King George I was born as a German in Hanover. He became the king of Britain through a marriage. We all know that he couldn’t speak English. So did he introduce German words into English?
If he didn’t, what was the reason that William The Conqueror can bring in French vocabulary while King George couldn't?
what was the reason that William The Conqueror can bring in French vocabulary while King George couldn't?
William the Conqueror replaced almost the entire upper-level of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with Normans, and the leadership of the Church, too. By the Domesday Book, there were four major Anglo-Saxon landowners left - two Anglo-Saxon noblemen (Thorkill of Warwick and Coleswain of Lincoln) who had supported William from the beginning, Queen Edith (widow of Edward the Confessor, king before Harold Godwinson), and Countess Judith, a niece of William, and widow of Earl Waltheof of Northumbria, who had supported William until 1076 (and was executed for turning against William). By 1087, there were two Anglo-Saxon bishops left, and by 1096, no Anglo-Saxon bishops at all. Almost all of the land was owned by a Norman king, major Norman nobles, or a church in the hands of Norman bishops. Not only did the king speak Norman French - almost all of the upper aristocracy also did, and so did the bishops running the church. Norman French was the language of government.
The accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain (i.e., England and Scotland, united by the Act of Union) brought a German-speaking king to a country with an English-speaking aristocracy, English-speaking Church, and and English-speaking parliament. English remained the language of government.