This supports the old stories of the Anglo-Saxons pushing elements of the Romano-British into those regions which they ultimately never conquered, allowing Romano-British/Celtic culture to continue there. While in the areas they more thoroughly conquered and colonised the remaining Romano-British were submerged into the Anglo-Saxon language, culture and ethnicity having much less of an impact on the modern English people than they did the Cornish or Welsh. “

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ygv4a/to_what_extent_was_welsh_culture_affecting_by_the/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/21d22n/in_anglosaxon_england_would_people_distinguish/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/306l3k/why_do_the_english_people_identify_as_anglosaxons/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1s7wt1/why_haves_the_jutes_been_forgotten_in_the_anglo/

What people have said about what Tolkien said about the Norman Conquest

I’m trying at the moment to get some actual primary sources, but no luck yet. I realize it's hard to properly answer Q1 if we can't evaluate Tolkien's precise words, but this is the best I could find using The Great Google.

"Tolkien felt that his true culture had been crushed and forgotten"

"While still a schoolboy he gave a debate-club speech opposing the Norman Conquest."

From the Scull and Hammond The JRR Tolkien Companion and Guide

"Tolkien's antagonism to France, the French and the French language was due, in large part, to his regret that English culture was dislocated and nearly destroyed following the conquest of England by French-speaking Normans in 1066."

A "Straight Dope" forum led me to this [J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment] (http://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA459&lpg=PA459&dq=%22the+very+lexicon+tolkien+uses+in+his+own+fiction%22&source=bl&ots=hhBIeLceXg&sig=azwo3RBI0zd_IoDDri5GjJKa-Vo&hl=en&ei=1fkUTo25CZORgQefucH9BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)

For Tolkien, the Norman Conquest prevented the survival of a distinctly English language and corrupted the ideal of english life. Indeed, the very lexicon Tolkien uses in his own fiction seeks to moderate the linguistic impact of the Conquest; throughout his work he employs primarily words of Germanic (i.e. Old English) derivation over ones of more recent French or Latin origin

"Tolkien once corrected an impression that he deplored war by saying that it was not only modern warfare that he had in mind, but the cultural catastrophe of the Norman Conquest."

My grandmother recently found this medal among some of her possessions and believes it could have belonged to my great grandfather.

Does anyone know what it may have been given for?

The bottom stamp on the reverse of the medal says "LP&A"

Thanks in advance!

Previously

Today:

You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.